Finally a break in the clouds

[Jules Tohpipi]

So this is only my third EAA imaging run after getting the camera and SharpCap. It's been a very long wait to point the telescope at the sky again! Last night was the 5th Sept. Only downside was most objects of interest were in the wrong place...

I'm using a cheap refractor ST102 on an AZ-GTi in Alt-az mode with a ZWO ASI585MC and SharpCap Pro.  

Below is M31 Andromeda galaxy - or at least part of it.  Initial attempts at shorter exposure times weren't revealing much, so I pushed the boat out and upped the exposure time to 30 seconds to see how my setup would cope. Quite pleased with the result at this earliest of stages in the learning curve. 20 frames live stacked in SharpCap each exposure 30 seconds with camera at 270 gain. Directly underneath the image is a screenshot showing M31 orientation in SkySafari at the exact same time and blue borders are the camera frame. Only processing is black and mid points in the histogram. It was a nice surprise to see vague hints of dust lanes and other bits.

 

 

 

Next was M57 the Ring nebula. This time dropped down to 10 seconds exposures, 30 of them at camera gain 500. I tweeked the dark end of the histogram in SharpCap - probably too much.

 

I'm still trying to get to grips with things. But aside from the pleasure of actually getting some images, last night marked a first - I got SharpCap and ASTAP plate-solving to work and re-centre my scope. Well sometimes it worked. In another post I might have some follow-up questions about that! 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Jules Tohpipi

[PeterC65]

Great results for an early attempt. Better than my first efforts.

M31 looks a bit white which may be down to lack of a UV/IR cut filter. The IMX585 is sensitive to IR which can be useful at times but doesn't always give the best colour rendition.

30s exposures with an AZ mount are right on the limit. I never go beyond 15s.

 

[RobertI]

Excellent job, you’re on your way! 

[Jules Tohpipi]

Thank you for the kind comments!

While I've still got a lot to learn, I hope my sharing of beginner's attempts adds to all the existing encouragement for those thinking of giving EAA a go and what can be achieved even in the  early days. While also running easily as a good visual set-up too.

Thanks for the heads-up on usage of a UV/IR filter. I've got the ZWO UV/IR filter but didn't use it on this occasion and was wondering what had made M31 so white! Another thing I'm not fully clued up on about when best to use or not. Please keep the tips coming.

All I can say is that seeking and observing faint fuzzies through a dob is a good sport and has its virtues. But running some simple EAA is proving great for bringing even more of the universe to the back garden when out under the night skies  

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Jules Tohpipi

[M40]

Great results, I would be very pleased if I managed to get your images 👌

[PeterC65]

I use the UV/IR pass filter for most broadband objects, so star fields, star clusters, brighter galaxies, and reflection nebulae. I use no filter (actually I use a clear filter to keep my filter wheel parfocal) for faint galaxies where I want to collect every pixel. For emission nebulae I use a UHC filter.

[Jules Tohpipi]

Excellent summary thank you. I'll start experimenting based on that.

[PeterC65]

I'm still experimenting with filters for EAA.

I've been using the Astronomik UHC filter which is fantastic for visual but not so good for EAA as it passes IR and suffers from star halos. Optolong filters seem to be the favourites for multi-narrowband imaging and I'm considering their L-eNhance filter for UHC.

 

[bosun21]

On 06/09/2023 at 21:31, PeterC65 said:

Great results for an early attempt. Better than my first efforts.

M31 looks a bit white which may be down to lack of a UV/IR cut filter. The IMX585 is sensitive to IR which can be useful at times but doesn't always give the best colour rendition.

30s exposures with an AZ mount are right on the limit. I never go beyond 15s.

 

Good advice 👍.