My first ever attempts at astrophotography

[Skipper Billy]

Apart from a couple of wide field attempts these are my first two astrophotos ever!!

Both taken this evening - I had plenty of time for the moon but M42 was restricted to 20 photos of 4 seconds - the moon was so bright that any longer and the sky was overexposed then the clouds rolled in and brought a halt to the fun.

Given that the seeing was so poor I am quite pleased with the results but would welcome any constructive feedback. I was very surprised at how small M42 appeared in the frame ???

Both taken with Canon 1100d and SW ED80 with FF/FR on a HEQ5 and stacked in Registax.

[Langy]

For your first attempt I can't wait to see what you will be producing in a few weeks time if this is the starting point.

The moon looks great. Yes M45 is quite small, I'm guessing but I suspect if you bring out even more detail then it may grow a bit further.

Well done.

[jjqpr]

I love that moon shot...how many frames did you stack for it? Also being new to this what's ff and fr? And are they prime focus or eyepiece projection?

[davedownsouth]

Excellent shots.  I have just ordered my first camera and I hope that my first shots are half as good as these .

[wxsatuser]

The M42 short exposures have caught the Trapezium nicely.

[Skipper Billy]

I love that moon shot...how many frames did you stack for it? Also being new to this what's ff and fr? And are they prime focus or eyepiece projection?

The moon is 20 frames stacked - FF/FR is a field flattener & focallength reducer - all prime focus

[Hootsitabernacle]

well done skipper...good pics all round

[Pete Presland]

very nice 1st images, the moon is a very nice capture!

[SimonfromSussex]

Really nice first captures Billy, great start!

[Owmuchonomy]

Hi, I too was excited when I took my first M42.  Regarding FOV have you consulted this link it is very useful.

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php

Chris

[Skipper Billy]

Hi, I too was excited when I took my first M42.  Regarding FOV have you consulted this link it is very useful.

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fovcalc.php

Chris

Thats very useful - thank you.

[simmo39]

V nice pics.

[jjqpr]

Hi, could you tell me what you used to stack the 20 moon photos? I tried deep sky stacker and it lost the moon altogether just giving me a black image with some stars that werent even there! Registax doesn't seem to let me import raw files, am I missing something? Thanks.

[Skipper Billy]

This moon was a series of Jpegs only - stacked in Registax.  I dont know if you can import RAW files into Registax.

hth

[frugal]

If you use PIPP, it can convert RAW files into a format that RegiStax and AutoStackert require. It can also crop and centre the part of the image you actually want from the whole image (useful as an 18MP image will crash Registax for me).

[Eddy_]

Very nice pictures, thanks