First "proper" go at DSO imaging.

[RogerMc]

Well after my attempts with DSOs here in London with a Watec 120n camera I took the advice from TJ and Arran (thanks guys) and got a CLS clip filter for my 350D. I couldn't believe my luck with the weather last night so I set up the kit to have a go at an easy target and settled on Sadr. It was also the first light for the LVI set up too! So it proved to be a step learning curve with the new additions to my rig but I'm really pleased with the results.

Now please be kind to me as this is my first proper go at DSO processing as I usually image the moon and sun so the colour balance is, well, the best I think I could get. Got loads to learn with PS and DSS. Any tips or advice would be really appreciated.

4x 300 sec

3x 300 sec darks

No flats (got to work out how to do that!)

Equinox 80 350D CLS Clip

short tube 80 guide scope with LVI

Heq5 mount

Hope you like it.

Best,

Roge

[Psychobilly]

Hi Roge...

Welcome to the world of DSO imaging

Very nice first effort I was meandering round Sadr as well last night with my moded 1000D ...

Although I have built a light box for the "72" and it works very well this I have started taking "Sky flats" which are pictures of a featureless area of the sky away from the sun with the camera set to Av mode at the same ISO settign that was used to capture the light frames. I either do this in the evening afetr sunset or in the morning afetr sunrise - ideally you shouldn't change anythign in the imaging train but the focus on orientation of my cameras is usually fixed for a whole session so either works for me... Noramlly its morning ones i use though...

There's some serious crud in there somewhere so ideally you want to track that down and clean it out if it's easy to get at. Flats will improve things but theres no substitute for clean optics.

The image itself - Focus and tracking look good and the noise will improve a lot with more subs. It almost a case of the more Lp you have the more subs that you ned to try and overcome it...

I aim for 1 hour of subs per target as a minimum although this time of year I have cut that to 12 x 4 mins as the night is only "dark" for such a short period of time.

Peter...

[Imahumanbeing]

Thats a fantastic first DSO picture Roge!

Jamie

[Doc]

Great first shot. Considering you are shooting in London and it's only 20 minutes worth of data that is pretty good work.

I love the colours but you do have some dust bunnies so a good clean is in order

[Tim]

There we go, the CLS will make a huge difference to you. All you need to do now (apart from cleaning whatever has those dust blobs on) is to just get more data. It's not easy these short nights, but try to get as much exposure of every target that you can, the results are well worth it.

Even in London, on a not particularly high target, you have captured a fair amount of Ha light in just 20 mins, I took a couple of hours of this area the other night and didnt get too much more than that.

Nice going!

[Tim]

Here you go, here is my effort.

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-deep-sky/80809-ngc6910-sadr.html

When you consider that this is 17 x 600 secs, I really think you can see how well your camera has worked in just 20 mins.

Definetly onwards and upwards, even in London!!

Cheers

Tim