ngc253 & ngc2070

[bluescope]

I just bought an SBIGST2000XCM from Lars Hansen in the classifieds forum and these are my first efforts from last night.
I really don't know what I'm doing with this camera yet but I think it holds a lot of promise. These shots were unguided ( as I wasn't sure of the cabling setup 'till I heard from Lars this morning ) so I used track and accumulate mode in CCDOPS. Both images were comprised of very short 15 second exposures.



equip : 254mm F4.7 SW Newt, EQ6 Pro, ST2000XCM, Baader MPCC, UV/IR

p.s. I find staring at a monitor for focusing etc to be a little strange after having spent the last 2 years avoiding light at any cost. Makes it a bit difficult when I have to do sight aligning of objects in finder scope to get close to centre to fine tune composition on the monitor due to the relatively narrow field of view of the st2000xcm compared to my 350D. Never mind onward and upward.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

its working fine. just wait for the detail with longer exposures.

what distance is mpcc from chip (noticed corner stars in 2nd pic) i think from memory 55mm is needed.

id love to have a go with one of these.( someone should rent them for a weekend like you can do with cameras).

Keep posting. cheers AL

[Garyh]

Looks like you are going to have heaps of fun Steve with your new camera!!
A great start and colors and focus look nice!
Maybe Santa might bring me something like that one day!!

[gbeal]

Good work Steve. More exposure, like Al said. If you have the guiding sorted now then try some 5 minute or longer subs. Be prepared to muck with the guiding settings until you get it right, but I can tell you nothing better than sitting back while the gear does everything for you.
I too am using the MPCC and read somewhere that about 55mm is needed, so used a spacer to get about that much. Maybe you need to try that as well.
Gary

[Ric]

Lovely images Steve, a fine start with your new camera.

Looking forward to seeing more as you move up the learning curve.

Cheers

[bluescope]

Originally Posted by Alchemy

its working fine. just wait for the detail with longer exposures.

what distance is mpcc from chip (noticed corner stars in 2nd pic) i think from memory 55mm is needed.

id love to have a go with one of these.( someone should rent them for a weekend like you can do with cameras).

Keep posting. cheers AL

Thanks Al

I haven't done any measurements as yet but I think you're right ( 55mm ), I just wanted to get the camera going while we have some good weather ( showers coming soon ) so I just threw it together.
You'll have to buy one, pre-owned ofcourse, then you can have fun every weekend. There are a few around for sale with people upgrading to ST4000XCM. For me it's a question of just starting out in a dedicated astro camera so I didn't want to lay out too many dollars. The ST2000XCM is still selling new for $4,300 from ATS but you should be able to pick one up s/hand for about half that, which I think is reasonable for a cooled astro self guiding unit.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Garyh

Looks like you are going to have heaps of fun Steve with your new camera!!
A great start and colors and focus look nice!
Maybe Santa might bring me something like that one day!!

Cheers Gary

I was quite surprised at the colour balance when I saw the shots, I haven't manipulated them, straight out of CCDOPS. You'll have to write a letter to Santa.

Originally Posted by gbeal

Good work Steve. More exposure, like Al said. If you have the guiding sorted now then try some 5 minute or longer subs. Be prepared to muck with the guiding settings until you get it right, but I can tell you nothing better than sitting back while the gear does everything for you.
I too am using the MPCC and read somewhere that about 55mm is needed, so used a spacer to get about that much. Maybe you need to try that as well.
Gary

Thanks

I'm working on the guiding side of things but had a **** of a night last night, I think I was too tired from the previous night's effort and just couldn't get anything together. I've also got a fair bit of reading/absorbing of manuals to do, this is a very different animal to my SLR's and Range Finder's !

Originally Posted by Ric

Lovely images Steve, a fine start with your new camera.

Looking forward to seeing more as you move up the learning curve.

Cheers

Thanks Ric

It's a steep curve from where I am standing but I'll get there .