Final first light

[PeterW]

Finally got light with a lodestar I got a while back, connected to a 50mm lens on an EQ6. This time the autoalign and tracking seemed to work properly. I tried to shield out local stray light and used some filters (640nm longpass and 12nm hydrogen alpha), not sure what to expect regards exposures and the like. I could see some stars and some nebulosity very faintly, but nothing amazing yet. Stacking 10-30sec exposures gave a smoother result. The session was frustrated by random thin cloud that smeared across the image and a nasty splodge on the sensor (looked a bit like a dark nebula when I stretched the histogram!). I might use a longer lens next time so the field of view is smaller and objects appearing a little larger and interesting.

Cheers

Peter 

[Z3roCool]

Have you got a copy of your shot? I am looking to use my 50mm and try and get a good shot of Barnard's loop in the New Year from the Sahara. Only have a non modded DSLR so may be hard to get the red Ha element to show.

 

[PeterW]

I faintly saw IC1318 around gamma Cygni, but not as well as NV can show. I only saved one or two shots, which were pretty poor... probably need to do more practice on a better night. Halpha will be hard with a non-modded camera, check with others about ways to get the best results.

BTW Barnards loop is cool, also the angelfish nebula perched on Orions shoulders too.

PEter