I was pretty tired after work on friday so aftrr setting up and having dinner I lay down on the couch and had a little sleep.
Woke up around 4:00 am so with the time available i thought I'd have a go at Pleiades.
I only got about 90 mins before the rising sun twilight.
I think it needs some more time but I might wait for the correct time of year unless i do another fall asleep on the couch thing.
90x1 min subs
Darks, flats applied
Canon 450d (moded)
ISO 1600
Skywatcher 150mm BD unguided HEq5
Well done Andy on making use of precious clear skies and I bet it was hard to step out of a warm house into the cold at that time of the morning. Looks like the 6 inch is made for this open cluster, it's always a pleasing object to photograph and yours has come up really nice. I like the colours and the crispness of the stars. Great job!
Thanks Marc and Michael,
It was really cold on friday but clear so it was hard to leave the fire. Lately its been pretty overcast ot night except during the full moon and its crystal clear of course, so i know what you mean about "precious clear skies".
The 6 inch with the cropped sensor is perfect and just cropped the misalignment on the edge of the frame.
Cant wait to get more data and let the reflection nebula come out a bit more.
Cheers
Andy
The stars look great and you've picked up some of the fainter nebulosity
This isn't something I've shot myself yet but you do remind me that I should be giving it a go this season. This is very likely the first M45 of this season by a long shot
Andy
Excellent image with your 6”
Lots of detail and bright crisp stars
I envy you being in far western rural Victoria with unpolluted skies
I’m based in Sydney with Bortle 8 skies , I’m at the bottom of a hill almost at sea level and double storey houses either side of me with their outside lights left on all night , my FOV is only east from 35 deg up,north from 40 deg up and northwest from 40 deg up , just great for astrophotography hey. I make the most of it though
On the other hand I am fortunate to have a holiday home on the south coast NSW which has Bortle 3/4 skies and good FOV N S E W from 25 deg up , so I shouldn’t complain too much
Keep sending those great images with your 6”
Cheers
Thanks Ray, Colin, Chris, Rowland, and Martin.
Getting up at 4am and straight into it was pretty hard but aready being fully set up and alignment already done it was pretty easy but cold.
Im pretty lucky here in western vic with the skies but theres a fair bit of moisture as well.
When its clear i can walk outside and in seconds i can make out the SMC and LMC and the dark emu through the milky way.
After a couple of minutes i can clearly see sigma octantis with my eyes. I used to live in suburban Adelaide and remembet how hard it was to get polar alignment done but here its just look through my spoting scope and see the SCP clearly.
Thanks for all the positive input it keeps me interested between rain and fog and when i finally get a clear night i end up falling asleep!!
Going to build a permanent observatory with a bed in it just for those nights when im so tired but its so clear as well and i can just nod off for a while.
Cheers
Andy
Thanks Tony and LostinSp_ace for the kind words.
Just checked what bortle means and what level it is at home.
According to FLOs Clear Outside and light pollution maps I have bortle class 1 skies here.
It is very dark here but I can just see my neighbor about 1km away and occasionally a car goes past about 600m away but doesnt really impact me.
All i have to worry about is my wife forgeting I'm outside and put the light on.
Must be hard in built up areas but seeing the images here on IIS which are being produced in bortle 8+ skies it can be done by perseverance.
The only problem about being remote is sharing veiws at the eyepiece (lucky for my trusty Canon)
Cheers
Andy
Thanks Marc for your kind words.
Astrophotography is only expensive as you make it.
My setup didn't cost me that much as i bought mosly 2nd hand gear.
Heq5 pro mount $750
Skywatcher BD 6"newt $240
Moded Canon 450d camera $295
Secondary dew heater, cables etc
Software
Deep sky stacker (free)
Startools $65
Photoshop (already had)
20 year old Asus laptop with wndows xp for processing only (very slow).
As you can see i havent spent that much on camera gear othet than the Dslr and software and are getting reasonable results without guiding.
I have just bought a guide camera for$180 but havent used it yet.
Cheers
Andy
