Imaging with the 130pds

[Pitch Black Skies]

M42 from a couple of nights ago.

This time with a UV/IR cut filter.

[Oisinmcc16]

Hey everyone!!

Just bought my SW 130pds, a Baader MPCC III coma corrector and an M48 adapter for my Nikon D5600

Already have a belt-modded HEQ5 with the EQMod cable.

Seriously excited... all I need now are clear skies and some time off from my Astro-Physics course at uni 😅

 

Clear skies all!!!

[pete_81]

First outing for my 130PDS last night. It's a 2nd hand older type 130PDS (gold SW writing), then modded with the primary mask. No CC, and likely needing better collimation, but am pleased with outcome for Bortle 6 (ignoring factory floodlight!)
M42, 82min of 30sec lights, +flats+bias, UV/IR filter; DSS, processed in StarTools. It's not going to win any awards, but I'm shocked and pleased what can be pulled out from my back garden!

Edited January 12, 2022 by pete_81

[Oisinmcc16]

here’s a picture of the setup after putting all together - albeit inside

 

- update - after I got all equipment put away, sky cleared up so quickly set up again, and after a rough polar alignment (and then walking into my mount by accident) I was able to get a few, really short shots of M51, which I’ve just touched in Lightroom. Bear in mind this is only a 30 second exposure with a full moon. Pretty happy

[alacant]

Hi everyone

Something from last night's full moon. Noisy? Yes, but not so much to prevent having a go.

700d 30 x 2 1/2 minutes ISO800

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by alacant

[Pincs]

My first ever deep sky photo... It looks noware near as good as most on this thread but for a first try I dont think its that bad. Taken with a canon 600d(unmodded), 25 45" lights, 15 darks, 15 flats.

[Astro_by_sona]

Hi Folks,

 

I'm very new to DSO imaging, and here's one of my very first attempt at M45 using my Skywatcher 130PDS, Nikon D5600(unmodded) iOptron CEM40(G) mount, GSO 2" CC, L-Pro filter.

Unguided, 30" exposure with total integration of 1hour 11 minutes only.

Processed in DSS, SIRIL & PS 2022. Please help me improve my imaging and any modifications required for the 130PDS. 

Thanks!

Clear Skies!

 

[Bigyin13]

Had a few clear hours on Saturday night.

NGC 7380

Modified Canon 2000d and L-Enhance filter

48 x 5 minutes ISO 1600

Processed in DSS, PixInsight and PS 2022

Edited January 31, 2022 by Bigyin13

[geeks]

I haven't run my 130 much lately owing to the recent purchase of a 72ED. However here is the last image it shot, very happy with this.

Target: IC443 - The Jellyfish Nebula
Dates: 6th January
Integration: 5hrs 45mins
Lights: 115x180s @100 gain -10.00c
Darks: 30
Flats: 30
Dark Flats: 30
Bortle: 7-8
Equipment:
Altair Hypercam 533C, IDAS LPS D2 2" Filter, Skywatcher 130PDS, Skywatcher EQ5 Pro, Astro Essentials 50mm Guide Scope, T7C Guide Cam, Raspberry Pi4 and Astroberry
Processed with Astro Pixel Processor and Photoshop

Edited February 1, 2022 by geeks
Correct my spelling :)

[yopero]

Hi 👋 
I have been waiting for months for my telescope's fist light and whilst I wait for my skies to clear.... 
Just wondering if y'all can advise on say the 10 easiest  targets for the 130PS?

Thanks

 

[Pitch Black Skies]

Finally managed to get a few hours of clear dark sky last week

IC 434

4 hr 25 min

[Tan Zhi Qi]

Smartphone Astrophotography - Orion Nebula 

It was my first time imaging DSO. I'm quite surprised with the performance of this smartphone (Please ignore the weird star shape lol) 

Equipment: SW 130pds, EQ5 with AZ-EQ5 pier tripod plus Onstep (for tracking), GSO 32mm ep

Camera: Huawei P40 Pro 

210 X 10s exposure, ISO 400 

[Bibabutzemann]

On 31/01/2022 at 12:01, Astro_by_sona said:

Hi Folks,

 

I'm very new to DSO imaging, and here's one of my very first attempt at M45 using my Skywatcher 130PDS, Nikon D5600(unmodded) iOptron CEM40(G) mount, GSO 2" CC, L-Pro filter.

