Finally managed some PHD2 guiding! M81 & M82

[ShrimpBoatSteve]

After what has seemed like weeks of tweaking and trying to get used to the software and hardware I managed to get guiding working well. It took ages to get the polar alignment correct using PHD2 drift tool, but this was down to me! Also went through Astro Baby's HEQ5 tweaking again and took out any slop in the mount, which I did before but apparently not very well.

On test shots I was able to get 15 - 20 minute subs without any trailing, I would have tried for longer but was excited to actually image something.. This is a big step up from the previous 90s maximum before.

As a test I decided to image M81 and M82

Light 20 x 120s

Dark 20 x 120s

30 Bias

30 Flat

Quick bit of processing in PI, and cosmetic stuff in Lightroom.

Can't believe how far I have come since starting 6+ months ago, I never thought I would be able to get images like this on my budget!

Now I just have to wait for the skies to clear again ...

[ShrimpBoatSteve]

Out of interest can anyone identify the fuzzy in the bottom left?

[laudropb]

Very nice image.

[ShrimpBoatSteve]

Out of interest can anyone identify the fuzzy in the bottom left?

Found it! Didn't look right in Stellarium but Cartes shows it as NGC 3077

[wimvb]

Found it! Didn't look right in Stellarium but Cartes shows it as NGC 3077

People on this forum had noticed the "fuzzy" before, but I'm not sure they identified it at the time. Nice to know what it is. Thanks.

[tomato]

Nicely done

Getting guiding to work always seems to be a big step forward.

[ollypenrice]

That's a roaring success. There seems no evidence in your background sky level to suggest that you couldn't go for longer subs and you say you can guide them. I'd give that a go.

If you can dither, even manually (ie move the scope between subs by a few pixels or so) or even do that just a few times during your run, you'd find the background sky easier to flatten and colour-neutralize.

Guiding is, in my view, the life-blood of imaging. It's no big deal and it makes all the difference.

Olly

Edit. PS, did you give it a little dose of SCNR Green? If not I'd give it a try.

[ShrimpBoatSteve]

Thanks Olly,

I'm going to increase the sub lengths and reduce the ISO next time. Also need to invest in a coma corrector, but I'd rather get everything else right before spending more!

I think I did SCNR, can't really remember as it was a rush process to see what it looked like. Once I get used to the excitement of being able to guide I will re-process some old subs.

Cheers,

Steve

[Stargazer33]

That's very nice. I would be well chuffed with an image like that! Good luck with your longer subs and clear skies!