My First DSO's

[Earl]

A starting point.... 15 second exposures on my Canon 450D

15 seconds was as long as i could push without trails

I obviously need to improve my polar alignment :|

Visually these were just faint smudges, i was very impressed with GOTO alignment.

[moocher]

We all start somewhere mate.....not bad for starters....

Alan:D

[Catanonia]

IS it M5, M13 ???

Very good for a start, much better than my 1st effort.

[Tim]

Isn't it exciting when that object suddenly appears as large as life in your own cameras viewing screen

Focussing a dslr can be tricky, but it is vital to get it perfect, especially for targets like globular clusters. I found a Bahtinov mask used on a bright star made it very easy to get perfect focus, have you tried one?

Cheers

TJ

[ncjunk]

Great first images!

The most difficult part of this imaging lark is when you start out, I found DSLRs entertaining to focus and that when you are not sure what you are doing things take longer.

My first M31 was just a smudge on the screen a complete disaster, your photos are much better than my first ones were.

[Demonperformer]

Are they just one exposure each? That is impressive. You can clearly see the difference between the three globulars. Looking forward to the next installment.

[samtheeagle]

I always enjoy these threads It's great to see people getting their first DSO, it brings back many a happy memory.

Great pics, and welcome to the learning curve!

[Earl]

Yeah these are single exposures, I took 5 of each and chose the best ones.

I find focusing the mask via the Live view to be way more problematic than i was anticipating.

These are M3, M5 and M13

Plenty to work on

[Earl]

Just had a quick play with one

M5

[msinclairinork]

Nicley done mate! and i cant imagine theirs much darkens left in the night sky down there. There certainly in NONE in the Orkney Islands now oh well, hopfully by winter i will have all the necessery equipment togeather to capture my first DSO. I would be over the moon if it turned out as good as yours.

Cheers,

Michael