M13 - isn't this where everyone begins?

[arad85]

It's a start

2 mins 30secs (5x30secs subs) at ISO 400 from a C80ED unguided. Think I'd like to get some more subs on this one and see if I can figure out polar alignment to give me better unguided tracking - 1 minute subs gave elongated stars, so I had to discard those...

[barkis]

Yep!. You have a good start with it, but a bit more added will make a big difference.

Ron.

[arad85]

Yup - thanks - I thought so from the conversations I've seen on here... To be honest, Monday night was only really a trial to see what was involved (if I'd just let the timer run at 30secs, I could have had another 30 subs given the time I wasted doing 5 @ 1min and 5 @ 2 min...) with DSO imaging. I've managed to get postings in all three sections (lunar, planetary and deep sky) from a couple of hours with two different 'scopes on a single mount (had to change them over mid-observing) - I'm actually quite pleased with that

[Catanonia]

way to go dude. Nice start. Get more subs and better alignment on polaris before you move into guiding. Either that and do what I did, dive straight in with the kit you can get 2nd hand

[bish]

Looks like a great start to me. I've tried astrophotography a couple of times but not achieved anything worth showing, so well done.

[Ant]

Thats a good start.

First, increase the the ISO to 800.

Then get as many images as you can and stack them.

Try slowly increasing the expsure time... try 40 seconds then 45 and see what happens.

ISO 800 and 45 seconds should give you a nice image.

Ant

[arad85]

Thats a good start.

First, increase the the ISO to 800.

Then get as many images as you can and stack them.

Try slowly increasing the expsure time... try 40 seconds then 45 and see what happens.

ISO 800 and 45 seconds should give you a nice image.

Ant

Thanks for the pointers Ant Off to look at how to get better polar alignment to try and up the exposure time...

[vincentnm]

Lovely first DSO. You're right; M13 is a favourite first DSO in summer. And in winter, I guess it's M42.

[Aza]

Good start!

If you have a GOTO, try this method for an accurate Polar align.

I do this everytime I set up, even with guiding.

Tim Tasto Deep Space Imaging and Astrophotography

[arad85]

Hi Arran,

That's nearly what I did last night - the CG5 now has the ability to do polar aligns on any star. That significantly improved both my tracking and slewing accuracy last night. Unfortunately, it did nothing to stop the very thin high clouds rolling in and the C80ED dewing up so the subs I took last night were not as good as the ones that were taken Monday

[Aza]

I have only started using that method since guiding, so I am unsure how accurate it is for unguided. But I should think you would be able to go for upto 2 mins.

Also you have clipped your image in the processing.

I would like to have a go myself if you wouldnt mind, you can upload the stacked tif to here:

Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire

If you do though, please make sure it is the tif straight out of DSS before processing. Although you can drop it to 16 bit instead of 32 bit to save on the file size

Hope you dont mind me asking

I do enjoy practising my processing, and I havent had much chance to get my own data recently

[minimalist]

Definitely a good start there. You will see great improvement when able to do longer subs, but if you don't manage it, try uppig the iso to 800 or even 1600 and taking lots and lots (tens at least) of those 30sec subs.

Daniel

[DeanWatson]

Absolutely! I was on holiday a couple of months back and forgot to load the drivers for my guide camera on the laptop I brought. I still got away with about 20 at 2 minutes on M101 (out of 50 images, 30 had some degrees of trailing so were discarded).

You'll be surprised how long ypu can get away with, with good polar alignment and being picky with your data.

[arad85]

Thanks for the tips everyone

[daryl_lincoln]

I had my first attempt at m13 last night so thought i would post

colours are a bit funny cos it taken through a ultrablock filter

[arad85]

I had my first attempt at m13 last night so thought i would post

colours are a bit funny cos it taken through a ultrablock filter

Oi! this is my thread... No posting pics that are better than mine

How many subs/exposure time/ISO/scope/camera did you use to get this?

Must admit I tried last night to get some more time on M13, but dew, high cluds and - I think - focus not quite on put paid to that. Never mind - bhatinov on order now

[Aza]

Did you try reprocessing the image?

Get any better results?

[daryl_lincoln]

sorry didnt mean to gate crash just thought it you might want to see a comparison <----(da-ja-vu sky at night forums?)

[daryl_lincoln]

sorry didn't mean to gate crash just thought it might be a comparison but yours is v good and sharper than mine

Unfortunatly dont know how many subs it is a colection of 4/30/42 sec subs prob over 200 subs taken but as for how many stacked? sorry

And sorry again if you thought i was gate crashing

[arad85]

Did you try reprocessing the image?

Get any better results?

Still at it Arran.. If I will - it'll be posted here..

sorry didn't mean to gate crash just thought it might be a comparison but yours is v good and sharper than mine

Unfortunatly dont know how many subs it is a colection of 4/30/42 sec subs prob over 200 subs taken but as for how many stacked? sorry

And sorry again if you thought i was gate crashing

200 subs... b***er.. Now I know why yours is better

[Coco]

Good effort.

[Taff]

Hi' thats a nice capture of M13.Mark