Help wanted: Sky-Watcher Startravel-102T Ota for Astrophotography

[AstroKane]

Hi guys - UK weather finally gave me a chance to put all my new gear/knowledge together..Still a lot to learn but I managed to get an Orion shot.

For me this is a massive milestone, so I am really chuffed...I also LOVE my SW ED80. I have attached my Orion attempt from last year to show my advancement 

[SimonS]

Great shot! I am just starting out with astrophotography and to be able to catch something like that will be a dream. Look forward to seeing any others that you capture  

[AstroKane]

4 hours ago, SimonS said:

Great shot! I am just starting out with astrophotography and to be able to catch something like that will be a dream. Look forward to seeing any others that you capture  

Thank you  - it feels like my first 'proper' astro image. I was blown away by the detail considering it was a full moon and the light pollution where I live is quite bad.

The SW 80ED is a fine imaging scope so I am sure you will have plenty of success! Clear skies.

[AstroKane]

UPDATE - Hi All, thought I would update this thread. The Orion image above is still my best image to date, but, in reality that was a total fluke. I have really struggled to get all my new pieces of kit working together, be it polar alignment, objects not in my FOV and all manner of other newbie mistakes. Part of the fun eh!

Over the last few weeks I have gone back to basics. My last two sessions have gone so well in terms of set up that I have literally felt like the sky has opened up.

Since I started AP I wanted to image M51 (no reason really, just think it looks cool). But being a relatively small target I simply never caught sight of it. Fast forward to last night and, oh what a dream for me.

Set up my mount, scope, camera etc checked the balance had a rough PA. Picked out Vega, quickly slew to it with the HC to focus my ED80. Once I was happy with that I started up my PoleMaster (still to date one of the best bits of kit I have added to my rig) completed the PA. And then completed a 2 star alignment along with 2 calibration stars. The difference this time is I didn't use the finder scope, I aligned via my DSLR and EOS Backyard this seemed to work out a treat. I think sometimes when aligning, I wasn't really sure what star I was aligning too.

Once the calibration stars were added I slew to M51 and BANG it couldn't have been more centred, I am still excited now thinking about it ?. Of course I am in the UK and the clouds rolled and I had to pack up only getting 10 mins of lights (60second subs) and a few darks (I am currently unguided). With a rush process the below cropped images are to me better than my lucky Orion image as they represent real progress.

Next steps, add guiding to my setup. Add calibration frames and learn how to use processing software properly!

Clear Skies!

Kane