The "No EQ" DSO Challenge!

[AstroNebulee]

I have an az gti in az mode, does this count to no eq imaging? 

[Heskyyyyy]

IC 10 starburst galaxy

457 x 10s subs

[happy-kat]

On 01/04/2021 at 06:56, LeeHore7 said:

I have an az gti in az mode, does this count to no eq imaging? 

If it's in az mode with no wedge then it's not in EQ flavour. Have fun having as go.

I've not come across the starburst galaxy before, that was an interesting read up.

[Heskyyyyy]

57 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

If it's in az mode with no wedge then it's not in EQ flavour. Have fun having as go.

I've not come across the starburst galaxy before, that was an interesting read up.

Yeah it's really faint. It's an Ha emitter, so couldn't really get much to show up.

[AstroNebulee]

2 hours ago, happy-kat said:

If it's in az mode with no wedge then it's not in EQ flavour. Have fun having as go.

Thank you Kat, it's in az mode and no wedge phew I qualify, I've been out tonight and got some data on M81 and M82, M3, M53 and the Leo Triplet so hopefully they come good in processing moro, I did get these on Monday night, this is the first time I've ever imaged M81 82 and Leo triplet as never had the 72ed before, it's been a revelation to use. Images taken with sw evostar 72ed az gti, Canon 600d, 1600 iso, 15 secs subs, flat and bias, no darks, 20 secs on leo triplet. I've managed 25 seconds tonight at 1600iso, stars could be a little eggy but will see 

Edited April 2, 2021 by LeeHore7

[AstroNebulee]

These are my images ftom last night on my sw 72ed, az gti and Canon 600D. They comprise of M81 & M82 plus a cheeky NGC 3077, M3, M53 and the Leo Triplet. They are iso 1600 35 x 25sec subs, 5 dark, 20 bias, 10 flat, stacked in dss and tweaked in ps. The Leo triplet are at 3200 iso, 35 x 25 sec subs, 5 dark, 10 flat, 10 bias. I'm pretty happy with these so far and only my second time on M81, M82 and the triplet. My first efforts on M3 and M53. 

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by LeeHore7

[breakstuff]

My first proper go at Orion since getting my AzGti, Skywatcher 72ED and Canon 450d, comprising of twenty two thirty seconds exposures with ten darks and ten bias frames at ISO 800. Processed in Gimp. This is my first proper attempt at astrophotography, and I'm pretty chuffed at how it turned out. 

 

[AstroNebulee]

36 minutes ago, breakstuff said:

My first proper go at Orion since getting my AzGti, Skywatcher 72ED and Canon 450d, comprising of twenty two thirty seconds exposures with ten darks and ten bias frames at ISO 800. Processed in Gimp. This is my first proper attempt at astrophotography, and I'm pretty chuffed at how it turned out. 

 

Fantastic image there, the 72ed is a fantastic scope 

[fozzybear]

46 minutes ago, breakstuff said:

My first proper go at Orion since getting my AzGti, Skywatcher 72ED and Canon 450d, comprising of twenty two thirty seconds exposures with ten darks and ten bias frames at ISO 800. Processed in Gimp. This is my first proper attempt at astrophotography, and I'm pretty chuffed at how it turned out. 

 

is your 450D modified or std? a great image non the less

[breakstuff]

Thanks guys. The camera is totally standard. I'm new to this photography lark, so I surprised myself that I managed to get a half decent shot.  YouTube and this forum has been a great help. I never knew any of this was possible without an EQ mount, so discovering this thread was a complete game changer for me. 

[fozzybear]

6 minutes ago, breakstuff said:

Thanks guys. The camera is totally standard. I'm new to this photography lark, so I surprised myself that I managed to get a half decent shot.  YouTube and this forum has been a great help. I never knew any of this was possible without an EQ mount, so discovering this thread was a complete game changer for me. 

even better then.. great job

[AstroNebulee]

40 minutes ago, breakstuff said:

YouTube and this forum has been a great help. I never knew any of this was possible without an EQ mount, so discovering this thread was a complete game changer for me. 

It definitely is a game changer this thread and goes to show you can do deep sky imaging without an eq mounting, the thrill is in the fun of it when you see the results possible here

[AstroNebulee]

My next efforts for the no eq challenge. Again on my sw 72ed, az gti and Canon 600D. M42 is 48x30 secs 1600 iso, stacked in dss and tweaked in ps & starnet. HH is 36 x 25sec 3200iso,dss, ps & starnet. 8xdarks,10xflat and bias frames. By no means award winners but progress none the less. Probably the last time I'll image these until the winter now. 

Edited April 4, 2021 by LeeHore7

[Tan Zhi Qi]

15 minutes ago, LeeHore7 said:

My next efforts for the no eq challenge. Again on my sw 72ed, az gti and Canon 600D. M42 is 48x30 secs 1600 iso, stacked in dss and tweaked in ps & starnet. HH is 36 x 25sec 3200iso,dss, ps & starnet. By no means award winners but progress none the less. Probably the last time I'll image these until the winter now. 

Beautiful images! 

[Heskyyyyy]

Two star clusters (can't recall their names, NGC something).

482 subs of 10 seconds each @ ISO1600

Quite surprised at the number of stars that were resolved using such a short exposure. I plan to image more galaxies when they come into my quadrant of the sky, so we'll see how the scope holds up and if the focal reducer makes a noticeable difference in detail.

