Let's see your 1st DSOs

[lux eterna]

I had been working quite a bit on a barndoor tracker, and finally it was time for testing. I remembered some wise words saying what counts is three things:  dark sky, dark sky and dark sky. So I went out of the city and polar aligned (sort of),  put my standard dslr and a 300 mm zoom lens on the tracker and managed to find M42. This is the least catastrophic of the 4 sec exposures I took. Then I was hooked... 

Ragnar

[petevasey]

Well done!  Nothing quite beats the kick you get from the first succesful deep sky image!

But ' Then I was hooked ' :  Start saving 😉

Cheers,

Peter

[AstroExploring]

Posted in a thread I started but thought I’d post here too. M31 Andromeda. So, so pleased with my first effort with the 72ED, what a great bit of kit that is! Been so frustrated for so long using a cheap DSLR lens and not getting great results but that is now a thing of the past! Goodbye money!

[robster]

Borrowed a camera from work for the weekend and mounted on my EQ5GT mount. Polar alignment was rubbish because I was rushing.

This was my first time using anything like deep sky stacker, and the first time I've taken a photo of the sky. I was fairly impressed with the results, although I didn't seem to get the flat files right, so I didn't use them - 100 lights, 50 bias and 50 darks.

Sony A9II with a 200-600 f5.6-6.3 lens set at the long end. ISO800, Shutter speed of six seconds.

[Endolf]

My first attempt, taken on the 6th Feb, the first night I got my new mount up and running, the first time I managed to photograph a DSO. I only managed 10x120s subs before the clouds came over. My girlfriends Canon 1000D, my old (I've had it at least 20 years) Orion Optics Europa 150 f/5. I was unable to focus the camera in prime focus setup, so I was using eyepiece projection with a 38mm ep. M42 was only about 30 degrees above the horizon, bortle 6 skies according to the map I've found, and it was quite close to a very bright moon. My first attempts at processing were horrible, this isn't much better, but I did finally persuade ASTAP to stack 8 out of the 10 subs. I've never done any photo processing before, so it's all a learning curve. I didn't take any darks that evening, but I took some a few days later sat in my lounge, much warmer camera, but it did make a bit of a difference. Next time I'll know to take darks at least.

I've changed the setup now so I have the end from an old barlow lense on a shorter nosepiece for the DSLR, just got to wait for some clear skies now to see what I can manage.

Edited February 18, 2020 by Endolf

[MarsG76]

On 19/02/2020 at 02:45, Endolf said:

My first attempt, taken on the 6th Feb, the first night I got my new mount up and running, the first time I managed to photograph a DSO. I only managed 10x120s subs before the clouds came over. My girlfriends Canon 1000D, my old (I've had it at least 20 years) Orion Optics Europa 150 f/5. I was unable to focus the camera in prime focus setup, so I was using eyepiece projection with a 38mm ep. M42 was only about 30 degrees above the horizon, bortle 6 skies according to the map I've found, and it was quite close to a very bright moon. My first attempts at processing were horrible, this isn't much better, but I did finally persuade ASTAP to stack 8 out of the 10 subs. I've never done any photo processing before, so it's all a learning curve. I didn't take any darks that evening, but I took some a few days later sat in my lounge, much warmer camera, but it did make a bit of a difference. Next time I'll know to take darks at least.

I've changed the setup now so I have the end from an old barlow lense on a shorter nosepiece for the DSLR, just got to wait for some clear skies now to see what I can manage.

Awesome.. reminds me of what my 1st M42 look like...

 

[Lancebloke]

I just had my first attempt at m42 this evening. The histogram looks like I blew out the image a little bit but it came out ok with a quick bit of processing.

I will look for a good tutorial of processing the nebula at the weekend... might get a little bit more out of it before I can try and shoot it again.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

17 hours ago, Lancebloke said:

I just had my first attempt at m42 this evening. The histogram looks like I blew out the image a little bit but it came out ok with a quick bit of processing.

But to compensate you got plenty of the faint stuff. Tip, when doing M42, get the main data, then quickly take 20-30 images each a 10 seconds long. That's plenty to give you a 'trapezium' layer to blend in.

[Lancebloke]

Managed to get some more colour in the image. Learning the whole processing thing but more luck than judgement at the moment. 

I will try and get both the colour and the detail/nebulosity when I get a few hours tomorrow. 

