1st night out - Carina nebula

[redeye64 (Paul)]

Been slowly working out how it all works, a few nights spent figuring out how to use ASIAIR....still a work in progress. Last night managed to get 15 frames before the inevitable clouds rolled in. l'm in bortle 2-3 l think,Currarong NSW
Svbony 503 102mm, 533MC pro, EAF, EQ6-R.......am l on the right track, stacked in APP and moved some sliders around in Siril with no knowledge of what l'm doing ?

[redeye64 (Paul)]

The stacked image straight from APP, does it look to be in focus etc?

[xelasnave]

Focus is close enough at the moment...the thing to pat yourself on the back for is your round stars...with that everything will keep getting better...take heaps..100s and only keep the good ones.

You are doing great.

alex

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Well done, Paul. For a first time out, that's a good result.

I was talking to another astrophotographer one night and he said that astrophotography is the Formula-1 of photography. We're relying on so many things to go right it's a wonder we get any images at all.

If I can offer any advice is that your stars look saturated (blown all the way to pure white), so dialling back your exposure length or reducing the camera's gain will help with that. As Alex said, get lots and lots of light frames and keep the best ones.

Cheers,
V

[telecasterguru (Frank)]

I reckon that's a pretty good first go at capturing Carina. Keep at it.

[redeye64 (Paul)]

Thanks for the positive replies everyone, onwards and upwards

[redeye64 (Paul)]

Originally Posted by AstroViking

If I can offer any advice is that your stars look saturated (blown all the way to pure white), so dialling back your exposure length or reducing the camera's gain will help with that. As Alex said, get lots and lots of light frames and keep the best ones.

Cheers,
V

Cheers, they were 300sec exposures, might try 180.....gain is at 101

[Bodon (Steve)]

Well done mate. Keep at it.

[redeye64 (Paul)]

Just watched a Siril tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K-V2VIcwfQ
and had a go at processing it (couldnt get Siril to work for me prior) seems better to me......have a UV/IR cut filter coming that l hope will make my stars look better in future?

[cafuego (Peter)]

Originally Posted by redeye64

....have a UV/IR cut filter coming that l hope will make my stars look better in future?

As I understand it, the UV/IR cut will stop stars from blowing out because they output a lot of IR. I have one of these filters waiting for me at the post office now, so assuming it's clear tonight I can either confirm or deny this tomorrow :-)