The Helix Nebula NGC7293

[apaulo]

thanks for the input guys

[h0ughy]

well its a far cry from what you probably will be getting in 12 months or so but its a start. You need to get a guide scope and camera so that you can guide while you image. I not sure how you got the funky colours, but i could put that down to the processing and the short duration of images you obtained. It looks like the image is a nice size - but this target needs a lot more exposure. The pentax cameras exhibit horrendous amounts of noise (and i do own a pentax K10D) so the highest i would ever push it would be 400 or 800 at a stretch. The focus looks OK. Drift align the mount before you set off on the image run also - i normally find out that i have some rotation after the first few images and have to redo the drift alignment to get it right. you will be glad you do it. Also remember to do darks , flats , bias and flat darks to use in DSS. Heres hoping the next dark will be cloud free!!

[tonybarry]

Much better than my first effort. Keep at it, Paul. The results are worth it.

Regards,
Tony Barry