NGC 891, not amazing but as it was 1 x20 mins, I thought it was worth a look.
Fay
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1215/1095675516_6746c03bae_o.jpg)
NGC 6960 4 x 10 mins.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1268/1094878467_5cea42e250_o.jpg)
Last night did not go to plan, but that is how it goes with this hobby!
Fay, tremendous - 20 min subs - you are learning very fast - great images & keep them coming... John
Fay,
great images, well worth the wait for.
Keep it up and hope to see more soon.
Tony G
Thanks, I did not put many details on post as I was rushing to watch something on tv!
The sky was not very good, I was happy about the round stars on NGC 891, but not sure if it was a fluke getting that long an exposure, we will see. I will be happy to get a stram of 5 min ones.
NGC 6960. I got a really nice 1 x 5 min a couple of nights before this one, but the sky was, again, a lot better.
When I went out, on the 11th, it was not a satisfying night. I decided to concentrate on one subject, the Veil., K3ccd was playing up & would not cooperate, this happens a lot, that took 30 minutes. Then for the next hour I could not get The Veil on the ccd. I took images of where the GOTO had gone to & compared the star patterns with former imasges of Veil, but could not match them. I went to obvious targets like Deneb, & watched in what direction I had to slew, to centre the star, & tried it again on The Veil, no success. After about 2 hours I shut everything down & started again & GOTO went straight to the Veil.
By this time I was a bit cheesed off, & not sure whether to go to bed or do a couple of images.
It is a palaver setting up for guiding & I think it is best to choose your subject for the evening, rather that move around a lot, as there are a lot of cables & it is hard not to disturb them. Also I never realised, until John told me, that you have to make sure that the guiding camera is aligned East - West & you have to move a selected star, East-West & North- South, with the directional arrows on the handset & make sure that it will go in the correct direction. following a straight line, before starting guiding.
I think I have made up for my sparse narrative of the night before.
Fay
Fay - It is always worth concentrating on just one object, youw ill get far better results that way. Plus in most cases you really need a few hours exposures to get the detail and if you do RGB then you need an entire night.
I have the same GoTo problems from tiem to time. I always quickly home and switch off and back on again, then it seems to behave. Haven't had that with the Version 3 handset so far though.
Thanks Mike,
I think this autoguiding will teach me how to be patient & it will be worthwhile to spend an entire evening on one subject, rather than keep spending a lot of nights, on shorter exposures, trying to achieve a better image that will only be done with a lot longer exposures on one night.
Fay
Hi Fay,
Nice images, One way to be more patient with shooting just one object is to stick your SLR on a photo tripod and take Constellation pictures while your CCD sequence is running. ;-)
Paul , that is a very good idea. I have thought that I would not have time to do both, but using a tripod would be no trouble, as once the guiding etc is successfully on it's way, there would be plenty of time, thanks.
Fay
Take a pair of bino's out too, for a bit of visual stuff. It can get a bit dull just waiting for a set of images to finish.
How about practising playing the bagpipes or sorting out your stamp collection?
Well I could put the broom in a strategic position & sweep the lawn!!!!!While i'm waiting.
Fay
I usually take my binos out and spend some time trying to learn my way around the sky. I am always amazed how quickly I forget stuff if I am not getting out and observing/imaging as often as possible.
I am updating my website at the moment and was amazed to discover the last time I uploaded a pic to the forum was October 2006 !!!
Mike - sounds like it is time to do some more..... Hopefully DSC will be an opportunity - John.
Fay,
Where is a strategic place for a broom?
Oh yes and good to see you are guiding now, when I guide I go inside and watch TV for an hour or two, better than sweeping, and now I have a dog there is less chance of treading in poo whilst walking around trying to keep warm.
Chris
P.S. Not the mouse Poo, dog poo.
What's mouse poo got to do with it? I can understand dog poo & sheep poo!
Chris I can't wait to see your processed images, very impressed with your Lagoon.
Fay
Well unless you want to come around and decorate you are going to have to wait young lady!