[smisy]

Hi guys! I posted long -long time ago here. Before yesterday I had again some attempt, just for fun with my alt -az mount. I think, it's not bad. M100 stacked from 71 frames and M64 stacked from 45 frames. Both of them are 10 second exposures at ISO 40.000 with Sony A7s and Celestron Nexstar 8 SE. Stacked in Sequator, edited with PS. I used 0.63x focal reducer too.

[JonCarleton]

An attempt at M106...a bit grain-ish.  I blame pollen!  This is 110 images at 20 seconds (I shot more, but had a lot of tracking fails for some reason).  Taken with the Skywatcher 250P.

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by JonCarleton

[AstroNebulee]

Hu

My first attempt at M51 the whirlpool galaxy on my sw 72ed AzGti and Canon 600D, 79x30sec subs, 5 dark, 20 flats and bias, 1600iso, stacked in dss and tweaked in ps. Think I need to do my processing better will have to learn more but happy so far. 

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by LeeHore7

[breakstuff]

That's still a great pic @LeeHore7 Very impressive. I too had a go a couple of nights ago as conditions were perfect. Unfortunately I was getting tracking issues, so by the time I'd finished trying to sort it, I only got 40 x 30 second subs plus darks and bias frames. Still got some issues and my processing still needs a lot of work, but still managed to capture something.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by breakstuff

[AstroNebulee]

2 hours ago, breakstuff said:

That's still a great pic @LeeHore7 Very impressive. I too had a go a couple of nights ago as conditions were perfect. Unfortunately I was getting tracking issues, so by the time I'd finished trying to sort it, I only got 40 x 30 second subs plus darks and bias frames. Still got some issues and my processing still needs a lot of work, but still managed to capture something.

 

That's a pity about your tracking issues imaging M51, what is your set up? I'm still learning about processing myself  properly, keep watching the videos and tutorials plus there's very helpful members here. I've just bought astro tools and astro flat for ps so hoping that can help me better process also. I think the more subs the better in any imaging. I've only just managed to control my urge to inage a few things in one session so now I only image one and get lots more subs on it instead. I imaged M101 100x30 secs last night so hoping they process well, clear skies 

[Space Oddities]

1 hour ago, LeeHore7 said:

That's a pity about your tracking issues imaging M51, what is your set up? I'm still learning about processing myself  properly, keep watching the videos and tutorials plus there's very helpful members here. I've just bought astro tools and astro flat for ps so hoping that can help me better process also. I think the more subs the better in any imaging. I've only just managed to control my urge to inage a few things in one session so now I only image one and get lots more subs on it instead. I imaged M101 100x30 secs last night so hoping they process well, clear skies 

That's an excellent picture! You captured lots of details, especially considering the fact your used an Alt-Az mount. Well done!  

Perhaps you can use the temperature tool (I think there's one in Filter > Camera Raw, but I'm not sure that's the right menu name) to adjust the warmth of the image. It looks very orange on my screen, but decreasing the temperature should bring our the blue tones of the galaxy. That might be due to the white balanced used by your camera.

You might also be able to slightly realign the R, G and B channels in the curve window (CTRL+M, I believe), the blue channel might be slightly misaligned with the R and G, which creates this yellowish tint.

[breakstuff]

This is my set up  @LeeHore7

I'm using Gimp for processing. Look forward to seeing your images of M101. 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by breakstuff

[Stu1smartcookie]

On 03/04/2021 at 19:50, LeeHore7 said:

It definitely is a game changer this thread and goes to show you can do deep sky imaging without an eq mounting, the thrill is in the fun of it when you see the results possible here

Glad the 72Ed is working out Lee ... i am returning my AZ-GTi to AZ mount ... To be honest its a bit of a pain in EQ mode . ... great pic of 101 . 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Stu1smartcookie

[AstroNebulee]

2 hours ago, Space Oddities said:

Perhaps you can use the temperature tool (I think there's one in Filter > Camera Raw, but I'm not sure that's the right menu name) to adjust the warmth of the image. It looks very orange on my screen, but decreasing the temperature should bring our the blue tones of the galaxy. That might be due to the white balanced used by your camera.

You might also be able to slightly realign the R, G and B channels in the curve window (CTRL+M, I believe), the blue channel might be slightly misaligned with the R and G, which creates this yellowish tint.

Hi

Thank you for your kind comments and advice, as I said I'm still very new to all this, I will try your suggestions out on my M51 image I agree it looks orange on here, I thought it looked OK in photoshop so not sure if converteting to jpeg caused more orange. Going to give astro tools a blast also. Clear skies 

Edited April 14, 2021 by LeeHore7

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Glad the 72Ed is working out Lee ... i am returning my AZ-GTi to AZ mount ... To be honest its a bit of a pain in EQ mode . ... great pic of 101 . 

 

Thanks Stu, what was the issues with usdung the az gti in EQ mode you were suffering from. I can reliably get 30 sec dubs with mine in az mode which is great I think. My M51 image was quite pleasing to see it emerge in processing, I'm loving my 72ed it's an amazing scope and so proud to own it, produces fantastic images and so portable, clear skies 

Edited April 14, 2021 by LeeHore7