M51 - While I was asleep...

[m000c400]

After the children went to bed last night I set up my kit up on the patio. As as the forecast was very clear I decided to leave it out all night... When I woke up this morning I was so impressed with this I had to share it.

Now I know others take more impressive shots, however I'm using a simple SW150p ( ie not even the fancy DS version) on a manual EQ3-2, but with a home made dual axis motors and controller system. My camera is a "spares or repair" Nikon DX40 (from a popular auction site) that I removed all the IR filters from and cost me £40, plus a whole lot of other home made & DIY kit do do everything else you need (you should be getting the idea by now...)

Image is from 59x300s  with other correction frames from my library.Full image is here http://www.astrobin.com/160090/0/ I love how the dust is beginning to show, as I never thought I'd be able to capture that with such basic kit.

Thanks for looking

[carastro]

Excellent result from not ideal kit.

Carole 

[red dwalf]

Well done, excellent work.

[tingting44]

not half bad at all mate! and while you were sleeping haha, love it !

[Peakedge]

Very good. I think I need to start having early nights!

David

[jimbo747]

Fantastic! I love looking at images taken with so called 'sub standard' kit, I find just as impressive as shots taken with £x000 dedicated imaging setups

[Ewan]

This is what it's all about.

Like you say nothing too expensive in the kit but blimey you have to be chuffed with that finish, well done.

[Nathan_Pembs]

Excellent

Also have the non fancy 150P, it's a very capable, underestimated scope

[LukeSkywatcher]

Not too shabby at all. Fair play for the results. If i was an imager, i dont think i could leave my gear out overnight just because the weather people say it will be clear. 

[Brent]

Excellent image, well done, especially considering the gear!

I also use the 150p and can't see me ever selling it. I used a single drive EQ3-2 with it for 3 years as well. Some images from the combo on my Flicker page but nowhere near the quality of this.

[jabeoo1]

The fact that you have DIY'ed gear & used a camera which could have just remained in a cupboard dormant makes this achievement an eye-opener to many I am sure.  This was the first object of the deep sky I saw in a telescope & it therefore holds a place dear to me.    

You should be very proud of that image. 

[strutsinaction]

Excellent capture, thanks for sharing!

Skies over Cambridgeshire were pretty clear last night. I was tempted to lug my kit out but thought the moon was too bright so decided against it Clearly I was mistaken, given your results. Well done!

Regards

John

[Zadoq]

That's very impressive of the kit you have. Well done.

[Adamar98]

I can't fault it. Well done. I often thrown together bits of diy kit. Some work, some don't. You seem to have it spot on.

[Coco]

Superb, I fear this result may trigger a reduction of family days out and tightening of budgets to allow the purchase of better mount and cooled camera, be warned, success like this can lead to an expensive desire to progress further.. Welcome to the hopelessly incurable

[Davide Simonetti]

Very impressive and quite inspiring 

[danccat]

Fantastic!

[decuypere]

Telescoop?

[jam1e1]

Well done, despite being against the odds from less expensive kit! [emoji1]

[Thalestris24]

Very impressive - well done!

[Pompey Monkey]

Wow! Great work!

[robbie c]

Fantastic image well done keep up the good work

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest]

Gutsy move leaving the rig out over night - I'd freak out :-)

Nice shot with a an impressive DIY set up

David

[Christopher Davenport]

Great stuff, I love it when a plan comes together