North America Nebula NGC 7000 and Pelican

[MarkS]

Carole,

You're there!  Just compare that to the "purple monster" you produced earlier!

You have processed that almost as well as it can be - the only thing lacking in that image is good data.  If you could go to DSC and shoot 2 hours of NGC 7000 data you would be stunned by how different the result would be - you would have your first really good image.

Even if you take 2 hours of data from home (24 subs) you would greatly improve the signal to noise ratio - it would be 3 successive doublings of the number of subs (3,6,12,24) and you can predict what a difference that would make by looking at the example in my earlier posting: http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=6656.0 "How image quality increases with number of subs "

Mark

[Carole]

Thanks Mark, yes I realise that the number of subs was insufficient but clouds intervened, and yes I understand about

"How image quality increases with number of subs "

At the end of the day all the subs I have taken are just my first stab at each object and that alone is a lesson, not even knowing how big and object is until I've actually captured it, so I am glad to get even something as basic as this and use it as my starting block so to speak. 

I first of all need to get my guiding problems sorted out, and I think I am getting there with my flats now. 

So hopefully the only way is up

Many thanks Mark.

Carole

[MarkS]

...  not even knowing how big and object is until I've actually captured it

Use your planetarium program to show you in advance how big it will appear in your FOV.

Mark

[mickw]

This also gives a good visual guide

http://www.newastro.com/book_new/camera_app.php