Managed a few hours of data in not ideal conditions

[teoria_del_big_bang]

What with the weather and a high work-load on at the moment , plus still some ongoing issues with my setup (mostly issues with USB cables) I have not had my imaging setup out since middle of last year.

Anyway battling wind and clouds that came in just as I was setting up and stopping me even polar aligning for quite a while, I trusted the "Clear Outstide" app that said the clouds would clear and I am glad I did. Eventually got everything working in a fashion. I did pick an easy first target "Orion Nebula" mostly because I just wanted to prove things out and secondly at start of session was about the only bit of clear sky I could target from my back garden.

I am still very new to imaging but anyway managed around 20 3 minute subs. Some were not too good due to bits of cloud and still some issues with elongated stars on a couple so I have quickly staked 11 subs, no darks or bias frames yet, I will leave camera taking some darks when I go to bed and some bias frames later. As for flats , not got to grips with those yes.

I have now moved on to a bit more challenging target "Rosette Nebula" hence the quick alignment, stack and a quick bit of processing of Orion whilst taking these. I know there are things I still need to improve (maybe focus for one, I did focus with a Bahtinov but maybe not to well) also need to get to grips with guiding, I have the gear and PHD2 but not got this to work reliably yet so gave up tonight and let the mount do it's best.

As these are only about my 4th or 5th image I am quite pleased with the initial results. Criticism is welcome as it is how we learn (not too harsh though I do have some feelings ? )

 

Steve

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Also a very quick stack of Rosette Nebula. There is something there but not too clear. I have some more data to add and will do this later and try to bring the image out better.

[astrosathya]

The 1st Orion photo is really good. So is the Rosette. You are  good in the game. All you now need are 10min subs with guiding. Try using "Astrophotography Tool", a well featured software for capturing images. It also has a tool called Bahtinov Grabber, FWHM, HFR etc for aiding precise focusing. I use FWHM focusing for my CCD.

All the best.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

6 hours ago, astrosathya said:

The 1st Orion photo is really good. So is the Rosette. You are  good in the game. All you now need are 10min subs with guiding. Try using "Astrophotography Tool", a well featured software for capturing images. It also has a tool called Bahtinov Grabber, FWHM, HFR etc for aiding precise focusing. I use FWHM focusing for my CCD.

All the best.

Thanks for the encouragement, yes I am pleased with it. I think if I get my USB connections sorted I can guide and I do had the full version of AT which I just recently downloaded (brilliant for such a small price) but again need time to get to grips with it. ? 

Steve

[astrosathya]

4 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Thanks for the encouragement, yes I am pleased with it. I think if I get my USB connections sorted I can guide and I do had the full version of AT which I just recently downloaded (brilliant for such a small price) but again need time to get to grips with it. ? 

Steve

We have the same mount Stave. I built myself an EQMOD-BT adapter and run the mount via Bluetooth. No issues at all and 1 cable less to trip on. It opens up a huge set of features like Drift Align and Plate solving with APT etc.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Yes I will loo into that, mount actually runs okay it is mainly the DSLR and guide camera that sometimes stop communicating. Sometimes work fine then other times a pain, just so unreliable which is not what you need.

 

Steve