Love wide fields cause the mount is usually up to it unguided so I can look thru the 12 inch while getting captures, but I took a few at low ISO (200 lowest for 600 seconds) and 400 at 1200 seconds all guided in a fashion one would employ on the Horsehead. And yes guiding makes all the difference as does a near perfect polar align. Used canon unmodified 300d piggy backed and guided with a 70 x 600 ar with illuminated reticle all on a eq5 mount (which runs near perfect now only taken two years) the shot was cropped to remove the amp glow off the right hand side, minimal processing and here is my result. Colour is a problem for me and is adjusted to get detail not the correct colour..or I am colour bind in plain terms
alex
Hey, welcome back Alex. Long time no hear or see postings.
Great shot mate. You have got it working well now. I remember the issues you had for a while there getting your mount polar aligned properly. It certainly has mad the effort worthwhile.
Are you trying to compete with Tornado33 and his 10 minute images. 20 min with a 300D You two are probably the only ones I know who are going for that long. The results speak for themselves though.
thanks for the encouragement. They lost a bit in the downsize (excuses excuses) and Andrew I dont know that you would have seen the second image when you commented on the colour..the second one is probably a little off. I hope to do a 2000 second 200 iso exposure if I get a run in the next day or so.. maybe next month, which should be interesting to see how noise effects the outcome.
alex.
Here are some others..toward the Southern Cross and Northward on the other...And as to not being here I have been ill (tooth infection) and managed a trip to Coona and Dubbo Zoo that plus the clouds etc etc AND I recon I have less light pollution at my place than they have at Coona and the clarity the second night these were taken at home was better than the sky in Coona when I was there... mind you I was on the flat (like most) but found a good site next to the entry to the Observatory (they kick you out at about 4-00pm dam it) which is flat and nearly as high as the "big scopes on the hill" for my next trip. Got a poor Orion shot of 200 seconds with trails but the outter luminosity was in that shot.
alex
Wow - what a way to announce your return! Welcome back Alex, haven't heard from you for a while. Superb set of Milky Way images, I never, ever tire of looking at these gorgeous, wide, images.
Thanks everyone. After actually seeing the sky at Coona I am very happy with my location. We were well out of town and there was a noticable glow from town, something I cant get in any direction at home.. my only problem is it is wetter and lower in altitude ( I am only 1200 feet above sea level)... anyways you can see from the shots that its good for astronomy if nothing else.
alex
Wow, a huge edge on spiral galaxy there. Fantastic images they are.
Gee I wish I had skies as GOOD as Coona, and yours are better! hehehehe
You should go for comet Swatchman Wachmann 3, with the standard lens at 50mm I reckon it will pick it up ok and with a good tail being a nice dark site
Scott
The only problem with Coona is getting high enough like the real observatory, they kick you out at 4-30. Down on the flat it would not have been as good as right up.. but I have no lights at all to worry about and usually no particle pollution, but being in a "dry rain forrest area" it get wet at times. With the Moon I had given up on the comet but if its still around in a couple of weeks I will have a go. Thanks again for the encouraging words.
alex
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
You two are probably the only ones I know who are going for that long. The results speak for themselves though. 
