M39 - comments please!!!

[m37]

Hi

Here is last night's attempt at M39. Any comments gratefully received.

On AZ GOTO so limited my shots to 25 second exposures.

Pentax k-x, ISO1600. 31 light frames, 10 darks, 10 bias, 10 flats.

Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, star detection at 29%, used suggested settings from there on in. Levels, contrast and unsharp mask in Photoshop.

Strange glow emanating from top left which I have not yet worked out although it was a bit cloudy.

Cheers

[farunj]

Well I simply love the stars! Look beautiful!

[Ant]

Cracking start.

You could try a minus violet filter, this will help reduce the CA around the brighter stars. Apart from that the tracking looks pretty good!

Don't be too hard on the faint glow in the top left, if you do a search on google for M39 images, there are a few with the same sort of glow, I'm thinking that might just be a slightly denser part of the Milky Way starting to show through

Cheers

Ant

[nytecam]

Great result - well done

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Love the sharpness of the stars! Wish my stars came out that round lol.

[CedricTheBrave]

Very good

[m37]

Love the sharpness of the stars! Wish my stars came out that round lol.

Cheers dude. Made myself a Hartmann mask out of an old protein shake tub. Can send you a pic if you like...

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Go on then. I get enough protein to get a few spare tubs lol.

[m37]

Here ya go... One DIY hartmann mask.

You'll need to find a container that has slightly bigger diameter than your tube or dew shield. Cut 3 triangles in the lid (there are various templates online). I stuck a few pound shop double sided sticky pads inside to make it snug and wrapped in black electrical tape to keep it all together.

The image sequence shows the view as you get closer and closer to focus.

Cheers