47 Tuc & Tarantula Nebula with DMK

[Matty P (Matt)]

I attempted to image two of my favourite DSO objects with the DMK. The Tarantula Nebula and 47 Tucanae. I was lucky enough to get these two images through some scattered cloud on the 25th of Jan. The DMK is a real performer!

Details:

Celestron 8SE SCT f/10 in AltAz
DMK 21AU04.AS
Both images were run through Registax4.

47 Tucanae

1 x 4 Sec Exposure
Gain = 100%

Tarantula Nebula

1 x 6 Sec Exposure
Gain = 100%

P.S. I think I have crossed over to the dark side.

[duncan]

Well done Matty. So much for such short exposures.
Cheers

[Ric]

Hi Matty, you've got some good detail considering the short exposure time.

I'm not familiar with the DMK, how long an exposure can you go up to.

Cheers

[Matty P (Matt)]

Thanks Duncan and Ric,

The maximum exposure time of the DMK is 1 hour.

[Ric]

I'm thinking in DSI mode here but you could try a series of exposures around the 10-15 second mark. As your in Alt/Az I dont think you would experience any star trailing.

You will get a lot more detail out of the Tarantula as well

Cheers

[Matty P (Matt)]

I wish I could of tried a 10-15 second exposure on the Tarantula Nebula but the scattered cloud really cut my exposure time short. It was also quite windy at the time leaving star trails and making the image blurry.

I only captured about 8 frames and only 2 were suitable to stack. Hopefully next time I will be able to try a 10-15 second exposure.