My first attempts....rubbish, but mine.......

[sbj]

There was a very brief window in the weather last night so grabbed the stuff and just set up very quickly at the from of the house.  I only did a very rough polar align.  Received my T adapter and bits over Christmas so was desperate to have a go at imaging with my dslr.

I have also bought a focus mask but didn't use it last night - I should have......

Double Cluster - blurry, but couldn't believe the different star colours.

Orion Nebula.  ISO 1600, 60 secs.

Jupiter.  I used my celestron 2x barlow to try to "zoom" in a bit, but the image which still very small without cropping.  Also, when I left the exposure long enough to get the moons showing, any banding was lost in the glare, and there was loads of CA.

Still, I made a start!

[sbj]

And I'm sure I re-sized them for posting?!?

[frugal]

I feel your focusing pain

[steppenwolf]

It is always a pleasant surprise when you discover just how different individual star colours are. Crack down on that focusing as it is all-important to your success.

Sent from my iPhone from somewhere dark .....

[cussine]

I think you have done really well, its not so long ago amateur's would have given their right arm's to produce those images.

[ronin]

There is some nice colours in there, strange way of putting it but I would guess that if you have managed to get focus and tracking then much of the colours would have been lost. Think many would have ended up "white".

Think that the way it has come out in one way shows more.

Weather is you won't see the sky for the next few days, especially if on the West side.

[David_Pickles]

Great that you managed to get a gap in the weather. Try taking a long exposure of Jupiter to capture the moons, then combine it in photoshop with a short exposure to show the planetary detail - this will give you the best of both images.

[Naemeth]

I think the odd star shapes on the first image may be camera shake, are you using a remote camera switch?

[Pete Presland]

some great star colours there, nice start!

[Mr Spock]

Once you get the focussing sorted you'll be well on your way.

[sbj]

Thanks for the very kind comments!  I'm just kicking myself that I didn't take the time to get set up properly and use the bahtinov mask. I was just too keen to get snapping!

And now I can't wait to get a clear night without the gale force winds that we get in this very dark but very exposed area.  I did use a cable remote with my canon, and the NEQ6 is a very solid piece of equipment, so hopefully if I take the steps I should have, the results will be better.  I was just amazed to see the nebulosity coming through - and the colours!

I need to learn:

how to combine / stack images

about lights / darks (?!)

how to get closer to get more detail in objects like Jupiter (eyepiece projection)

how do deal with CA without spending £1500 on a new scope.........

I really did enjoy my hour of playing though, and think I will order Making Every Photon Count.