My first CCD image (Ha)

[Uranium235]

Hiya,

After much faffing about last night with the first time setup (took an eternity to find focus!), and all the problems ive been having trying to guide with PHD and capture with Atremis capture at the same time (leading to blue screen of death) - I did finally put together enough subs to make something half-decent. Its a bit rough, but its my first step on yet another learning curve.

I still need to figure out a way of cleaning up the image better, calibration doesnt seem to be going as smoothly as it did with the 1000d. I tried adding bias frames but that seemed to introduce a gradient, though I did use darks to remove the few hot pixels i had.

The one pleasure I had though was sticking my two fingers up at the moon now Im using the Ha filter

IC1805 - Heart of the Heart nebula

8x300s Ha (plus darks)

ED80, ART285, 7nm Ha, 50mm finderguider

Thanks for looking

[SlipperySquid]

Looking really sweet mate! I have also just stepped from dslr imaging into the world of ccd.....one word...Headache.

Looking forward to seeing more!

[Uranium235]

Thanks Youre not wrong about the headache!

But the results were worth it, the resolution and detail i got with this from just 40min is way better than what I got from over 2hours on a dslr.

All hail the 285 chip!

[johnh]

A delightful result from just 40 mins but will need a few hours to get smooth but fine detail showing in that twisted tower of hydrogen in centre of image.

John.

[mark7331]

Very nice result and especially for the relatively low amount of time. Inspiring stuff, must have a go myself.

Mark

[Uranium235]

Heh Thanks, Im still finding my feet in regard to CCD imaging. Its a tricky business, not to mention the USB problems ive had.

Anyway, I thought I would have a go at adding some colour to the image by using Registar to overlay the Ha data from the 285 with colour data that I got from the 1000d. It seems to have worked(ish), it was a bit pink at first but ive fiddled with it to get some of the red back.

[mark7331]

That really looks cool to me. Very good combination skills and I love the detail of nebula with the stars shining through.

[Tim]

Looks like you are getting it sorted out nicely

For focussing you will do well to get hold of a Bahtinov mask, either make one or buy one. No more minutes (hours?) spent faffing around wondering if you have it spot on.

The masks even show you if you need to readjust focus after tightening the lock nut, and if so, which way, in or out.....brilliant! One of the best accesories ever invented for telescopes I reckon

TJ

[R Fisher]

Nice capture, looks good in Ha, Colour data has combined well also. Its frustrating when there are multiple problems capturing and processing but the Bahtinov mask is certanly one accessory that has reduced the focus problem for me also.

[adamsp123]

Very nice capture sir, a good CCD first. Definately agree a Bahty mask is a great tool.

[Uranium235]

Thanks for the positive comments guys, and yep... i think i will buy a proper mask rather than trying to make one myself

If poss, i'd like one for the finderguider too so it will tighen up the guiding a a bit more.... hmmm but im not sure if they make em so small. I will take a look around & see what i can find (might get my dew prevention system while im at it).

[mark7331]

If poss, i'd like one for the finderguider too so it will tighen up the guiding a a bit more.... hmmm but im not sure if they make em so small.

Just a thought: You don't always want the guide start to be totally in focus. Sometimes you get better guiding if it's a bit soft - depending on the seeing. IMHO

[SlipperySquid]

Looking really good fella, I'd be well chuffed if it was mine!

I'm also using a finder guider and don't have a problem with getting it to focus? and by all accounts you get better tracking from slightly defocused stars!

I was trying to image the other night and found my tracking was rubbish, I thought it was due to my mount as I've just stripped and regreased it etc and was still messing with fine tuning the gears in the field.

Anyway I went into the settings for phd and set the calibration step from 1500 to 1800 and the graph was 100% better! no more massive jumps in the guide graph on the DEC. It might still be something wrong with the mount on my set up and I'm going to strip the DEC again today as rain is forecast for the next few days!

Looking forward to more images!

Thanks

Matt.