NGC5101 and NGC5078

[cometcatcher]

Ever since I saw the most excellent image from Marcus of this pair I had to try for them. So when he wasn't looking I snapped this image through his finderscope. ;)

GSO 10" F4 Newtonian, full spectrum Canon 1100D, Baader MPCC MKIII + Baader UV/IR cut filter, 1138 x 30 seconds on a HEQ5 Pro unguided. About 9.5 hours in total over 4 nights.

Even though I have the capability of guiding, I'm having trouble giving up 30 second subs due to the convenience and simplicity of the setup. Just a telescope, camera and mount. No computer required. I was thinking maybe the Skywatcher Synguider might help me kick the habit?

[strongmanmike]

Great Shot of this great looking pair Kevin and considering the simplicity of your capturing, I'd say you can't really ask for more than that :thumbsup:

Ray (Shiraz) did a great shot (http://www.astrobin.com/full/94516/0/)of these two 3 years ago too

Mike

[multiweb]

Terrific! :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Mike! That's a great shot from Ray too. Didn't find that one.



Thanks Marc!

[RickS]

Great image, Kevin :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Rick!

[Andy01]

That's a great result Kevin, even more so considering it's unguided - well done! :thumbsup:

[marc4darkskies]

A very respectable result indeed Kevin! :thumbsup: 1138 30 sec subs?! That's one way of doing it! Great work!

PS: Martin Pugh's APOD in 2014 (https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140208.html) was my inspiration

[gregbradley]

Lovely view. Tiny stars.

Greg.

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Andy! I usually delete a few subs with tracking errors, but keep most of them.



Thanks Marcus! Wow, that image from Martin is amazing. Something to aim for, but I doubt I reach that level with a DSLR.



Thanks Greg!

[el_draco]

Really nice field. Lots of faint stuff to be see as well!

[alpal]

Nice work Kevin,
1138 frames - wow that's 1/33.7 of the original noise!
How did you stack that many frames?
Does DSS do that many?

cheers
Allan

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Rom.



Hi Alan. If DSS has a limit, I haven't found it yet. I only stacked half of them at a time, then stacked the two stacks. Reason I did it that way was due to meridian flip. The PC was busy for 7 or 8 hours stacking. I did it in my sleep.

[strongmanmike]

Sleep processing! :zzz2: :D

[alpal]

That's nice to know if I ever need to stack many subframes.

thanks
Allan

[APO_Team]

Hi Marcus,

Very nice "duet" and great process you've done !
Congrats :thumbsup:

Tom
APO_Team

[Retrograde]

Very nice Kevin.

I was wondering what you feel you are missing out on by not using guiding and doing longer subs?
Congrats anyway on trying something a different way and getting such a good result. :thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Pete.

With the EQ direct cable I can't use the hand controller. I REALLY like the hand controller. It's always cloudy here on the coast in the tropics. With 30 sec subs I can shoot between clouds. The drawback is, it will kill the camera shutter quicker.

When I get a CMOS astro camera, I'll most likely be doing 30 - 60 sec subs with it too without the worry of killing the shutter.

[Placidus]

That's a fine result, and an amazing one given the constraints of clouds and 60 second windows of opportunity.

[cometcatcher]

Thanks Mike. Cloud wasn't too bad for this one, but lost a couple of nights due to fog. It's always something.