M42 - finally a decent image!!

[Steve_Field]

I finally bit the bullet and came up with an easily removed modification to my Celestron 130 SLT to move the primary mirror about 2.5 CM closer to the secondary so that I can mount my DSLR to the focuser and have enough inward travel to be able to focus the camera.  Previously I had to use a 2x barlow lens to be able to focus and I just wasn't getting the kind of results I was wanting.  Getting the Barlow lens out of the way makes a HUGE difference!!!  This is a stack of 9 30 second exposures at ISO 1600 (I tried ISO 3200 but what I was getting back was too noisy) stacked using DSS.  I did quite a bit of post processing to stretch the histogram, bring out more colors etc. (I still have a long way to go learning PS).  Totally shocked that I was able to get away with 30 second exposures using an ALT AZ mount too... I had 11 images but 2 of them had a significant enough star trailing that right or wrong I didn't use them

 

Anyway here is the result!  I know it's very far from the kind of work I see here but I don't think it's too shabby for my 3 attempt at AP!  What do you think!!

[alacant]

Yep, you've got it. Great shot. Next, try 18 exposures. Then 36. Then 72.... It will turn into a really good image. HTH.

[Astrosurf]

Nice shot. Well done and especially with an Alt-Az mount!

Alexxx

[Steve_Field]

Thanks guys!  Yep, now that I've got the scope configured and the camera settings figured out I will definitely use a bunch more exposures next time!  Forecast is for cloudy nights for the next 15 days but a few of them are to be partly cloudy so I may be able to find a sucker hole one night to shoot something through.

[iapa]

Well on the way with that image.

+1 to increasing the number of lights.

What have you done to stabilise that mount? I had a plastic bag with 6 x 2l bottles of water hanging from the tray, and sand filled legs.

I'll need to dig some of my M42 images from that mount to see how bad they were - definitely not as sharp as yours. 

Well done.

[Steve_Field]

9 hours ago, iapa said:

Well on the way with that image.

+1 to increasing the number of lights.

What have you done to stabilise that mount? I had a plastic bag with 6 x 2l bottles of water hanging from the tray, and sand filled legs.

I'll need to dig some of my M42 images from that mount to see how bad they were - definitely not as sharp as yours. 

Well done.

Had not thought about filling the legs with sand... thats a good idea.  To stabilize the mount, aside from tightening the bolts on the legs and all the other recommendations I've read about this mount, I set it up with the legs completely retracted, got the mount level amd pushed the bottoms of the legs into the ground a bit, then I piled 12 lbs of bean bag weights that I normally use for scuba diving on the eye piece tray.  I'm going hit the hardware store tomorrow and build something that will let me hang the weights under tray to move the tripod's CG even lower... but I have to say the soft bean bag weights work great for this

[newbie alert]

Nice image steve....could do some short exposures for the core/trapezium area..

Are you steve field from Ashford?

[cjdawson]

Don't forget to do the short exposures needed to stop the central trapezium from blowing out.

[The-MathMog]

Beautiful image man! I've got still scope too, and want to get into a bit of simple astrophotography (knowing that an az/alt mount isn't optimal). If I run into the same problem as you, what were the configurations that you made to the mirror?