Unguided, 30" exposure with total integration of 1hour 11 minutes only.

Processed in DSS, SIRIL & PS 2022. Please help me improve my imaging and any modifications required for the 130PDS. 

Thanks!

Clear Skies!

 

Hi, really nice first try. I wonder why parts of the image look quite noisy while the lower part doesnt. Did you use flat frames?

[Rob F]

After doing a lot of research, especially reading through all the pages and comments here I finally bought a 130pds three weeks ago, and yes it came with clouds and rain. Actually it’s been cloudy nearly every night for the past three months.

I also bought the Baader mk3 cc which arrived this week.

Now to go back through the pages/comments in order to make a list of the mods I’ll probably have to make.

[Rob F]

Wondering what some use for a guide scope with the 130pds and dslr. I don’t want to add too much weight but thinking I might go with a 50mm instead of a 30mm. 
i will be moving up to a dedicated OSC color and am not sure if the fov difference matters! 

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Rob F

[sagramore]

On 02/02/2022 at 21:45, yopero said:

Hi 👋 
I have been waiting for months for my telescope's fist light and whilst I wait for my skies to clear.... 
Just wondering if y'all can advise on say the 10 easiest  targets for the 130PS?

Thanks

 

Welcome another from Oxfordshire

I am not sure about a "top 10" but the usual suspects can be good, depending on the camera you are using:

• M42 (Orion Nebula)
• M31 (Andromeda Galaxy)
• M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy)

Of course, don't rule out the moon or the sun (if you have an appropriate solar filter!) I have had some pleasing images of those on days/nights where nothing else is working for some reason or another.

[Rob F]

I finally managed a first light  with my new 130pds and so far I love the scope.

 I only had about three hours of clear skies and after a quick set up in the dark I played around a bit.

 I mainly wanted to use the time in order to get the collimating and focusing done, check the scope balance and how the mount was tracking.

Balance was not that great, I’ll have to rotate the tube so the dslr is at the bottom. My 30s exposures weren’t too bad but 60s or more started showing some trailing.

My guide scope arrives today and hopefully I’ll practice guiding this weekend.

M42

Eq5/sw130pds w/ Baader mpcc mk3

canon 1100d

28x30s at iso 1600

[Pincs]

This was taken with 52 50s subs at an iso of 1600, I tried editing but I cant seem to bring out the gasses without vinetting showing. Any ideas? Thanks.

Pincs

[barbulo]

7 minutes ago, Pincs said:

I cant seem to bring out the gasses without vinetting showing. Any ideas?

Did you use calibration frames? Flats might help with the vignetting. 

[Astro_by_sona]

On 04/02/2022 at 23:13, Bibabutzemann said:

Hi, really nice first try. I wonder why parts of the image look quite noisy while the lower part doesnt. Did you use flat frames?

Thanks ! I did use 20 flat frames and 25 dark frames, I wonder about the noise myself, pls advise.

[Pincs]

Just realised my scope was not collimated when I took the photos!

 

[Adam J]

Today's NASA APOD taken with the 130PDS.

 

[tony8690]

from the same night as my last post i also got these, not the best quality as my post processing needs a lot of work.

M31 - 8 x 180s at 1600 iso

            2 x 240 at 1600 iso

HH - 5 x 180 ay 1600 iso

 

both were a quick capture as was getting a bit cold. 

[Bibabutzemann]

On 09/02/2022 at 18:39, Astro_by_sona said:

Thanks ! I did use 20 flat frames and 25 dark frames, I wonder about the noise myself, pls advise.

Did you use background extraction and then autostretch in Siril? Because in my experience Siril stretches it a bit too far and thus also stretching the noisy part too much. Maybe do the final stretch in PS with a mask (Select-Colour range - Highlights)

[edarter]

Another M42, I'm quite happy with this one! 3hrs of data over 2 nights at the start of Feb when the moon was not about.