This image was taken on my C11 F10 at 2800mm FL using the Baeder 2" UHC-S filter on the G11 unguided...at my House Brisbane.
I started out doing 5 x 2 minute exposures at ISO1600....thinking hahaha here come the star trails....Unguided....what no star trails....I couldn't believe my eyes...fl of 2800mm unguided...Previously I couldn't even get 90 seconds at FL 1900mm.....without getting serious star trails.
So I thought lets push it a little further...5 mins is a nice round figure...lol
So I did 10 x 5 minute exposure at ISO 800....OMG very little sign of star trails.....at this stage I felt like I was in heavan.....never have I been able to get anywhere near the exposure length at this focal length....60 seconds was pushing it previously.
I also added 1 x 7 minute exposure ISO 800.....wow
I am so excited with the length of the exposures unguided then I am with the image but here it is anyway...I give the image 4 out of 10 score.
I still have to play around with the PEC and Backlash settings as they have not been touched.
Software used DSLR Focus, IMagesPLus, PhotshopCS....no flats or darks...they still wont work for me.
I had a look at my image first thing this morning...thought....that looks shocking...I have to do better then that so I did some minor processing changes with much less colour adjustment....I re applied the image to my original post.
Like I said...Not really concerned with the image...just over the moon regarding exposure time....unguided
Tony, well done. That is a remarkable unguided image. I stick at around 45 seconds for the same reason as you were previously. My setup is portable and it is simply too much hard work to get that level of polal alignment.
credit where due though the detail in the image is also very good. I can't get the color right with mine no matter what I do to fiddle it...
Tony good work dude ! looks great mate but now I want you to tell me how you got 2 minutes unguided with the G11 ? at f/2800 as well ! this is difficult from a G11 mount .
All secrets must be revealed !
to be honest....I dont know Louie...I spent a bit of time doing a drift align the other night...but even after this I was getting a little frustrated as it didn't seem quite right...so I gave up...lol
Then I went back to it last night and thought...stuff the drift allign....I'm sick of looking at a small dot on the screen in between a chroshair.....I will do some imaging and see how far out it really is.....then I will pay someone to polar align it....lol
I just kept going...started with 2 minutes then 5 then 7 minutes...7 was pushing it and it was little breezy at times....
The thing is...is it possible that it's fine I can get some good exposure length near the Pole but can it still be out if I slewed say to the orion constellation.?????
Well Tony If you polar alignment is out, the farther away you get from the pole the quicker your stars will stretch . If you have perfect alignment only the PE and randem errors of the worm gears will hold your back. Also if you have your Gemini in perfect alignment mode , you will probably see the accuracy of the goto drop If you don't have perfect alignment the farther away from the pole you get .
