M31 and Helix

[Cosmic (Daniel)]

Gday all,


Managed to get some snaps from the almost finished obs.


M31- 50x40secs @800iso 10sec pause
Helix- 8x700secs @200iso no pause



Equipment:

NEQ6-Newton 200/f5-Orion Autoguider-D610 cooled to 12 degrees those days.


Side question do I sinply need a more sensitive guide camera to pick up faint stars..m31 was hard to find a bright star?


Hope you enjoy the quick snaps I have taken. I dont post too much on here...but sure do like looking at all the great images you guys have been taking


I got a few little issues to sort out but that shouldn't be too hard. Think the main one is camera tilt from the weight of the small fridge on the back of the newton



Clear skies all!

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Nice work Daniel, they look good and your cooler seems to be doing it's job on controlling noise under your warm Darwin skies. How fortunate you are to be able to capture a great shot of M31 like that from Australia. I've managed it from way down here in Victoria but at 10 degrees altitude I'd never get anything as good as yours. I'm always surprised more Northerners on this forum don't give it a go, it's such a spectacular galaxy. Helix has nice colours too, so for short integration times you've done well. The Obs looks like it is coming along nicely.

[silv (Annette)]

Lovely! If you allow me this suggestion, I'm certain you can squeeze out more detail at the lower edge of Andromeda from your data. Particularly the distinct brown bands of which only 1 is currently visible in your processed version. There's more in your data. And what more there is is less blue, I suspect.

[Cosmic (Daniel)]

Originally Posted by Mickoid

Nice work Daniel, they look good and your cooler seems to be doing it's job on controlling noise under your warm Darwin skies. How fortunate you are to be able to capture a great shot of M31 like that from Australia. I've managed it from way down here in Victoria but at 10 degrees altitude I'd never get anything as good as yours. I'm always surprised more Northerners on this forum don't give it a go, it's such a spectacular galaxy. Helix has nice colours too, so for short integration times you've done well. The Obs looks like it is coming along nicely.

Thank you Mick.
I think I'm going to grab a carbon fibre OTA for this camera tilt, hopefully that will fix the problem. Because yes it dose do a great job knocking down the temps...its just a little to heavy I suspect.


I wish I could have found one bright star to do longer subs than 40secs on Andromeda. The skies here have been nice and clear to I was lucky to be able to get some captures as the clouds are moving in. Going to grab more subs for Helix so I look forward to seeing where that takes me over the next few days.

Originally Posted by silv

Lovely! If you allow me this suggestion, I'm certain you can squeeze out more detail at the lower edge of Andromeda from your data. Particularly the distinct brown bands of which only 1 is currently visible in your processed version. There's more in your data. And what more there is is less blue, I suspect.

Cheers Annette, I will revisit the processing and see if I can better the image. I might even simply get more subs happening Such a big target its hard to fit in the frame.

[petershah (Peter Shah)]

lovely set of images

[PeterSEllis (Peter)]

You have some great shots there Daniel, it looks like you have a Dark site, oh how I envy you.

Cheers
Peter

[Lee]

Great shots.... the obs looks great too....

[multiweb (Marc)]

Nice shots. Love the obs! I see you have little helpers too. Good stuff.

[vlazg (George)]

Considering how hot it has been up here lately, well done.

Green with envy on the observatory, looks great.

[RickS (Rick)]

A nice couple of shots, Daniel! You must be able to see quite a long way north. The Qld Astrofest folks that always point their scopes that direction would be jealous.

[Ross G]

Very good photos Daniel.


I especially like your M31 shot.
You have captured some nice detail.


Ross.

[Cosmic (Daniel)]

Originally Posted by petershah

lovely set of images

Thank you Peter, I'm trying my best

Originally Posted by PeterSEllis

You have some great shots there Daniel, it looks like you have a Dark site, oh how I envy you.

Cheers
Peter

Thanks Peter, looking at the light pollution map it states its very close to a dark site on average Very grateful to be honest, dream to live out bush and now I'm here woohoo

Originally Posted by Lee

Great shots.... the obs looks great too....

Thanks Lee, I will keep at it. Wanna get it down to a fine art and push this DSLR.

Originally Posted by multiweb

Nice shots. Love the obs! I see you have little helpers too. Good stuff.

Cheers Marc, not too far off finishing it now. Just always busy with the kids ect but ill get there...be awesome once its finished. The little ones love it and the animals also haha.

Originally Posted by vlazg

Considering how hot it has been up here lately, well done.
Green with envy on the observatory, looks great.

Thanks George, has been warm for sure. Hope you have been keeping well and getting some captures in. Clouds inbound now but

Originally Posted by RickS

A nice couple of shots, Daniel! You must be able to see quite a long way north. The Qld Astrofest folks that always point their scopes that direction would be jealous.

Thank you Rick. I want another shot at this target, I think increasing the exposure times to even just 2mins I can do way better

Originally Posted by Ross G

Very good photos Daniel.


I especially like your M31 shot.
You have captured some nice detail.


Ross.

Thanks Ross
Looking forward to my next attempt. Just fitted in the frame

[Newbula (Helen)]

I am blown away, I can barely focus on the moon