M5

[gonzostar]

This pic was taken with 12* 2min light frames unguided. With darks, flats and bias, Also with moon at 78%

I was using a SCT 8" with focal reducer on a avx mount and a canon 450d camera last night

 Any advice/ tips gratefully accepted 

Thanks for looking

 

Dean

[wimvb]

Nice one, Dean. Stars are mainly round, so tracking should be OK. But stars are also dougnut shaped; focus was probably off. Do you use a Bahtinov mask? They're not expensive and almost a must have for astrophotography. You can also make one on a rainy afternoon. There should be plenty of instructions on the interweb.

[gonzostar]

Thanks. but dont have a bahtinov mask Yet!  plenty of rainy  afternoons!  

[Demonperformer]

An alternative (if you don't want to cut out all those fiddly strips) is a Lord 'Y' mask.

Nice pic, by the way, of what was my first, and is still my favourite, globular

[gonzostar]

Thanks for that. Will look into it. I have being told about my focus before!

 

[bottletopburly]

You can focus in APT without a bahtinov think its called  FWHM full height half maximum http://www.ideiki.com/astro/Default.aspx

[gonzostar]

That looks super cool. This is my next project getting laptop, guiding camera and photoshop rather then gimp! Small steps  

[Demonperformer]

You are right about the "small steps". And you need to travel at your own pace (IMO). And never judge your results by other people's standards - that way lies misery and discouragement .