Dark skies at last

[Mickoid]

Last Friday, a mate and I went out to a nice dark site about 90min drive from home. What a difference it makes. We set the HEQ5pro mount on some garden pavers in a paddock by the river, had good views of north and south. Shot about 48 x 70 sec subs @1600iso, unguided with a modded Canon 550d using a 6 inch f 5 Skywatcher Newtonian. The power supply died on us which was disappointing, as we had hoped to do more. On closer examination 23 of the 48 had eggy stars so this is just a stack of 25 subs - 29 mins of the roundest stars. We also shot 12 x 10secs to capture detail in the core. Lucky to get what we did. A nice way to finish the day after a pub meal, some fishing and then some astrophotography. During the night a koala even came over to check us out!

[strongmanmike]

Sounds like a great day all round Mick, nice work :thumbsup:

Mike

[Mickoid]

Thanks Mike. Caught photons but no fish, which means fishing is more difficult than astrophotography! :lol:

[CoolhandJo]

Aewsome night out by the sound of it. Good detail in that image

[JA]

Nice 1 Mick :thumbsup:
Sounds like a day to remember.

Best
JA

[Anth10]

Mick,
A picture to remind you that a VB can is an integral part of good Astrophotography. ;)
Top image if I must say!

Cheers.
Anth

[Mickoid]

Thanks, very pleased with the detail, just goes to show how much LP destroys your image quality, I'd never be able to achieve this without a NB filter from suburban Melbourne.


Thanks JA, the pub meal and fishing was an entree to a planned astro night. Our main incentive was to do some photography under dark skies.



Thanks Anthony, it must be pointed out that the can of VB must be full to add significant mass to the mount. The beer can only be consumed after the astro session is over!

[Placidus]

A very fine photo. A pleasure to see.

[Wilsil]

Great image, well done.

[Mickoid]

A pleasure to receive a compliment from you guys, always admire the great work you produce.


Thanks Wilco, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Plenty of examples out there to look at but it's always nice to score a good one yourself. Taking all the gear out to the dark sky site was worth it.

[Imme]

Wonderful shot Mike......excellent detail and dirt! (dust)

Well done on not only surviving the Melbourne COVID lockdown but also making the most of your freedom!

[Mickoid]

Thanks mate, nothing you couldn't do but it's the best one of this object for me so far. Yes, it was great to escape the city lights. No masks were used in the making of this image! :lol:

[jac]

Beautiful image! I've got a soft spot for newts :)

[Geoff45]

Nice image. I like the vibrant colour.
Geoff

[Ryderscope]

I like the story of your adventure and the image is a nice bonus.

Clear skies,
Rodney

[Mickoid]

Thanks Jess, Newts are pretty versatile instruments. I use my 8 inch for both Deep Sky and Planetary. The 6 inch is a new acquisition purchased for wider views and weight reduction. The 8's a bit heavy for the Heq5.

Glad you liked it Geoff, it's basically just white light, I only used a UVIR cut filter for this shot. The dark sky site just brings the colours out so well.


Thanks Rodney, I guess every astro session has it's own story. Some are more memorable than others and some are good and some are ones we'd rather forget! Like those nights when nothing seems to go right. This night had it's hiccups but were fortunately minor.

[AdamJL]

that.. is amazing. Shows how good a DSLR can be. What's the mod on the camera (and who did it? I might get one of mine done)

[Mickoid]

Thanks Adam the Canon 550d has been full spectrum modified by a place called the Camera Clinic in Collingwood. I got mine done about 6 years ago for around $500 but I'm not sure what they charge now. Dslrs can still produce nice images, though most here have moved to dedicated ccd/cmos cameras which do a better job on deep sky images.