[Eden (Brett)]

Hi All,

This is my first astrophotography post and I am still a relative newcomer to the art, but don't hold back -- any and all critique would be appreciated.

Many of the images I have taken so far with the QHY12 have been lacklustre, simply because I haven't taken the time to determine the optimal gain and offset parameters when imaging. Last night I bit the bullet and spent the better part trying to nail these values down and came away with a couple of reasonable shots.

I also learned a lesson in focus. Normally I use the focus assistant supplied as part of QHY's EZCap program to establish focus before imaging. After doing a 5 minute exposure of Omega Centauri and checking the resulting image, focus appeared to be OK but I decided to check it anyway using Nebulosity which I had never done prior.

Much to my surprise, I was quite a bit out of focus and was subsequently rewarded with considerably more stars (both images of Omega Centauri attached for comparison).

Images I have taken of the Orion Nebulae in the past have resulted in the core being blown out, obscuring a good deal of the gaseous region. Although the focus was slightly off on this shot, I am pleased with the results using improved gain and offset values. The attached image is a single 5 minute exposure.

No darks or bias frames used but because of nearby streetlight I have used a UHC-S filter. Colour stretching was done using Maxim.

More about the QHY12 in a future post and as for the Crayford focuser supplied with the Skywatcher ED120 Black Diamond, that's another post begging to be written.

Cheers,
Brett