 

Well... final process below. Think that is about as good as I can get it.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Lancebloke

[Johns22]

Here is my first attempt at M42 Orion from back on 6th February 2020. At this point it was my first time using a Skywatcher 200P with EQ5 GOTO mount and a Canon 600D Stock DSLR Camera. Images captured via Backyard EOS and consisted of:

Lights = 30 x 20 sec @ ISO800

Darks = 10 x 20 sec @ ISO800

I have processed this with Photoshop, to which I'm a complete newbie as well! Happy with the detail, need to work on colours. The scope was also out of collimation at this point and I didn't have a bahtinov mask either.

Just waiting on more clear skies!

[Merak]

M31 last year was my first 'proper' go at DSO's with lights, darks, flats etc.    Canon 70D with Sigma 150mm lens on camera tripod with no tracking, short exposures(4-6seconds, hence trailing on stars) at ISO3200 and processed to almost within a inch of itss life.

I have thought about getting a half decent ap set-up but it seems like something I'd swear by, or swear at!

Edited March 23, 2020 by Merak

[oymd]

This was my very first attempt at DSOs. M81 & M82

Taken on 23rd March 2020.

This is the results of 3 15 second unguided subs of M81 & M82. ASI294MC Pro on ED80. Had no idea then how to do calibration frames.

I was blown away by just seeing anything on the screen!

Edited April 5, 2020 by oymd

[celestron8g8]

I have too many film image packages to go back and find my first DSO but i got my first film camera a Pentax K1000 SLR back in November 2002 and this was my first successful capture . A Leonid meter going through Orion constellation .

 

[glafnazur]

Hi, this is my first attempt - M81 & M82 taken on 16/04/20. I used a Nikon D750, SW Esprit 100ED. It was unguided and something like 150 x 10 second at ISO 1000.

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by glafnazur
Images not showing

[Stub Mandrel]

On 18/04/2020 at 20:44, glafnazur said:

Hi, this is my first attempt - M81 & M82 taken on 16/04/20. I used a Nikon D750, SW Esprit 100ED. It was unguided and something like 150 x 10 second at ISO 1000.

I see stop signs, not pictures...

[glafnazur]

18 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I see stop signs, not pictures...

I've tried again, can you see them now?

[David_Scotland]

Well my first images, got both on the same night were taken late last year with my WO Redcat51 and a Canon SL1 Rebel unmoddified.

Not the greatest images when i look at them now, but at the time i was pleased as punch

[miguel87]

My first attempt at DSO. My fourth astrophoto ever! I need some flats desperately and not to spend too long messing with colours. I like some of the detail in M82 tho. Considering the cloud came in early last night and this is only 15 minutes of exposure.

[R1k]

My first ever DSO!

M101 with a very cheap (£30) Canon 75-300mm kit lens at 300mm f5.6 mounted on a HEQ5 pro.

Date: 14/6/2020

Lights: 28 x 90sec, ISO 800

Darks: 16

Bias: 60

Flats: Nil

 

Stacked in DSS and processed in PS CS6

 

Lots of faff to get this one, first polar aligned to a pseudo-polaris, then star aligned to a pseudo-arcturus, must’ve been around an hour of messing around before data capture, must continue to practice! 

 

Happy to receive feedback. If anyone wants to have a go with the data, I’m happy to email across the stacked TIF.

[MarsG76]

8 hours ago, R1k said:

My first ever DSO!

M101 with a very cheap (£30) Canon 75-300mm kit lens at 300mm f5.6 mounted on a HEQ5 pro.

Date: 14/6/2020

Lights: 28 x 90sec, ISO 800

Darks: 16

Bias: 60

Flats: Nil

 

Stacked in DSS and processed in PS CS6

 

Lots of faff to get this one, first polar aligned to a pseudo-polaris, then star aligned to a pseudo-arcturus, must’ve been around an hour of messing around before data capture, must continue to practice! 

 

Happy to receive feedback. If anyone wants to have a go with the data, I’m happy to email across the stacked TIF.

excellent 1st DSO... runs rings all over my first DSO....

[Demonperformer]

That is an excellent M101. Bodes well for your future efforts.

[Stu]

2 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

That is an excellent M101. Bodes well for your future efforts.

Particularly of M81 perhaps? Tee hee.

Great picture @MarsG76

[Paul M]

22 minutes ago, Stu said:

Particularly of M81 perhaps? Tee hee.

Great picture @MarsG76

Yes, close, but no Cigar! 

(too warm for a coat...)

[Stub Mandrel]

Took me numerous sessions to get that much M101 with a dslr. It's not an easy target.

[R1k]

Thanks for your comments guys, very kind. Have a SW 80ED on order so will see how I get on with that 😀