The EQ3 DSO Challenge

[Nigel G]

31 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

I'm having one of those nights, everything going wrong, neighbours left all their upstairs lights on, windy, bit of cloud now, can't find the right sd card but now trying Andromeda just with stock lens. I'll report  back later

Hope you have more luck than me, poored with rain until 22:30

[mikey2000]

1 hour ago, billyharris72 said:

No, I'm really not. Some of these images are superb, and with exposures I wouldn't have thought possible.

I thought the EQ3 didn't support guiding, so wondering if these are manually guided or the mount has been modified in some way?

Actually, just seen reference to Eqmod so that answers that one.

Yep, eq-direct cable is a good connection for the EQ3 Pro. 

 

There are some very determined and resourceful people on this thread....

 

I dream of a HEQ5 but I would probably put my back out when moving it from the garage to the garden every night.  I am dedicated to getting the best out of my 'cheap' EQ3 Pro :-)

Making good images is fun and The Journey is definitely part of the amusement

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, billyharris72 said:

No, I'm really not. Some of these images are superb, and with exposures I wouldn't have thought possible.

I thought the EQ3 didn't support guiding, so wondering if these are manually guided or the mount has been modified in some way?

Actually, just seen reference to Eqmod so that answers that one.

I made my own goto box, which now uses ST4 guiding.

I thought i finally had it dialed then went to a dark sky site and had bad results... eventually tracked to teh gudiescope misting up - no dewshield DOH!

[Nigel G]

A couple of moonless hours last night but only managed to get 1.5 hours before bed was calling.

23x240s ISO 800, darks, flats & bias. modified 1200d, 80ED, EQ3.

PHD2, DSS, ST & PS

NGC281 The Pacman nebula.

Cheers

Nige.

[lalou]

Wow! These are amazing images! This inspires me to keep on trying shots. I've always thought that you can't get decent photos using EQ3 mounts. 

[Art Gecko]

8 hours ago, lalou said:

Wow! These are amazing images! This inspires me to keep on trying shots. I've always thought that you can't get decent photos using EQ3 mounts. 

Of course you can... It just requires a little more effort!

@Nigel G cracking image!! Love the star colours and the faint Ha in the background... Wish I could call a 1.5 hour image a "quickie"

[Nigel G]

Ah the right thread  

Sorry Bob, I posted this by mistake on your NAN thread

NGC 7000 2nd part of 2 panel mosaic.

So I managed to get just under 2 hours of 240s last night on this image at ISO800 to add to my first image from a couple of months ago.

It has turned out much better than expected, both images blended in well.

Modified 1200D, 80ED & EQ3.

Cheers

Nige.

And both images together.

[Art Gecko]

seemless!!

[jjosefsen]

On 09/11/2017 at 18:51, Graham Darke said:

Eq3 pro with a TS65q riding on it.  20 two minute subs through a Canon 600Da. 

Wow beautiful picture, thanks for sharing

I'll go back to pouting over the insanely bad weather here. 3 nights all summer... 3!!

[tony8690]

3 hours ago, Nigel G said:

Ah the right thread  

Sorry Bob, I posted this by mistake on your NAN thread

NGC 7000 2nd part of 2 panel mosaic.

So I managed to get just under 2 hours of 240s last night on this image at ISO800 to add to my first image from a couple of months ago.

It has turned out much better than expected, both images blended in well.

Modified 1200D, 80ED & EQ3.

Cheers

Nige.

And both images together.

These are absolutely stunning! 

I know its a silly question, did you make the colours Red? or is this what the camera picked up and you brought out the colours more in editing?

Thanks,

T

[Nigel G]

16 minutes ago, tony8690 said:

These are absolutely stunning! 

I know its a silly question, did you make the colours Red? or is this what the camera picked up and you brought out the colours more in editing?

Thanks,

T

Thanks  

This is natural colours, the dominant gas is Hydrogen, just a little enhancing in StarTools,

My camera has been self modified which gives it a better red response, and a CLS CCD filter is used to reduce light pollution and improve natural colours.

Nige.

[Nigel G]

29 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

I'll go back to pouting over the insanely bad weather here. 3 nights all summer... 3!!

