Ngc 2736

[Mickoid (Michael)]

This was just a test to see if I could capture the Pencil Nebula in Vela. With the moon rising only one hour after twilight ended, things had to go smoothly to capture as many subs as I could because this object is rather faint to say the least.

As I expected though, I ended up having alignment issues after levelling the tripod and mounting the head so when I polar aligned the mount and placed the counter weights on the shaft, I realised I hadn't tightened the altitude screws. The mount lowered with the weights attached so I had to take them off and start my alignment again. Adding to this, the one star alignment wasn't accurate enough for the GOTO to centre the object in the field of view, so this is a crop from the very top of the frame. Normally, I would have corrected this but I had no idea where the Pencil Nebula was because I couldn't see it on the first sub. I just let 20 subs roll out before the moon rose and hoped for the best.

I was lucky to get anything out of 16 x 1 min unguided exposures. At least I know I could do a lot better than this given more time!


Canon 550d, 1600iso, UVIR cut filter on a SW Esprit 100 and HEQ5pro mount.

[xelasnave]

The little things☺.
I am going to make a list to tick off stuff you sometimes overlook...its like flying a plan I expect..feet on solid groung..tick...level mount...tick..
If you tick all the boxes you get a great image☺.

And not withstanding the little things you delivered a great image.
Well done.
Alex

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Sounds like a grest idea Alex, thanks for the encouraging words.

[Startrek (Martin)]

That’s a great effort considering the issues with your mount , small number of subs at only 1 minute
Gives you heaps confidence knowing what you could do when everything’s working well and the weather is good

[Ant0nio (Tony)]

Sounds like one of my typical nights of misadventure Mick, I'd call the test a success
Cheers,
Tony

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

The endless battle of achieving a flawless nights obs. Never to be but you’ve got a nice trophy here, I’m sure this one will be penciled in as a target once again with more care and attention, well done Mick.

[RyanJones]

We all have those nights. Saturday night I dropped my battery pack and broke it while setting up. Fixed it up enough to use then did my alignment and could t work out why the RA was so far out each tine I slewed. Set back to home position and it was miles out..... Didn't tighten my RA clutch properly. Finally set up, started imaging and the moon came up and whited out my subs !

All that aside nice test well done !

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Originally Posted by Startrek

That’s a great effort considering the issues with your mount , small number of subs at only 1 minute
Gives you heaps confidence knowing what you could do when everything’s working well and the weather is good

Thanks, the small number of subs was unintentional but that's what I got, I'm just surprised it was enough to actually reveal the object.

Originally Posted by Ant0nio

Sounds like one of my typical nights of misadventure Mick, I'd call the test a success
Cheers,
Tony

Thanks Tony, my patience was certainly tested but I've established this object is certainly worth another go.

Originally Posted by Anth10

The endless battle of achieving a flawless nights obs. Never to be but you’ve got a nice trophy here, I’m sure this one will be penciled in as a target once again with more care and attention, well done Mick.

Clever play with words there Anthony. I will give it another try, less rushed, I hope.

Originally Posted by RyanJones

We all have those nights. Saturday night I dropped my battery pack and broke it while setting up. Fixed it up enough to use then did my alignment and could t work out why the RA was so far out each tine I slewed. Set back to home position and it was miles out..... Didn't tighten my RA clutch properly. Finally set up, started imaging and the moon came up and whited out my subs !


All that aside nice test well done !

Gee Ryan, sounds like your night ended up worse than mine. The joys of not having a permanent set up, lugging things around in and out of the house or car. How nice an observatory would be!