First deep sky image - M42 of course

[vds]

Morning all

Tried DSLR imaging for the first time last night. Canon D550 through a Meade 8" LX90. 4x15sec exposures stacked in deep sky stacker and tweaked in photoshop.

I'd appreciate comments.

I guess more subs, longer exposure time next?

vds

[themos]

Great start! Aim to get about an hour's worth of total exposure time and you'll be amazed! I think the individual exposures can be jacked up to close to a minute at least but it depends on your tracking accuracy.

[vds]

Second try at this. Same setup, but this time a total of 15min exposure time. Wanted to do more but the autostar controller on my scope has a habit of sulking when cold.

Got a better field of view this time.

vds

[virtualpilot45]

Seeing all these nebulae and galaxies gives me a headache, trying to think how large they are! That's an amazing picture by the way, wish I were able to do that kind of deep sky imaging!

[continuum]

I also tried DSLR imaging for the first time this week with my 450D through my CPC800 Alt/Az. This single shot of M42 was 25 secs at ISO1600.

Biggest problem I find is focussing as at ISO1600 (the max on the 450D) I can see no image either LiveView or through the viewfinder and I had to keep taking images and adjusting the focus until I got it right. Is there an answer to this?

Ronj

[themos]

You go to a bright star first and do your focusing there, then you "slew" to your fainter target.

[vds]

I used the moon to focus on last night - bright enough to see through the view finder, though live view on the 550D helps a great deal.

vds

[ollypenrice]

That is a cracking Trapezium. Are you shooting at f10? If so the faint outer parts will need very long exposures so the first thing is to see how long you can track for. Again, what a Trapezium. Well done.

Olly

[vds]

Not sure if you meant my Trapezium or Ronj's Olly, and I have to confess mine is a bit of a cheat as I had to use a photoshop gradient mask to layer in a short exposure for them.

When I try to track for more than 30 secs I end up throwing a lot of subs away because of movement. Hope to try for an hour or so of exposure next time I attempt this.

vds

[continuum]

Mine was at the CPC800's FR of F10. 25 secs is about the max and in other areas of sky 25 secs is too much. The penalty of alt/az. I am aware of Olly's view on that and I have to say the cost of a wedge is difficult to justify when the results may still not be great, although I see many good images taken on a wedge especially from the US where fork mounts seem to be pretty popular.

Conumdrums (financial and theoretical) all round!

RonJ