M27 First attempt

[Keiran]

Not brilliant i know.. A nice dark site.. but at ISO400. 26 x 81 sec subs.

I will use this as experience, higher ISO and slightly longer expo...

Got rid of alot of the star travel problem I had in my last images... only ditched 4 subs this time.

I was abit disapointed with it though... I was expecting more.

Darks and flats...

I am using a 2x barlow... could this cause a lack of detail, due to reduced aperture?

What do you think?

[Psychobilly]

The trouble with usign barlows etc is that you also need to increase the exposure time...

Seeign as the pics are beign reduced in size to display on the net you would be better off imaging at the native focal lenght and cropping the image rather than resiszing it...

It looks like the Sony doesnt seem to be very sensitive to the red Ha so you have catured the green OIII reigons and the color in the satrs but hardly any Ha...

There is a reason why most DSLR users use Canon's for Astro...

Peter...

[shaunster]

the stars are much improved though

Why were you using a barlow? just for higher mag or to come to focus?

[Keiran]

Just for the higher mag... I think I will have another go to night if the skys are good... And i will forget the barlow.

Peter.. I thought that i was having trouble with the reds. I bought the Sony about 3 years ago now... more for photography than any thing else... now i have a scope, im using what i have. I think it may be a good idea to upgrade to a canon...

Thoughts on this, or is there a filter i can buy to help the sony along ?

I think if i get time tonight, i will remove the barlow, and try iso 800 and about 80 to 100 sec expo

[Psychobilly]

Theres no add in filter that will boost red... without camera "surgery"

I am not sure if theres a filter removal mod for the A100 .. but it seesm to be a decent camera for non astro use so i would be inclined to leave it alone.. and keep an eye out for a "cheap" Canon...

Inthe meantime there are plenty of other targets that aent so dependant on the Ha responses of the camera - Globulars and open clusters , Asterisms, M31 and M33 will be fine when they become more favourably placed , as will M45 which is a "blue" Reflection neb ...

Big improvement inthe tracking .. those stars look very good and the fact that you losing less subs is also very encouraging

I would go for a confidence boosting target like M13... to prove its not anything you are doing its just a limitation of the filtering in the Sony...

Peter...

[Keiran]

Okay that sounds like a good idea,

Thank you peter