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A lot harder than I thought!

MND

By MND
in Getting Started With Imaging

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Alien 13

Alien 13

Posted
Posted

The spending can go on forever unless you fix limits, for me it was grab and go widefield AP unguided anything that couldnt be carried in one trip completely set up was discarded.

The free canon EOS utilities works well for capture and focussing too.

Alan

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Thalestris24

Thalestris24

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I've just ordered a laptop so I can use BYEOS with it when it arrives. Does the spending ever end??

Nope! You could have saved a little by using APT (astrophotography tool) which is free, rather than byeos but in the whole scheme of AP that's a trivial amount!

Good luck!

Louise

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GuillermoBarrancos

GuillermoBarrancos

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I wont have laptop for a week or so. Im going to just mess about between now and then, especially if this cloud holds off!

First priority should be getting a Bahtinov mask. They are so ridiculously cheap! An unmissable tool to achieve Perfect focus simple and effective.

You can just use it with the liveview on your camera, until you get your Laptop.

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niccodeamus

niccodeamus

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looks like focus to me.  is the lens  a canon? make sure IS is off, AF is off.  Focusing in the dark is nigh on impossible without a computer.  sometimes you can get lucky by using live view and cranking up the ISO to focus.  On the canon lens, the focus is not set to infinity for stars.  I know it should be, but it isn't, is a bit back from the infinity mark.  so you have to shoot, manually adjust and hope, shoot again.  i suggest test shooting at 1600 ISO, max aperture and 2 seconds and point at jupiter or something nice and bright.  the Orange LP will have to fixed on the computer

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Astrosurf

Astrosurf

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You're getting there!

As has been said, I use my mask and zoom in 10x on a nearby bright star, lock the focuser (double check the focusing) and then slew to the object.

I made my own mask to save money, plus it was satisfying. I used the mask generator website (can't give you a link here at work as it's blocked!) but couldn't get the printer to print out at the right scale so someone on here did it for me! :grin: Then I used the grey plastic back of a WH Smith A3 art pad, glue and electrician's tape.

I use an Astronomik CLS Clip-in LP filter.

Alexxx

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  • 2 weeks later...
MND

MND

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The learning continues. I think I'm getting somewhere though I'm not sure where.

I downloaded the BYEOS trial and had a play with it tonight, amazing piece of software!

I piggyback the 600D with a prime 135mm lens and took the following at ISO1600;

Lights 20 x 20 secs

Darks 20 x 20 secs

Bias 20x

No rhyme nor reason to this, just messing around so see what gave. It was supposed to be M36. On the screen I could see the cluster as the shots were being taken. Problem is after using DSS I was left with a long thin picture with very little on it. I'm hoping this is down to my poor (non-existant) processing skills.

I have put the shots in a Dropbox as they are too big to post here if anyone would like to take a look.

This is the DSS output file

https://www.dropbox.com/s/op9pa7z7jvd84wl/M36-2.TIF

this is one of the lights where you can make out the cluster

https://www.dropbox.com/s/no6fmh349tk44ow/M36%20TAKE%204_LIGHT_20s_1600iso_%2B11c_00634stdev_20140503-22h44m30s925ms.tiff

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wxsatuser

wxsatuser

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Thanks Louise, that helped. I have a lot to learn I think but I'm sure it will be a fun ride.

attachicon.gifM36-3.jpg

For your short exposures you have your first Messier, well done.

It will get better but for most of us it takes a bit of time, don't rush, it's a big learning curve.

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MND

MND

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Okay, 9.25 is too hard unguided on a CG5!

I'm going to buy an ED80 and ST80 to guide via a QHY5 II. I presume my CG5-GT will just about cope with these?

I'd like to get all I need in one go. Will this

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-ds-pro-ota.html

Fit straight onto my CG5 or do I need some different dovetail or something?

I then guess I need someway of attaching the ST80 to the ED80. Something like these in 90mm?

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/tube-rings/skywatcher-telescope-tube-rings.html

Once mounted I then need to connect stuff! Will the QHY5 II connect straight onto the ST80 or do I need some conncection of some kind os spacers.

I have a T-ring for my Canon 600D, will that go straight onto the ED80?

I know its even more stuff but if I wanted to piggyback my 600D ontop of all this set up, what fixing would I need for that?

I did think about selling the 9.25, I did what turns out to be a good deal on it secondhand so I could easily get my money back but I really love it so I'm hoping I can sneak the new stuff in un-noticed then give it the

"New? no of course not, I've had it ages"

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brantuk

brantuk

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The ST80 and ED80 combo will work fine with a CG5GT Goto mount (better if you could stretch to the AVX). The C925 is a superb tube and I think you're very wise to hang on to it. But guiding at f-10 is not so easy - I would recommend getting the focal ratio down with a reducer (the 6.3 one) for long exposures. The QHY5 will be ok placed directly in the ST80 diagonal. If you remove the diagonal then you'll need about 35mm of focus tube extension tube with a brass compression ring on the end. Hth :)

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