My best photos to date

[billdan]

Hi guys,

This is the first time I saved my subs in RAW, didn't realise DSS supported Pentax RAW. I thought the astronomy DSLR world revolved around Canon.
I got my drift alignment spot on, Eta Carina was 30 x40secs, with 15 secs gaps between each and dx (DEC) in DSS was only 9 pixels start to finish, dy (RA) was 100 though. Guess I'll have to get my PEC trained now.
I also took 20x 40sec darks for both photos.

Equip
Skywatcher 200mm F5 Newt, EQ6
Pentax K100D DSLR ( uses the same Sony chip as the QHY8L)

I was chasing Dew all night with the hair dryer, thats why I think the focus is a little off.

I'm happy with the outcome, but still lots of improvement.

Regards
Bill

[jjjnettie]

:) Your processing is coming along nicely.

[h0ughy]

Bill there is always room for improvement - its what drives us insane. I hope you are enjoying the chase and capture - thats the fun part. processing - well thats the challenge. your are on your way - great start. the stars look sharp but the seeing may have been a factor in your results

[billdan]

Thanks for the encouragement JJJ and h0ughy, these are basically straight out of DSS. I tried Gimp but you lose too much as it only edits in 8 bit mode.

I also got Photsocape ( freeby) it at least edits 16 bit Tiffs, but lacks tools and a RGB histogram to see what you're doing. It also saves in most formats, so I use it to convert Tiffs to jpegs.

I'm waiting on a lodestar I ordered, then I'll be able to start guiding once I convert my finderscope and get longer subs. Can't wait.

Cheers

Bill