Really poor M45

[knobby]

More a bit of a practice really setting up !

managed 10 30 seconds @ 400 iso as I couldn't get the timer release working ...

aligned, polar aligned roughly and guiding all working so not a waste of time , I'm getting the bug for DSO now. It's all very different from planetary but very interesting and challenging.

Lessons learned...

1 check timer release in daylight before set up

2 balance mount with camera attached

3 guiding doesn't replace good polar alignment

4 image processing is very difficult !

 

Happy 2016 all

[alan potts]

Poor, I don't think so, don't forget all the images you see form others showing wonderful star fields that are sharp as a razor from edge to edge are only landed after much practice and many failures.

It's sharp and I can even see a bit of nebulousity in there.

Alan

[StargeezerTim]

Nice round stars... I would have killed for them a few months ago!

Whereabouts do the 'cloud dodgers' meet up. I'm at the Stansted end of Essex. Tim. 

[knobby]

Hi TIM, we sometimes meet at Margaret Roding, not far from you . keep an eye on the venturing out thread in the Essex bit of the social groups . To be fair we struggled last year, Steve (Blazar) and myself met up twice !

[laudropb]

Not as bad as you think.

[knobby]

Cheers all !

[wimvb]

Very nice result. You managed to catch some of the nebulosity of this group.

I would like to add a nr 5 (lesson learned):

Do flat frames.

They clean up the stacked image, decreasing vignetting and getting rid of dust bunnies. This will allow you to stretch the final image more, so you can get more of the nebulosity. I found that processing became easier after I started taking flats.

Good luck practicing!

[StuartJPP]

4 Good pieces of advice! Stick with it, and a good effort considering the obstacles.