Pulled my first all nighter last night, after finishing the local card game at 11ish, pulled out the toys and had a play in pretty good seeing.
First, Centaurus A: 24 x 2 minute exposures, SWED80 on EQ6 pro and Canon 1000D. ISO 1600, ICNR Off, nil guiding darks and flats applied.
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, edit and crop in Gimp. Seond image is the same but processed in CS3.
The subs seemed to be really good and right on the money. I just seem to have some problems processing this one, it just seems to go grainy on me.
Any tips appreciated.
Third, M8 Lagoon Neb: 25 x 2 minute exposures, SWED80 on EQ6 pro and Canon 1000D. ISO 1600, ICNR Off, nil guiding darks and flats applied.
Stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, edit and crop in Gimp.
I'm really pleased with this one, very happy in fact. With more data it just seemed easier to process. I was also very happy with my drift alignment with eq-align and very happy that it only took two goes on each axis to get no drift for 6 minutes.
Although I'm not to sure what visitors think when the see the black holes and arrow markers painted on the footpath in the back yard.......any help is good help.
Amazing shots considering no guiding Darren. To get more detail in your M8 shots I think more light is needed. So I would be tempted to extend your sub's lengths .. push them to the boundary of acceptableness as far as the guiding .. or in your case non guiding will let you. Maybe you are there already, I dont know.
Anyway, keep at it.
Doug. Thanks mate, I left it out but I did add 25 bias frames as well. I have just received my guide-scope (thanks Andrew) and fitted it yesterday, just got to order the shoestring GPUSB guide port interface and then start the learning process all over again.
Jeffkop. I'm not sure how far I can push it in it's current format with no guiding, but boy if I keep seeing subs like this, I suppose I'll just have to find more time to experiment!
TrevorW. Thanks mate!
dpastern. Sometimes I look at some of the images posted and think, why do I bother? We'll it's fun! It's better than sitting in front of a TV. Plus, I get to share my journey with others.
peter_4059. Thanks Peter, me too!
Tilt. This particular time I took the darks between moving between 5128 and m8, the flats at the end. I think I need to build myself a light box, cause I'm still not overly happy with the white t-shirt approach I'm using. Plus I keep getting grief pinching one of my daughters T-shirts for the job.
Alchemy. Yes Clive, it is a very tough image, but oh so irresistible. I might end up giving it another go with the 8 inch Newt when I build up enough courage to modify the tube!
Thank you all for the replies. All I can say is, how good was it to get one good night of seeing before going back to work.
