M33 and a ramble..

[steviemac500]

I was so excited to have some clear sky last night, new Bahtinov mask to try out, guide camera sussed out, target selected, and dual speed focuser as well that I rushed it. Even in Cyprus it was blumming freezing and my synscan alignment left a lot to be desired so I had to redo it. By the time I'd sorted out my exposure time I was getting a bit frustrated. Finally got there and got the guiding going but even that, which had seemed so simple the other night, was causing issues - RA not accurate or words to that effect. But I let it go, it seemed to be holding for the 5 min subs I was after. The end result was of course out of the 20 lights that I took, 7 were eventually usable - guiding was pants which you'll see in the main picture and either the cloud had rolled in when I left it running or, peculiarly, the exposure increased itself dramatically towards the end of the run - very odd but the histogram seemed to suggest this. Oh, and I didn't even bother using the focussing mask in the end (focuser upgrade very good though- cheap one from 365 not uber expensive Skywatcher one)!!

Tried taking flats using the laptop screen this morning but it was too small so gave up and ran the files through DSS. Results weren't fantastic. I kept getting a very odd looking halo effect from the centre of the picture and radiating outwards. I couldn't get rid of this despite a fair few hours of tinkering - annoying as I was sure there was some good data in there. Eventually went back to DSS and on a hunch changed the calibration from "per channel" to "RGB channel" which removed this strange effect completely. The picture below is the end result of this longish episode of photography which I think is OK but could be so much better - criticism as always, is appreciated . The moral? Don't know but I'm pretty sure ill be taking my time tonight

[MARS1960]

Very nice image Stevie, well done.

If i can finally get an M42 even half as good tonight i will be very happy.