My first night of GUIDED imaging (Mallincam)

[AstroEd]

[Daniel-K]

what a great first haul of objects good job

[szymon]

Lovely pictures! Can you share a little more about the equipment and techniques used?

[AstroEd]

Thank you Daniel.

Szymon I used a 11" EdgeHD on a CGEM DX mount Mallincam Extreme on top of that scope is 80mm guide scope with Starlight Xpress Lodestar for guiding. Software: Miloslick, PHD 1.xx I put the exposure info on the Miloslick software but found out after that when I take a image the info overlay is not on the photo so I do not recall exact times for each image. They average between 45-120 seconds. I also have a Meade series 4000 Nebula-narrowband filter on the Mallincam. I am new to this hobby maybe 5 weeks total scope time so far, it has taken me this long to learn how to get my scope setup and properly aligned to make guided imaging possible and these images are my first time guiding. I had issues and made mistakes but all in all I am happy with the results.

Next I have to learn better settings on the software, how to take and use dark frames and proper post processing in PhotoShop CS5, Registax and other software, and learn what filters to use on what objects.......Yes lots to learn and so little brains.

[adamphillips]

how did you mount the 80mm guidescope? is it the orion?

I have the same edge 11hd on the CGEM DX mount.

I tried guiding for the first time last night and failed with the OAG, I bought the QHY5L-ii camera for guiding. I couldn't get it in focus, I have a lot of tweaking to do still and possibly better software setups.

anyways, I might want to try a guidescope and see how it might perform

[adamphillips]

sorry I can see you have the celestron and I looked it up, it looks like it will fit the edge 11

[AstroEd]

how did you mount the 80mm guidescope? is it the orion?

I have the same edge 11hd on the CGEM DX mount.

I tried guiding for the first time last night and failed with the OAG, I bought the QHY5L-ii camera for guiding. I couldn't get it in focus, I have a lot of tweaking to do still and possibly better software setups.

anyways, I might want to try a guidescope and see how it might perform

I have the Celestron 80mm Guide Scope on a ADM dovetail on top of the scope.I have to make some changes on my Telrad though the scope knobs hit the Telrad switch when putting it on.

[AstroEd]

I tried guiding for the first time last night and failed with the OAG, I bought the QHY5L-ii camera for guiding. I couldn't get it in focus, I have a lot of tweaking to do still and possibly better software setups.

anyways, I might want to try a guidescope and see how it might perform

I had to use a extender tube to get my guide cam to focus distance I actually just took the lens of a old cheap celestron Barlow I had and it worked. Do not know if that will help with a OAG or not.

[PhotoGav]

I tried guiding for the first time last night and failed with the OAG, I bought the QHY5L-ii camera for guiding. I couldn't get it in focus, I have a lot of tweaking to do still and possibly better software setups.

I had to use a Barlow with no lens in it, so essentially an extender, to get my QHY5 in focus in a Celestron OAG on an Edge 8", so definitely worth trying something like that with your set up. Good luck!

Back to the OP - congratulations on getting guiding up and running. I'm well impressed that you managed it with a small guide scope. I failed miserably with my edge. Resorted to the OAG, which worked wonderfully well.

Yes, lots to learn with this AP mullarkey and post processing is the real key to great looking images (so long as you have perfect data!). Good luck and enjoy the journey.

[javajunkie2121]

Thank you Daniel.

Szymon I used a 11" EdgeHD on a CGEM DX mount Mallincam Extreme on top of that scope is 80mm guide scope with Starlight Xpress Lodestar for guiding. Software: Miloslick, PHD 1.xx I put the exposure info on the Miloslick software but found out after that when I take a image the info overlay is not on the photo so I do not recall exact times for each image. They average between 45-120 seconds. I also have a Meade series 4000 Nebula-narrowband filter on the Mallincam. I am new to this hobby maybe 5 weeks total scope time so far, it has taken me this long to learn how to get my scope setup and properly aligned to make guided imaging possible and these images are my first time guiding. I had issues and made mistakes but all in all I am happy with the results.

Next I have to learn better settings on the software, how to take and use dark frames and proper post processing in PhotoShop CS5, Registax and other software, and learn what filters to use on what objects.......Yes lots to learn and so little brains.

nice images astroed...how did you connect the Mallincam to the EdgeHD?  I just got the edgeHD 1100 ..and I have my mallincam with the MFR5 focal reducer..and I'm trying to figure out the positioning of the mallincam to achieve focus

jeff