Hello from Dawlish everyone!

[Type1Turkey]

I wanted to introduce myself - I'm based in Dawlish, Devon UK. For the last year I've been having fun taking pictures of the night sky. I use a small setup for when I'm camping on Dartmoor (Canon 6D with either nifty fifty or a Samyang 135mm on a Star Adventurer) or when I'm home-based I use my William Optics Zenithstar 73 III APO + flattener with an HEQ5 Pro and either the 6D or an astro modified 2000D along with an ASIair Plus and EAF and guiding with a ZWO mini scope + ASI 1200MM mini camera. I've been adding these bits as funds become available over the last year and attach a couple of pics taken with the kit - I'm outside with the scope in the back garden whenever the skies clear currently!

I can upload stats for each image taken if required but I seldom manage more than 2hrs on a target and know I should invest more time! (M42 here was just an hour 🤣)

Hope to meet some like minded people on here - I've spent far too long looking at posts and not getting involved…

[bosun21]

Hi and welcome to SGL. You will most definitely find like minded individuals among us. Lovely images by the way 👍.

[Ags]

These are very nice pictures! I can relate to short integration times... So much sky, so little time 😃

[Oortraged]

Hey, welcome! Brilliant pictures, and a lovely part of the world to be based in!

[barbulo]

Hi and welcome to SGL. 

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you enjoy the forum and continue to produce wonderful images. 🙂

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[TheTaz]

Hi. Like those photos and what a lovely place to live. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

18 hours ago, Type1Turkey said:

I wanted to introduce myself - I'm based in Dawlish, Devon UK. For the last year I've been having fun taking pictures of the night sky. I use a small setup for when I'm camping on Dartmoor (Canon 6D with either nifty fifty or a Samyang 135mm on a Star Adventurer) or when I'm home-based I use my William Optics Zenithstar 73 III APO + flattener with an HEQ5 Pro and either the 6D or an astro modified 2000D along with an ASIair Plus and EAF and guiding with a ZWO mini scope + ASI 1200MM mini camera. I've been adding these bits as funds become available over the last year and attach a couple of pics taken with the kit - I'm outside with the scope in the back garden whenever the skies clear currently!

I can upload stats for each image taken if required but I seldom manage more than 2hrs on a target and know I should invest more time! (M42 here was just an hour 🤣)

Hope to meet some like minded people on here - I've spent far too long looking at posts and not getting involved…

One hour on on M42?

Wow

Love all these images and was expecting it to need tens of hours

[Stu]

21 hours ago, Type1Turkey said:

I wanted to introduce myself - I'm based in Dawlish, Devon UK. For the last year I've been having fun taking pictures of the night sky. I use a small setup for when I'm camping on Dartmoor (Canon 6D with either nifty fifty or a Samyang 135mm on a Star Adventurer) or when I'm home-based I use my William Optics Zenithstar 73 III APO + flattener with an HEQ5 Pro and either the 6D or an astro modified 2000D along with an ASIair Plus and EAF and guiding with a ZWO mini scope + ASI 1200MM mini camera. I've been adding these bits as funds become available over the last year and attach a couple of pics taken with the kit - I'm outside with the scope in the back garden whenever the skies clear currently!

I can upload stats for each image taken if required but I seldom manage more than 2hrs on a target and know I should invest more time! (M42 here was just an hour 🤣)

Hope to meet some like minded people on here - I've spent far too long looking at posts and not getting involved…

Lovely images @Type1Turkey 👍

You are not a million miles from me, and I do fancy getting to some darker skies on Dartmoor at some point. An pointers for good locations?

I used I take my children camping near Dawlish for a few years, had great fun down there.

[Type1Turkey]

4 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

One hour on on M42?

Wow

Love all these images and was expecting it to need tens of hours

Slightly over an hour - I combined there sets of exposures:

19 x 180 seconds, 20 x 30 seconds & 30 x 2 seconds. It was on 1st feb this year and must have been one of the very few clear, dry and still nights! Thx for kind comments, I have a LOT to learn still hence wanting to tap into expertise on tap on SGL!

[TiffsAndAstro]

2 minutes ago, Type1Turkey said:

Slightly over an hour - I combined there sets of exposures:

19 x 180 seconds, 20 x 30 seconds & 30 x 2 seconds. It was on 1st feb this year and must have been one of the very few clear, dry and still nights! Thx for kind comments, I have a LOT to learn still hence wanting to tap into expertise on tap on SGL!

Do you stack the different exposure then stack the three results? Or maybe each result in a separate layer then selectively combine sections?

