M31 & M45 - First light with Astronomik Clip Filter

[AndyUK]

Having battled against light pollution and also my not so accurate polar alignment, I've been basically resigned to the fact that my max exposure is about 90s, and even that at ISO 1600 which has given me real grief with noise... so...

I bit the bullet and finally bought an Astronomik EOS clip filter which I tried out last night for the first time (together with a new Dew ribbon heater). I'd also given my mount a grease-up over the weekend and re-fitted the polarscope and decided to try some fairly widefield shots of M31 and M45 (as they're pretty handily placed in the sky at the moment).

Aside from the filter taking out ALL the light pollution , and the dew heater ribbon doing exactly what it was supposed to do , I was amazed that I could easily hit 150s unguided at ISO 800 with my 180mm/f4. I know I could probably crop into these, but I actually quite liked to see them in their starfields.

Details: Canon 40D, Sigma 180mm/f4, ISO 800, 150s

M31 - 78 subs, 20 Darks, 20 Flats, 20 Flat Darks

M45 - 24 subs, 20 Darks, 20 Flats, 20 Flat Darks

(Thanks for looking - Still plenty of room for improvement, and I now have a guidecam.... I just hope I can get it to work!!!)

[Deneb]

Nice image, just pmed you.

Nadeem.

[paul11]

I think these have come out really well, well done,,,,, Paul.

[AndyUK]

Cheers both - Much appreciated... Very kind...!

[TJSnapper]

Andy,

great images, I have been wanting to capture something like this for some time but have never managed to get round to it. I've sent a PM with some newbie questions Hope that's ok.

Tristan

[Rick88]

Very nice