Well at least its a image

[Kai]

Last night was far from ideal to be out imaging (even in Ha) what with the Moon high and incredibly bright (no dark adapted eyes for me ).

The purpose for last night was to try out my new H9 ccd along with using Maxim for the first time.Using Maxim was painless enough but i need to spend more time on getting the focus spot on .On the positive side Phd performed faultlessly

So how did i get on.........

Well here's a stack of 8 5min subs taken on a ED80 pro with a Starlight H9 CCD with a 7nm Baader Ha filter in place.Be gentle on me as it is my first image in at least 6 months

(click to enlarge)

Steve

[Psychobilly]

Hi Kai,

A you said yourself the only issue is focus eveything else seems to be working ok.

Have a look at tha focus aid thread in the imaging discussion area - theres is a template for an ED80 mask here...

http://www.btinternet.com/~psmithuk/Focus_Masks/Skywatcher_ED80/PS_SWED80_Fullsize.pdf

Billy...

[Kai]

I have already saved the mask Billy , just need to get around to getting one cut out

My ickle brain couldnt cope with too many new things all at once :violent1:

[Psychobilly]

A few people have been using black plastic folders to cut the masks - I have made a quick one by printing on photo paper and giving a quick spray with black paint. I Leave a few tabs outside the mask and hold it in place with a bit of tape... Thats until I get the posh metal ones cut

Looks like there might be somethign else going on in the pic as well as the out of focus images are showing a bright spot offset to oneside... :scratch:

Billy...

[Kai]

Yup i have seen that , looks like something not in line in the Optics , maybe the Ha filter ,maybe something else :scratch:

[Ford Prefect]

Nice image Steve, especially considering the conditions. Glad every thing worked for you. Roll on the next clear night eh

Cheers Jon

[CELESCOPE]

Hi Steve ,yes i see that mate , Trudie has the same problem, something not square on there mate , but should be easy to sort , nice to see you back in the saddle again ,and looks like you will be knocking some good images out ,once that alignment is shorted

Rog

[steppenwolf]

Ok, Steve, the focus is out but you can resolve that easily enough! I am curious though, why use PHD when you now have Maxim which has an excellent autoguider facility built in?

[LostNSpace]

Thats not a bad result Steve even if focussing is a tad out.......We all know how much of a nightmare focussing is....

Mark

[Kai]

Ok, Steve, the focus is out but you can resolve that easily enough! I am curious though, why use PHD when you now have Maxim which has an excellent autoguider facility built in?

Steve upto last night i hadnt used Maxim to get a image let alone guide with it , i used Phd as i was used to it and its easy to use i find.Maybe with time when i have explored Maxim a bit more then i will

[Greg]

Looks good....Much better than my bubble pic from the other night.. :crybaby:

[Whippy]

Congrats amigo, onwards and upwards as they say .

Tony..

[Taff]

Hi Kai' Thats a nice capture of the neb.Taff

[MartinB]

Well done Steve, great to see you back in action again. Did you use the focus routine in Maxim. Select bright star under the focus tab, start then move to the inspect tab and adjust focus using the star image and the FWHM info. Make sure the max value is less than 65000. On a bright star it is almost like focusing in real time.

The guiding in Maxim is very easy. There is an excellent tutorial on Maxim which walks you through the whole process.

[Kai]

I did use the focus routine in Maxim , but i have to admit to using Vega. Not the best target i know but i had new toys to play with