Finally got round to processing some images of M16 and NGC253 from last weekend. The skies were quite ordinary - waves of fog kept rolling in which frequently interrupted the imaging session, so I spent the whole evening and early morning just on these two. The Kendrick dew heaters kept the optics nice and dry, even though dew was running in streams off everything else!
Vixen 4" refractor, SBIG ST7E ccd, 20 images of 3 mins exp stacked in MIRA AP. Now all I need is a set of filters and a filter wheel to produce some colour images!
Thanks for the comments guys; this was first light at our club's dark sky site for my new Tak EM200 mount. It took me over 1 hour to polar align using the built in polar alignment scope (PAS), as the FOV is much smaller than the Vixen's PAS in my GPDX and I just could not find Sigma Octans. Eventually I did, but by then the air was beginning to saturate and a bank of fog could be seen to the East.
Anyhow, I played cat and mouse with the fog all night and early morning as the guidechip in the ST7E valiantly tried to autoguide through the fog!
Although the Vixen GPDX is a great mount, the Tak is in a league of its own and I am looking forward to seeing what it can do once I am more familiar with using it.
Very good Dennis. Glad to see someone getting some decent shots out of an ST7.... I know it's a good camera, but I have recently seen alot of poor shots from an ST7 that got me wondering! You have rescued my faith in the old work horse!!!!!
Stunning!
Good morning Dennis,
I am totally impressed with both captures.
And maybe all the good gear I notice around is really worth the extra money... not trying to take away from your obvious expertise in any way.
When you look at Hubble Pillars of Creation.. (referring to M16) photo and compare to your shot it would be hard to convince a layman to spend any money on another Hubble scope... When I first saw the Pillars of Creation shot (pre stargazing days) I believed that we needed a scope in space to achieve any image, If the US Congress (or whoever hands out cash for Hubble) saw this capture I,m sure the Hubble would be let go for sure.
Yes I am very impressed with your work.
Alex
Thanks for the complements. Good gear definitely makes imaging easier and more enjoyable. My Vixen and Tak mounts auto-guide really well with the SBIG ST7E. Good polar alignment is always worth the effort invested. Focusing is a major factor and is essential for good results. Having the target above 45 deg altitude helps with the seeing. Exposing for as long as is possible then stacking as many images as you can grab always makes for an improved final result.
Using a short focal length (my 4” refractor is 918mm) is very forgiving. Finally, on those occasional nights when everything just seems to go wrong, call a halt to your imaging plans and just enjoy being outside under a canopy ablaze with stars and realize how lucky you are to have such a profoundly satisfying hobby! That’s my basic formula.
The only "value" I add in the chain of imaging events is being fortunate to own such good gear and the discipline of methodically setting it up. The real geniuses are the designers of all this amazing equipment and software. Not forgetting the talent of our Forum designers and coders that provide a global stage for us to display our results, or the encouragement provided by like minded souls such as yourself!
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