[RyanJones]

Hi all,

Since I got my new HEQ5 before Christmas, I've had very little clear skies to do some testing. First was to get my head around PA as what it was doing didn't make sense. A big thanks to fellow IISer Karlsberg for pointing me in the right direction there.

I never did get to the bottom of how to get the hand controller to control my camera so a remote intervalometer went on the shopping list ( I don't know why I spent so long to make that decision )

Next was a pretty clear night that basically taught me how thirsty for power this mount is in comparison. I could do 3 nights @ 8 hrs/night on my Alt-Az with my first homemade battery pack...... This one ran flat after 4hrs....... Time to make a new power supply with a much bigger battery.

Finally I was ready. I'm bored of M42 to be honest but it's big and bright and easy to do in Bertole 7-8 skies so last night it became my test mule. Unguided I tracked in total for 6hrs with about 10% FOV movement. I chose my SCT because it highlights every error. I'm pretty happy with the shape of my stars on 40s subs and I think I could have gone longer.

The processing is far from perfect but I thought I'd play around with a softer more natural approach that makes the nebulosity softer and more wispy.

365 x 40s @ ISO800
45 x 40s @ ISO1600
Canon 5d
Celestron C5
HEQ5 Pro