Double Cluster from sept 5th 2014

[VigdisVZ]

As you might have seen I've already bounced this one a few times in the forum (and on swedish Astronet) to get some feedback. And I don't think I'll do anything further with it, so here is the official version! 

Since I don't have a backyard obsy it's always a struggle quickly hit the road out to a darker site with my gear whenever there is a reasonable gap in the clouds. This time I also had to throw away half of the subs because focus crept off slightly mid sequence. In the end I got about 39x30sec subs at ISO800 (timer remote I bought last week was faulty),16 flats, 40 bias and 1 dark (I thought I took a sequence, but I took a single by mistake).

This is the first time sucessfully using T-shirt flats. There is a slight gradient left, but that could possibly be LP from the airport.

The yellow star color just jumped at me, but there wasn't really a hint of blue so I had to fiddle around to get the balance right, so color wise it might have slight hint of artistic freedom.

I've learned a ton reprocessing this image over and over, can't wait to get my hands on a coma corrector, guide solution, working timer remote and who knows, maybe an astromodded DSLR.

Thanks for looking.

[tingting44]

i really like this! very nicely captured and very nice star color!

[Mr Bergman]

Hey Carl, 

 

nice image! An easy autoguidingsetup is to use your 9x50 finderguider with a qhy5 camera and phd. The total cost of this operation will only be the camera and a piece to fit the camera to the finderguider. A cheap and fully functional solution. And you will also have a perfect planetary/lunar ccd:-)  I bought my camera and a c-mount adapter for ( right angled, make sure to chose the right one if you walk this path. ) finderguiders from Modern Astronomy. 

 

And regarding modded dslr´s. Check out Juans site; http://cheapastrophotography.vpweb.co.uk/ His Baadermodded 1100d seem good. There is also an option with JTW astronomy, but I have not seen any reviews from them.  

 

 

 

/Erik

[Mr Bergman]

Hey Carl, 

 

nice image! An easy autoguidingsetup is to use your 9x50 finderguider with a qhy5 camera and phd. The total cost of this operation will only be the camera and a piece to fit the camera to the finderguider. A cheap and fully functional solution. And you will also have a perfect planetary/lunar ccd:-)  I bought my camera and a c-mount adapter for ( right angled, make sure to chose the right one if you walk this path. ) finderguiders from Modern Astronomy. 

 

And regarding modded dslr´s. Check out Juans site; http://cheapastrophotography.vpweb.co.uk/ His Baadermodded 1100d seem good. There is also an option with JTW astronomy, but I have not seen any reviews from them.  

 

 

 

/Erik

Oh, and this is not meant as advertising, but just a tip on where to find parts, since I had to look for a while before finding what I looked for. 

/Erik

[VigdisVZ]

Thanks Erik, not sure yet if I want to lug around a laptop to run PHD. But I guess that road is more future-proof than a Synguider/Nexguider. I'm also undecided if I want a comacorrector or get a new frac instead...