2nd Deep sky - M1

[Andrew*]

With the success of my M42 shot, I got carried away and tried for quite a tricky target - M1.

Left it doing 20x1min shots - came back and the computer had decided to go into standby after 14, of which 8 had been severely ruined by wind and of the remaining 6, 4 were badly affected :? :x

But before I decided to leave the beast unattended, I got two 1min shots which worked out well. Stacked them and tweaked at the settings for ages and got this:

I couldn't get get the most out of the wavelets, because hot pixels start popping up everywhere. And clearly the chip's starting to get warm and I'm getting amp glow.

Okay, now I really see where you guys are coming from - no end to the complications of simply getting a clean image!!

Andrew

[barkis]

My My, who's been a busy boy then.

You are certainly giving it a go Andrew. That is a fine effort too. Instantly recognizable.

Wind blowing things about is a pain, but the 2x1 min. recovery attempt is not bad at all.

That image is every bit as good as the M1 image in my Messier catalogue.

Ron.

[Beyond_Vision]

Well done mate I bet you have caught the bug now

Regards

Kevin

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I can see this becoming very expensive very quickly Andrew. Great capture, have you decided what you have to buy to get it a little better yet?

Seriously, its very very good, you just need to absolutely get the focus bang on with imaging, not just somewhere near like you do with visual observing. Youe eye will compensate for the last tiny bit of poor focus, the camera can't, hence the megabuck micromotorised computer controlled Crayfords that people invest in. The focus in your setup is out by about the thickness of a human hair or less. If you'd got the focus and settings on the webcam bang on that would have come out superbly given more exposure. Keep doing what you're doing, it'll work well.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Andrew*]

Well thank you kindly for your very encouraging comments

Clearly I'll need to work even harder at the focus, which I did spend quite some time on, but obviously didn't get it perfect :insects1:

I have the suspicion that I am undermounted, meaning very slight breeze or knock or anything means the star moves by a minute amount on the chip, producing "out of focus" stars. Could this be true??

Andrew

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Certainly could, but wind damaged images usually have a direction relating to the wind direction so you see lines (like a poor alignment) on the subs. The giveaway is the first and last subs are of the same area if the polar alignment and tracking are good, then you know the lines are the mount shaking. A poor alignment causes the target to drift across the screen (unless you're guiding, then it just rotates) but gives you trails.

If your wind was as bad as ours has been you're lucky to still have the 'scope!

Kaptain Klevtsov

[CELESCOPE]

nice one Andrew a good start , yes i remember well the ole amp glow ,normally creeps in around the 45 second time , its a prob i guess, but this is the start we all go through , things will come better , meanwhile just enjoy capturing those objects , very nice start though .

Rog

[RobH]

Good start Andrew.....KK is bang on re. focus.

I've just been looking at some M37 subs I shot....late at night I thought I had it right but now when I look they're all a tad out....binning the lot!

It's worth spending time focussing, and keep checking too.

Cheers

Rob

[Sam]

Nice one Andrew. M1 is a tricky one but it's certainly satisfying capturing it.

[Andrew*]

Thanks again guys,

So it must be the focus not being quite right. I'll work on that as it seems to be the limiting factor for all my images so far. You should see my 4000 frames of saturn - all miserably out of focus. I just couldn't get the screen to show a sharp image - worked on it for ages :insects1: I didn't think it would be THAT tricky to focus...

Andrew

[lunator]

Andrew

M1 is a very tricky target and I would be happy with a result like this.

You have the bug good & proper now

Cheers

Ian

[Kai]

I recon a Hartman mask would help to get a better focus Andrew (not that its a million miles away).

The problems now start im afraid .

Firstly exposure time.....Martin and Rog both advised me that a hours worth was really what you need to start pulling out the finer detail.I would of thought cutting your subs down to 30-45 secs but doing alot more might be a better way to go.

For now i wouldnt bother about Guiding.

[Andrew*]

I recon a Hartman mask would help to get a better focus Andrew (not that its a million miles away).

Thanks, only 999,999 miles away then! I did have one handy, but can't remember if I actually used it :?

Firstly exposure time.....Martin and Rog both advised me that a hours worth was really what you need to start pulling out the finer detail.I would of thought cutting your subs down to 30-45 secs but doing alot more might be a better way to go.

Should have done this. I never realised till afterwards how bad the wind was. If I'd been watching the subs come through I would have done this. Still, I'm really pleased how much has come out of 2 minutes...

For now i wouldnt bother about Guiding.

Neither would I! :shock: I can't imagine it being a bag of laughs. I don't think at this point that tracking is holding me back too much - clearly 1 minute at f/2.5 gives out a good amount of detail. I'll stick with this until I'm surer of what I'm doing. Then I'll move on to guiding, RGB, etc. etc. I can see it's going to be one long and winding, but picturesque road

You have the bug good & proper now

Ohhh yes! I'm proper hooked now that it's a reality!

Andrew