Second Widefield with my new mod

[Digz]

Ok, so last night I braved the cold weather and tried out my new rig / mod. Details can be found here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-astronomer/114527-my-first-home-made-piece-kit.html

Not the best shot around and its taken about 3 hours of processing and tinkering to get something I am pleased with:

Deneb with North America Nebula

Taken with NEQ6 Pro, Nikon D200 with 70-200VR f2.8 lens @ 70mm. 10 shots at around 120s each ISO800 stacked in DSS and processed in CS4.

I added the red hue to it and tweaked until the image was something I liked aesthetically. Took me a while to realise I have captured NGC7000 at the bottom even though that was my intention!

There is a lot of ampglow at the edges as my camera batteries died whilst taking the darks and I only managed to get two. Only lights, darks and bias, no flats yet, which would help remove some dust bunnies present.

There is a lot I can do to improve this shot but for a first attempt I am really pleased.

Thank you for looking and I appreciate any comments you may have.

[FraserClarke]

I like the red hue too.

Are the diffraction spikes added in post-processing? I can't think of anything in the optical train that would cause these??

[Digz]

Thanks TeaDwarf. You are right there is nothing in the optical train to cause diffraction spikes, I added these in CS4. I must admit the jury is still out on them......