M51 Widefield (first guided exposure)

[Alestrom]

Hi

This is my first attempt at guiding (manually), from last night. I piggybacked my 1000D and Sigma lens onto my reflector, using the main scope to guide (turns out to be a painfull process stooping over to eyepiece level for so long!). I also did my most thorough drift align - but like a fool I did this before mounting the camera so I'm pretty sure I moved it, also not helped by kicking one of tripod legs slightly...

Still with no time to put it right (work in the morning, 6.30 alarm) so I went with it, hence there was some drift North-South. I only have a motor drive for the RA axis, so I couldn't compensate for this. I found it surprising how many stars can be seen through the camera viewfinder when the focus is spot on, I could star-hop straight to M51 that way.

Anyway here is the result, and a crop of the galaxy area.

19 x 2 minute subs and same of dark frames, at ISO800.

Lens at 300mm f/5.6

Stacked in DSS with Sigma-Kappa method.

Processed in PixInsight LE

Any suggestions or criticisms welcome, I am just getting to grips with image processing

[Alestrom]

One thing I forgot to mention that may be of interest to anyone with an EQ3-2 mount - the counterbalance weights were not heavy enough to balance the sope, camera and lens - I had to gaffer tape a small dumbbell to one of them!

[gary1968]

Thats a very nice image. And to think you got that on a eq3/2 mount, guided manually, well done that man I say!! I have had 1 go at M51 to date and it was nowt compared to your image.

Thanks for sharing.

Gary

[Alestrom]

Thanks. I am quite hampered by my mount, I have to choose between a small image scale like this or a larger scale through the newt. with smeared stars!

[RobH]

First class effort with a 3-2 and manual guiding

You must be well happy

Cheers

Rob

[zhgutas]

Wow that actually IS very very nice. Manual guiding eh?.. You don't see that very often..

Marius

[Starflyer]

Well done, great image, your determination has definitely paid off

[gerard33]

Bravo for your efforts:hello2:

[johnrt]

Well done that man.

[daz]

Excellent work indeed! I skipped the manual guiding in my learning curve, but I bet 40odd minutes gave you a crick in the neck!

[Alestrom]

It certainly did! Another issue I have is that I don't have a programable shutter release, so I had to keep looking away to check the exposure length! Because of this, some of the subs were longer than they should have been (one was 2 mins 21) but I overrode this in DSS to tell it they were all the same. Doesn't seem to have caused a problem...

Cheers everyone. I can't wait to try this setup on a larger target - M31, M45 and NGC7000 spring to mind. Shame it's the wrong time of year... Any suggestions for the spring?

[Psychobilly]

Very nbice and I salute your dedication :)

You might have got away with out overiding the exposure lenght in DSS AFAIK it only gets used for matching the calibration frames to the lights...

Peter...

[Moonshane]

I don't know much about imaging but just be proud of what you achieved with the gear you have - I reckon it's an inspiring achievement. it goes to show that with patience and skill you often get great results

[MartinB]

Great result making all the effort worth while. Manual guiding sounds like hard work

[iamjulian]

Very impressive and inspirational. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming!

[PortableAstronomer]

Manual guiding. My goodness. Respect.