Pliedes last night

[D Wright]

Here is my third astrophoto. It was taken last night with a nearly full moon using a Canon 450D and a 70-300mm Sigma DG lens at 300mm f5.6. I mounted the camera on my homemade dovetail with camera mounting screw at one end and a holder for my Telrad at the other (best thing I have made yet!). This was then mounted on the EQ mount with the tracking running. It is only 7 x 45 sec subs stacked in DSS and tweaked in Gimp. I would have done more subs but I caught my foot on the power lead and pulled the connecter off and by the time I had repaired it everything had moved. I know that this lens is not the best you can get but for £70 second hand I am really pleased with it. It is a huge step up from the 18-55mm kit lens. I can't wait to try this on a really dark, clear night on something like M31. I also made a homemade Bahtinov mask for my telescope, which I drew with a compass and ruler and cut out of a piece of card. I am pleased to say this worked perfecly with pin point focus. Next challenge is drift alignment as I know my mount wasn't properly aligned.

[faulksy]

very nice, looks like you can just see traces of neborosity (couldn,t spell it) coming through. very nice

[SilverAstro]

Nice one in the face of a full moon !  especially as ( I agree with @faulksy ) you have some neb.! in there.

Was this from home or your dark site at Caldbeck ?

[D Wright]

Dark site at Caldbeck. Moon was awful but I just had to try the lens. The other problem was I couldn't see where I was pointing the Telrad as it was so bright.