Recommendations for my first imaging target

[LeeS]

Can someone give me some pointers of which objects I should be looking at imaging for my first shots?

Is there some easier than others, because as a noob I don't want to try something that's too difficult and make this hobby any harder than it already is.

I live in a rather light polluted area with a good view to the West and South.

I was thinking M51 for a start, good/bad choice??

Cheers for any advice

[Leveye]

Omega Centauri!

[LeeS]

Unfortunately I'm in the UK (Should have posted that) and it's not visable.

Thanks Lee

[Steve Ward]

And just how do you propose he images that from 53N ?

The obvious but boring answer is the Moon , but for Deep sky objects the cluster M13 , M5 and M92 are good starters .

M51 may be a little tricky in light polluted skies .

[lensman57]

Can someone give me some pointers of which objects I should be looking at imaging for my first shots?

Is there some easier than others, because as a noob I don't want to try something that's too difficult and make this hobby any harder than it already is.

I live in a rather light polluted area with a good view to the West and South.

I was thinking M51 for a start, good/bad choice??

Cheers for any advice

Hi,

I am with Steve, find an easy and bright cluster first to practice on, M13 is good to start with for its bright core but the surronding stars are not so bright.M51 is not easy, M101 is even more difficult., if you have to have a go at a galaxy then perhaps you could go for M81-M82 but they are not easy to get a good capture of.

A.G

[Steve Ward]

Even more so this weekend , you'll struggle with the full Moon washing out all but the brightest objects.

[LeeS]

Thanks for the replies lads.

Spent 2 hours last night faffing around with my kit and still didn't get it all set up properly. Lots of lessons learned for tonights attempt.

Cheers

[Twisted Lip]

+1 for M13

[Uranium235]

Try M27 (Dumbell) first, thats a real giver. M13 will test your focus, make sure its bang-on so you can resolve individual stars better.

[peroni]

Andromeda galaxy M31 gets my vote. My sig shows the one of the very first shots I took with my scope. I was majorly impressed.

[SnakeyJ]

M13 looks pretty good even with the full moon, Andromeda Galaxy M31 should be visible if you have a reasonable Northern view, but you will need to stay up for this and the view will be much better with no moon. Might be okay at the weekend as moon rise is heading to 2am.

A lot to be said for imaging the moon (nice and bright/easy to locate and rewarding detail), especially while still shaking out the kit. Saturn could be worth a go dependent on what you're using.

[lensman57]

Andromeda galaxy M31 gets my vote. My sig shows the one of the very first shots I took with my scope. I was majorly impressed.

Hi,

M31 is at this moment 5 degrees above the northern horizon, quite tricky I should say.

A.G

[Pete Presland]

either M27 or M13 both very pleasing targets, what set up will you be using?

[LeeS]

either M27 or M13 both very pleasing targets, what set up will you be using?

Skywatcher ED80 on a Celestron CG5 GOTO mount with a Nikon D300S

[edjrgibbs]

I'd go for M27 at this time of year but in the winter you definitely want to hit M31 and M42. They were what started me down the expensive and frustrating imaging route and I've never looked back...

Definitely try to get some Darks, flats and bias' then use Deep Sky Stacker to stack them. they will make a real difference. For what its worth I'd also use ISO 1600 on the D300s. Will you be guiding? I used a finder guider with my EQ5 Pro which I think is the same as the CG5. Makes a world of difference.

[PorkyB]

Another vote for the brighter globulars, I would go for M92 or M3 as I think they are better defined than M13.

Try 30 seconds at ISO 800 and then experiment increasing the exposure time and/or ISO as necessary. I take 25 lights and 25 darks, I've experimented with flats & bias but haven't seen any improvement yet. I have found that taking a larger number of lights and darks really does improve the final image (I started doing 10 of each) as it lets DSS do more fancy processing.

As others have said M27 works well. I would also try M57, tiny but pretty, although it taskes a good bit of experimentation to capture the colour.