2nd attempt at widefields..

[AlexN]

Tonight was the second night I've tried deep sky imaging.. I tried a lot of things, but this was the story...

*I dont have enough counter weights to run my C11
*My QHY8 would not reach focus in my 8" Newtonian
*I piggybacked my 70-200 F/4L onto my Newt!

Using the newt to autoguide, which later in the evening I realised was not working due to the autoguiding cable being incorrect

Images taken
8x3min unguided subs of M8+M20+M21 @ 280mm f/5.6
13x3min unguided subs of the Heilx neb @ 280mm F/5.6

I wanted to stick it out untill Orion came over the rooftop, but the clouds had a different plan..

Im yet to edit the helix images. Due to the moon + unmodded DSLR they dont show TOO much promise anyway.

Heres the M8, M20, M21 widefield...
Editing is pretty rough, theres one hell of a gradient in the raw images from the moon, and im still trying to figure out the best way of getting rid of it...

Any hints on what further to do with the image would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers for looking.

[AlexN]

Here's the Helix... this is a 100% crop from the raw image

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

It's very magenta on my screen Alex. A bit of tweaking in the colour balance will fix it.
Otherwise, I like them.

[AlexN]

When i looked at them again after a few hours sleep, I agree.. much too magenta..

The Helix shot suffered some pretty horrible light pollution from the city.. hence the bright gradient in the image, which im not sure yet how to eliminate.

Heres a redo of the M8-20-21 shot, levels and color balance tweaked a bit..

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

ahhh that's better!

[AlexN]

the sky at the moment looks like it doesn't want me to do my Orion widefield that im dying to do.... grumble grumble...

[Matty P (Matt)]

Nice widefield image Alex, lovely colours and pin point stars.

The Helix has come out surprising well considering the light pollution etc. I have really got to get myself a new lens and the 70-200 F/4L looks great.

Yes, only a couple of months before Orion returns to the evening sky. I can't wait!

Well done

[AlexN]

I've looked at orion a few times this month, at 2.30am or so its @ about 25°. I should be able to get 30 - 50 minutes on it before daybreak, its just that the clouds keep rolling in at about 11:40 and scaring me into packing up... then it clears again around 2..

Thanks for the comments, I hope to be out again tonight trying again.. got a few plans for getting guiding working...

[Matty P (Matt)]

Originally Posted by AlexN

I've looked at orion a few times this month, at 2.30am or so its @ about 25°. I should be able to get 30 - 50 minutes on it before daybreak, its just that the clouds keep rolling in at about 11:40 and scaring me into packing up... then it clears again around 2..

Thanks for the comments, I hope to be out again tonight trying again.. got a few plans for getting guiding working...

Yeah me too. The past two days have been clear for me and I have been able observe Orion and a couple of other familar objects (only naked eye).

I should have a new refractor when Orion is back in the evening sky. Perfect!!

[AlexN]

I want to image it at only 300mm... I've calculated the field of view of my 70-200 F4L + 1.4 extender, and should be able to fit orion + horsehead + flame easily into one field of view....

in a couple of weeks I'll have an adapter to use my QHY8 with this lens combo, then I'll get all that Ha light my DSLR is cutting out..

BITING NAILS OFF WAITING FOR TOYS!!

[Tandum (Robin)]

Alex, try summing the helix data instead of averaging it, that was the only way I could get a 1/2 decent image out of the 253 data I had.

[Jen]

Alex keep up the great work cheers

[prokyon (Werner Probst)]

Hi Alex,

great work.
Too much of magenta is a problem of the 350d. I use an unmodified 350d too and have the same results.
For example I made a pic of NGC7000, it was violet and magenta. I had to make some corrections with photoshop.

cheers

werner