rmuhlack
24-02-2012, 09:41 AM
Last night's efforts, and my first decent go with a guided exposure. Took a chance and went for 8 min subs.
Turned out that PHD lost the guide star 5 sub exposures from the end of the program (and I wasn't watching it constantly to notice...) so i was left with 13 x 8min subs. Rejected 2 subs in the stacking process with DSS, and then tweaked the curves in Darktable to give the resulting image.
My camera mod has moved the focal plane forward slightly, and so now i think im getting some slight coma in the corners even with my MPCC. Not sure how I can correct this (as i'd need to move the CC closer to the camera body, and its already flush with the t-ring) - guess in due course i'll just need to move to a cooled CCD :)
With an ambient temp of ~22C there looks to be a fair bit of noise as well, so maybe 8min subs is pushing it a little at this time of year with my un-cooled DSLR. Need to get thinking about that cooling mod...
So in the end:
11 x 8min subs @ISO800
20 darks
5 flats (I took more but they were twilight flats and i was too slow in between each shot and the sky illumination changed)
20 dark flats
comments, advice appreciated :)
Edit: larger image available here: http://astrobin.com/5884/
Turned out that PHD lost the guide star 5 sub exposures from the end of the program (and I wasn't watching it constantly to notice...) so i was left with 13 x 8min subs. Rejected 2 subs in the stacking process with DSS, and then tweaked the curves in Darktable to give the resulting image.
My camera mod has moved the focal plane forward slightly, and so now i think im getting some slight coma in the corners even with my MPCC. Not sure how I can correct this (as i'd need to move the CC closer to the camera body, and its already flush with the t-ring) - guess in due course i'll just need to move to a cooled CCD :)
With an ambient temp of ~22C there looks to be a fair bit of noise as well, so maybe 8min subs is pushing it a little at this time of year with my un-cooled DSLR. Need to get thinking about that cooling mod...
So in the end:
11 x 8min subs @ISO800
20 darks
5 flats (I took more but they were twilight flats and i was too slow in between each shot and the sky illumination changed)
20 dark flats
comments, advice appreciated :)
Edit: larger image available here: http://astrobin.com/5884/