First go at M51

[gonzostar]

Hi This is my first attempt at M51. 

As some off you know i am unguided at the moment. But managed to get 11*2 min lights at iso1600, With a 8"SCT with focal reducer on a avx mount

Stacked with DSS and processed using gimp  

Moon was about 60%

Thanks for  any tips and advice, and for looking

 

Dean

[bish]

That's a good effort, well done. Sorry I can't offer tips as I'm not an imager.

[Chris Murray]

Hi Dean, thats a realy nice shot,  the way i see it is to reduce all those funny shades, you can shorten the exposure and capture more of them, so as to cut the light polution, this makes it simpler for the software to deal with, also you get sharper stars as less drift, the more you do the more you know what your own gear can manage, the better your skys the longer you can go, good luck, again nice

chris

 

[gonzostar]

Thanks for the feedback. The idea of shorter exposures sound good. The omly problen with that i feel is that because of the pollution DSS will not pick up many stars  especially in some areas of the sky 

[Chris Murray]

ok you dont say your using a lp filter? i was speaking to Bern at Modern astronomy the other week and he says i need a CLS as the best way to cut through the polution, with my qhy8l, which is basicaly a cooled dslr sized chip,  if your using a Canon they do a clip filter, you have to expose a bit longer but i think it cuts most of the stuff that is harder on the software, im at the step where i just a got a mono camera to try to beat this so im at the bottom of a new ladder myself

chris  

[gonzostar]

20 minutes ago, Chris Murray said:

ok you dont say your using a lp filter? i was speaking to Bern at Modern astronomy the other week and he says i need a CLS as the best way to cut through the polution, with my qhy8l, which is basicaly a cooled dslr sized chip,  if your using a Canon they do a clip filter, you have to expose a bit longer but i think it cuts most of the stuff that is harder on the software, im at the step where i just a got a mono camera to try to beat this so im at the bottom of a new ladder myself

chris  

Sorry forgot to say yes i defiantly use a CLS filter which helps alot, Also i am looking into a guide camera. However also need a laptop Did try a synguider but found that a challenge. 

[Chris Murray]

im not doing a sales pitch but the orion minigiuder i have is just great, i had to tweek it a little to get realy good graphs but out of the box it was easy and very good, it was on my cg5gt and now with my quattro and eq6gt, it just works, i tried other cameras and struggled, back to the orion and away again, my personal expereince.

chris

[gonzostar]

Thanks Chris Will certainly bear that in mind when i am ready to buy  

[todd8137]

Great first image you me be excited to get going and now have a great start point ,learning your scope cameras and software ,and processing is a lot to be going on with and mastering them all ain't easy .we look forward to your future images 

pat 

[gonzostar]

Thanks Pat 

Guess all practice especially in the processing. Also need to sort out a suitable guide system.It is unlikley i can go more then 3mins because of light pollution near brighton!