New equipment and my first target M101 - 11hrs 30mins

[PH-R]

Upgraded my old EQ6 (non GOTO) to EQ6-R and Canon D10 to 600D and now I can do proper long exposure pictures 🙂

My first image is M101 11hrs 30mins captured between the 22 and 25th April 2020.

Obviously a lot to learn on the processing side. However, I am really chuffed with this result, especially considering I am using my good old gold Skywatcher 100ED (0.85 reducer).

Watching APT do an auto meridian flip was a sight to behold and very satisfying.

What I think I learnt, I should use much longer exposure times and higher ISO(gain) on faint targets like these. I could hardly see M101 without stretching sub at 180 secs ISO 800. I imaged M92 on my last night as a test at ISO 1600 and subs of 300 secs and the back ground looks great.

Fingers crossed for clearer weather tonight as I am hoping to start getting M51 data later on. ( we all live in hope 🙂 )

Full size plus crop attached.

 

 

[Skyline]

This a  very good image done with what some might consider a slow scope to image with.

I recently imaged M3 with my C100ED and thought the results were much better in contrast and depth compared to my 130PDS.