I had a WOW! night

[JemC]

Hi all

So after about an hour messing around last night with the Mak 127 and Jupiter(starting to get frustrated)  i decided to change scopes/camera so got the 130P-DS and 450d out, Now one of the problems i have is alignment?
I can see the stars I want to align with visually but when it comes to looking through the finder/eyepiece this is where i fall apart because somebody just stuck a whole load more stars in there and now i don't know what star I'm looking at  and i know my
alignment is not correct  but i press on regardless and align to what i think is the correct star ...so having done all that it's time to explore

settings for all the following images if i remember correct are
iso 800 - 120sec x5 -  darks x 5 -  bias x 10
no other processing has been done other than run through DSS and saved as jpeg mainly because i don't know what i'm doing

this to me is where the WOW! happened, I know these images are not going to win any awards but i am chuffed to bits at having captured my 1st Galaxies,
I select M81 Bode's Galaxy, let the mount do it's thing then fire up the camera and this is the image that appears on the screen
M82 Cigar Galaxy(i think), now i don't care at this point that my alignment is out (i know i should) but I just got my first DSO image,

so after this image i thought i'll send it to M82 and see where it goes, well it's BIG GRIN  time for me as i got both M81 and M82 (i think) in the same image :-)

Well im drunk with excitement now and to be honest i cannot remember what target i entered in the handset for the next image but in the next image i got not 1 not 2 but 3 DSO in the frame, can someone please identify what these are, they where towards the south and not to far from Jupiter?

What a night :-) 1 poor Jupiter and 5 galaxies,

Like i said, i have a long way to go and a lot to learn, nothing like a challenge

i really need to sort my shed out and get it converted then i dont have to cart all the electricals and other bits in and out the house to set up
any comments/critique/adjustments welcome.
 

Regards
James

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice captures: The second has a third DSO on the right: NGC 3077, my first non Messier NGC object, 36 years ago . The lower image shows M65, M66 and NGC 3628

[JemC]

4 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Nice captures: The second has a third DSO on the right: NGC 3077, my first non Messier NGC object, 36 years ago . The lower image shows M65, M66 and NGC 3628

Thanks Michael

just googled those in the last pic and that says they are what is known as the Leo triplet, I'm even more chuffed now   and a 3rd one in the 2nd so that makes 6 in total, fantastic

Regards
James

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Yes, that is one of TWO Leo triplets, the other one consisting of M95, M96, and M105

[Catanonia]

Congrats, I remember the 1st time I captured a galaxy, I had to let everyone know and I was bouncing around the garden like a lunatic

Now the slippery slope of wallet emptying begins, hope your are prepared 

[JemC]

1 minute ago, Catanonia said:

Now the slippery slope of wallet emptying begins, hope your are prepared :D:D:D

I'm prepared, not sure the boss is

[Knighty2112]

Well done on your galaxies capture.  

[Grotemobile]

,Well done James. I would not  know, were to

start with DSO imaging. Darks ,flats , bios.

No idea.  Very good pictures.

 

Steve.

[laudropb]

Congratulations. Very nice images.

[Ruud]

Congratulation, James, you made a good start indeed.

Clear skies and happy imaging!

 

 

[kendg]

Very nice indeed. 

As for your alignment, a while back someone suggested using astrotorilla. With my setup it works a charm. A bit trying to get it setup but worth it.

Astrotortilla plays very nicely with eqmod and BYEOS.

[JemC]

45 minutes ago, kendg said:

As for your alignment, a while back someone suggested using astrotorilla. With my setup it works a charm. A bit trying to get it setup but worth it.

Astrotortilla plays very nicely with eqmod and BYEOS.

Thanks Ken

This is something i will need to look into, currently only use the handset, so will need to look at upgrading pc and installing ascom   

[DaveS]

1 hour ago, Catanonia said:

 

Now the slippery slope of wallet emptying begins, hope your are prepared 

Yep, next stage a cooled mono CCD and filters .

You could also get a LP filter, and if you don't already have one, a coma-corrector for the 130 PDS

[JemC]

6 minutes ago, DaveS said:

You could also get a LP filter, and if you don't already have one, a coma-corrector for the 130 PDS

i have a LP filter but forgot to use it last night  a coma corrector is something i will be looking at getting as well as a bahtinov mask