Oh wow, that's bad luck,

Our weather has been pretty poor but still had 3 or 4 nights a month.

Try swearing at the clouds  the last 2 times I swore to the clouds ( quite bad language too, can't repeat here  ) they cleared off.

Good luck and I really hope you have some clear nights soon.

Nige.

[Peco4321]

My attempt at Pacman Nebula, 1st attempt at this, 120 x 45 sec ISO 1600, plus darks, bias and flats, stacked in DSS, stretched in GIMP, 150p on eq3-2, dual motors, non guided, non modded Canon 1100d, not sure what the line is on the right, half way down?

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Peco4321

[bobro]

8 hours ago, Nigel G said:

And both images together.

Lovely pairing Nige!

[Nigel G]

18 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

My attempt at Pacman Nebula, 1st attempt at this, 120 x 45 sec ISO 1600, plus darks, bias and flats, stacked in DSS, stretched in GIMP, 150p on eq3-2, dual motors, non guided, non modded Canon 1100d, not sure what the line is on the right, half way down?

 

 

Very good first attempt Peter, especially with a non modified camera.

Not sure about the line either, green, a comets path ? is there anything moving through the subs?

Nige.

[mikey2000]

Peter - Well, I certainly had a bit of fun searching for the green line.  But I spotted it in the end!  No idea what it is but it's so hard to see that I wouldn't say it spoils the pic.  Does it happen in every pic?  The stars all look good and a nice variety of colours.  I wonder if you can stretch to 60s+  Certainly when downsizing a pic to post here, it can hide a multitude of issues :-)

 

Nige - please stop posting your red nebula photos.  You are going to make me spend money!!!

[mikey2000]

On another note, I finallly got around to emailing skywatcher about the annoying 19 second periodic error on my mount.   I'll report back here when I find out which screw I need to tighten/lubricate/whatever...

[Nigel G]

34 minutes ago, mikey2000 said:

Nige - please stop posting your red nebula photos.  You are going to make me spend money!!!

Sorry

I'll change the processing a bit  

or

[Peco4321]

52 minutes ago, mikey2000 said:

I wonder if you can stretch to 60s+

Will give it a go next time out, thanks. 

2 hours ago, Nigel G said:

a comets path

I thought that but can't find anything about one nearby, would have been a nice addition to the image. 

[jjosefsen]

On 09/11/2017 at 18:51, Graham Darke said:

Eq3 pro with a TS65q riding on it.  20 two minute subs through a Canon 600Da. 

I Googled that scope of yours, gotta say I really want one for taking on trips. How do you like it?

[Graham Darke]

21 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

I Googled that scope of yours, gotta say I really want one for taking on trips. How do you like it?

I sold that scope but regretted it afterwards. Lovely flat field with my dslr camera. Took some really great images with it. 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Sneaky repost of my M32, taken on an EQ3 witha £25 Tokina lens off eBay, stars not as tight as yours Graham!

No darks, by the way, the joy of a cooled DSLR :-)

Edited September 22, 2017 by Stub Mandrel

[Nigel G]

A couple from last night, A bit of trouble with PHD2 and M17 The Swan a low target, dumped 50% so only finished with 12x120s.

Moved to the Soul Nebula and much better guiding, finished with 24x240s.

Sorry about the red !  

Nige.

 

[mikey2000]

It's amusing how we are all imaging more or less the same parts of the sky.  It seems many of these DSOs are those that are rising nicely into the sky as the year marches on and we are grabbing our opportunities as they arise :-)

I tried the Heart Nebula, knowing it would be too large to fit it all in my view.  Also, the reds are rather elusive for my unmodded camera.  But here we go:

 

18x3 mins.  Stretched to pieces to get any red to show.  I'm not even sure which way up it should go.... 

I might try again using a camera 400mm camera lens insteaf of the scope.  I might fiti it all in then but I'll have to see how having no LP filter works out.

 

[mikey2000]

Andromeda is rising nicely too.  In fact it gets a little to high where I am, by 1am getting near the zenith (and so wrecking my DEC guiding more often than not)  It is another object that's a little to large for my scope.

18x3 mins