Excited Over My Attempt On M31

[cjdawson]

Thanks for the kind words Richard. 

About clear sky - I had to travel 400 km into Indian Himalayas to get to this location. I stay in New Delhi where the sky is so washed out that apart from brightest stars like Betelgeuse or Sirius, nothing is visible. I always wonder, what kind of Earth, our generation is will be leaving for our children.

Guiding - can you please suggest what kind of gear should I opt for. Cant afford really expensive ones until I get good experience in handling and operating an inexpensive one.

Warm regards

Pankaj

 I've got a SkyWatcher SynGuider II.  It's an all in one unit, works a bit like a webcam, but it's also got the stuff to connect to a Guide port (st-2).  I'm happy with it and think it makes for a first autoguider as it's an all in one unit.  You just need to make sure that your mount will support it.  (Anything with an ST-2 guide port will work without problems)  You'll also need a piggy backed scope for the autoguider to use.

[Pankaj]

 I've got a SkyWatcher SynGuider II.  It's an all in one unit, works a bit like a webcam, but it's also got the stuff to connect to a Guide port (st-2).  I'm happy with it and think it makes for a first autoguider as it's an all in one unit.  You just need to make sure that your mount will support it.  (Anything with an ST-2 guide port will work without problems)  You'll also need a piggy backed scope for the autoguider to use.

I have an NEQ6 Pro (Version 4) which supports the Synguider. Can I use it with the Orion 8*50 finderscope turned guidescope. Will have this piggybacked on the ST 80A for imaging. Your suggesions please.

[RSM]

Thanks for the kind words Richard.

About clear sky - I had to travel 400 km into Indian Himalayas to get to this location. I stay in New Delhi where the sky is so washed out that apart from brightest stars like Betelgeuse or Sirius, nothing is visible. I always wonder, what kind of Earth, our generation is will be leaving for our children.

Guiding - can you please suggest what kind of gear should I opt for. Cant afford really expensive ones until I get good experience in handling and operating an inexpensive one.

Warm regards

Pankaj

Hi. OK, having to travel 400k is not ideal, however it shows the level of commitment you have to the cause, which is commendable.

I have a Lacerta MGEN II system (bought mine from Teleskop Express in Germany, good service and quick delivery) which is a stand alone unit. It wasn't cheap, but it met my need which was lightweight and usable with my finder scope. I'd read about the subject at length and the Lacerta seemed the ideal option for me. I'd looked at the Skywatcher unit but found mixed reviews. Seemed to work well for some, not for others. The third option I looked at was to guide from my laptop. Probably the cheapest option I looked at but possibly the most complex. As well as lightweight, I wanted simplicity and didn't want to be taking an expensive laptop outside.

In summary, there are different options which will suit different needs.

Finally, the difference in quality of my images is amazing. Unguided I was taking 30-45 sec subs and throwing away 60-70% of them. Guided with the Lacerta, I'm taking 180-300 sec subs and using 95%+ of them. I did a short run of 180 sec exposures on M42 two night ago and it looks like I'll be able to use all 28 subs I took.

Oh, one more thing, the Lacerta system has an inbuilt camera intervalometer which operates my EOS 500D and also dithers between individual subs, which means the background noise is greatly reduced when you process.

Good luck with whichever route you go.

Richard.

[RSM]

As I'm on my laptop now, I can show you a couple of images of the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae which I took over the past few weeks. The first is from 45 second unguided subs, the second from 180 second with the auto guiding and dithering. 

45 second subs

180 second subs

Richard

[Pankaj]

As I'm on my laptop now, I can show you a couple of images of the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae which I took over the past few weeks. The first is from 45 second unguided subs, the second from 180 second with the auto guiding and dithering. 

Flame and Horsehead Nebula small.png

45 second subs

Horsehead Nebula.png

180 second subs

Richard

That was a great piece of info Richard. Thanks a ton. And great image of Horsehead. The difference brought about by guiding is very evident. These are individual subs ?

[RSM]

Hi. No, these are stacked and processed with Pixinsight.