M13 hercules cluster unguided

[long_arms]

Hello,

Last night I thought I would have my second attempt at deep sky.

I did a drift alignment using my dslr and it was working well until I realised that I didn't have enough weight to balance on the RA axis.

I stopped the drift alignment whilst I was still a little out, and started getting 25 second subs of M13. There was still some trailing which got worse over the night, must be because of the balance... So I had to throw away alot of subs, maybe 1/3 of all of them were too badly trailed.

This is 50 x 25 second subs stacked in DSS with 60 darks and no flats (I forgot! Oops :S)

Taken with unmodded 350d at prime focus of 200p...I focused on the moon so that may not be perfect although the trailing is obviously worse.

I've tried to remove a massive vignette with a gaussian blur/difference method. Only my second attempt at deep sky, still got a lot to learn.

Edit: forgot to say, any criticism or suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated thanks!

Dan

[Daniel-K]

thats awesome for unguided

[SnakeyJ]

Dan,

Excellent image, despite the lack of guiding, partial drift alignment and pains of capture - nicely processed to boot. Look forward to seeing some stunning images from this rig as you sort out some of the wrinkles.

Have you modded the 350d?

Jake

[andyo]

Great start to dso imaging well done

[ArmyAirForce]

Looks good. I've found that clusters are better done with lots of short exposures, even when guided, as exposing for too long means you blow out the pixels and loose the star colours.

[long_arms]

Thanks guys :-)!

I'm sure that if I can balance it correctly and complete a drift alignment, I'll be able to get some 1 minute subs.

Plus I haven't collimated my telescope since I got it back in October and I get the impression that its out when observing.

Have you modded the 350d?

No, its unmodded. I was happy to get some colour in the stars.

I tried to do a 2x drizzle in DSS but it gave me an out of memory error :-(

Dan

[long_arms]

Thanks guys :-)!

I'm sure that if I can balance it correctly and complete a drift alignment, I'll be able to get some 1 minute subs.

Plus I haven't collimated my telescope since I got it back in October and I get the impression that its out when observing.

Have you modded the 350d?

No, its unmodded. I was happy to get some colour in the stars.

I tried to do a 2x drizzle in DSS but it gave me an out of memory error :-(

Dan

EDIT CAN A MOD DELETE THIS POST I ACCIDENTLY CLICK POST TWICE

[sologuitarist61]

That is a nice image Dan

[Gina]

Great stuff! Nice round stars, well processed, propellor nicely visible