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL

[Type1Turkey]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Lovely images @Type1Turkey 👍

You are not a million miles from me, and I do fancy getting to some darker skies on Dartmoor at some point. An pointers for good locations?

I used I take my children camping near Dawlish for a few years, had great fun down there.

Oh wow really! Dartmoor is just generally a lovely place to be only 30 minutes from. I tend to wild camp up there and take a very easy to carry setup (Canon DSLR, Star Adventurer, 50mm or 135mm f2 lens & tripod). I tend to camp near Bonehill rocks near Widdecombe in the moor but there is a fair amount of light pollution from it and Tavistock/Plymouth. I really want to take my hefty setup to Combestone Tor near Venford Reservoir as I think that could be pretty dark…

[Type1Turkey]

13 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Do you stack the different exposure then stack the three results? Or maybe each result in a separate layer then selectively combine sections?

So on this I stacked the different exposures and combined as separate layers within Photoshop as it gave me finite control over keeping core from blowing out and I could use layer masks to finesse the amount of detail brought back in to keep a convincing looks as if were shot all-in-one go. My trade is graphic design so I'm very comfortable with Photoshop hence delay in downloading Pixinsight - but I think I will!

[Zermelo]

Welcome to SGL. I'm based temporarily in Ashburton, during an extended house move. We've been doing as much walking on the moor as the dreadful weather has allowed, and have already been around Venford Reservoir (in the rain). It seems to have turned today, though - a very nice walk around North Bovey, etc.

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, Type1Turkey said:

Widdecombe in the moor

Lovely place, I know it well from previous visits staying in Ashburton. The Rugglestone Inn is very nice as I recall.

[TiffsAndAstro]

10 minutes ago, Type1Turkey said:

So on this I stacked the different exposures and combined as separate layers within Photoshop as it gave me finite control over keeping core from blowing out and I could use layer masks to finesse the amount of detail brought back in to keep a convincing looks as if were shot all-in-one go. My trade is graphic design so I'm very comfortable with Photoshop hence delay in downloading Pixinsight - but I think I will!

Your results speak for themselves. At some point i will have a go at this (but via gimp rather than photoshop) m42 orion has a very easy to overexpose core, hopefully this will work for me too, ty

[Type1Turkey]

24 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Welcome to SGL. I'm based temporarily in Ashburton, during an extended house move. We've been doing as much walking on the moor as the dreadful weather has allowed, and have already been around Venford Reservoir (in the rain). It seems to have turned today, though - a very nice walk around North Bovey, etc.

Love Ashburton - nearly bought a house there but it was right next to a pub which whilst now seems like an excellent option, back then we thought it would be too noisy 🤣 . Some cracking walks right on your doorstep. Lookup Ten Commandments stone near Buckland in the Moor…

[Type1Turkey]

23 minutes ago, Stu said:

Lovely place, I know it well from previous visits staying in Ashburton. The Rugglestone Inn is very nice as I recall.

The Rugglestone - what a smashing pub! Myself and a mate camped up the hill overlooking it and really should've gone down the hill for a couple of pints but didn't think we could successfully get back up!

[Type1Turkey]

22 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Your results speak for themselves. At some point i will have a go at this (but via gimp rather than photoshop) m42 orion has a very easy to overexpose core, hopefully this will work for me too, ty

Orion is a such an iconic target - I'm currently targeting all of the 'Greatest Hits' night sky targets and having a lot of fun. Orion isn't hanging around for much longer in my FOV from back garden so I'm currently shooting galaxies

[TiffsAndAstro]

21 minutes ago, Type1Turkey said:

Orion is a such an iconic target - I'm currently targeting all of the 'Greatest Hits' night sky targets and having a lot of fun. Orion isn't hanging around for much longer in my FOV from back garden so I'm currently shooting galaxies

Yeah Orion is gone for me. Maybe back November time?

Galaxies are my targets too once I'm a bit more dialed in.

M31 too low too

[Zermelo]

1 hour ago, Type1Turkey said:

Lookup Ten Commandments stone near Buckland in the Moor

Thanks for that suggestion. I hadn't picked a walk for tomorrow, and we've not done that one yet : Pil Tor, Top Tor, Rippon Tor, Buckland Beacon and down into Buckland in the Moor.

[Jeff-Colorado]

Your images are lovely.

Welcome and it seems that you've already made friends here. Dawlish and Dartmoor sound like wonderful areas to live and visit.

[woldsman]

Welcome & thanks for posting. Very flexible setup you have there.