M57 Ring Nebula - first go

[MarkOwens]

Hi,

Finally got round to processing my first proper data I recorded on Monday with my ED80, HEQ5, Canon 600D (unmodded) setup.
60 x 60s subs, with 25 of each Bias, Flat and Dark frames subtracted.
Image is cropped and JPEG to keep size down for the forum.

Full frame TIFF version (200Mb) here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ni0yd440ouy0aazt76ntu/M57-ring-nebula.tif?rlkey=st5fvgw8533qtpc28ds3kj6m3&st=5ibti7ik&dl=0

Comments on how to improve on this would be welcome - I think the guiding could be better (software was saying c.3 arcsecs on average) which is probably why the stars look a bit out of focus.

Processing I've just used GIMP to stretch the histogram and align the colours, otherwise not tried all the more complex star masks, etc. yet.

Mark.

[Roberto]

Mark
That's a good result. I think the guiding is fine but your focus is soft. I think you can try sharpening it before stretching.

Roberto

[Carole]

That's a really good start.  Stars are round to the corners.

You have done well.  I still don't have plate solving after all these years.