First ever attempts

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Crop sensor Nikon atop my newly acquired NEQ6 Pro. Never even seen a proper mount before two days ago so this is all very very new to me.

Both 8 lights + flats + darks, stacked in DeepSkyStacker, edited in & exported from Lightroom.

Omega Centauri = 9 x 30 seconds, 200mm at f/2.8, ISO 800.

Orion = 8 x 25 seconds, 200mm at f/4, ISO 1600.

They're nothing compared to the other images gracing these pages, and I've got lots to learn about processing & post editing, but I'm still unreasonably pleased with myself... the stars are dots, not lines!! Amazing!! I somehow got a reasonable polar alignment first go!

[raymo]

Great start; only a few years ago a newbie would have given his left arm for a first image like that.
Pretty good focus, but as is to be expected with a first image, there is
significant star trailing, indicating that your polar alignment, whilst being
quite good, wasn't good enough for the length of subs that you used.
You may find that the trailing differs a bit from one frame to the next;
if so, omitting the worst frames will improve the trailing in the final image.
raymo

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Cheers for that.

I didn't actually do a proper alignment beyond my initial rough polar alignment by eye; I was planning to do a 3-star alignment but the first images looked surprisingly sharp so I just waded on in. But yes better alignment will definitely help.

The little D3300 did a reasonable job, too. I'm impressed. Looking forward to seeing how it goes on the ED80, assuming the damn thing ever arrives...

[raymo]

If you get the cone error down to a minimal level you only need to do a 2 star alignment. The 3 star routine is designed to try to account for any
cone error.
raymo

[Cimitar (Evan)]

Originally Posted by thegableguy

Crop sensor Nikon atop my newly acquired NEQ6 Pro.

Hi Chris, good stuff! Incredible first capture and what an awesome rig to be learning on.

I think you've dipped your toe perfectly in astrophotography, your equipment should serve you very well - from beginner, intermediate, right through to advanced.

As Raymo mentioned, slight trailing - however I see it more on stars towards the left side of the image but not so much on the right? Whilst it's unlikely that absolute polar alignment was achieved first time out (don't worry about it, keep doing what you're doing ), could it also be an effect that the lens is causing? I've noticed on my Canon 200mm it has slight field curvature. It's a zoom lens and I think they're prone to it more so than a static lens.

Either way, what a great 1st result

[jenchris (Jennifer)]

If you were a learner driver, I'd tell you that you could probably take your test now.

[thegableguy (Chris)]

Thanks folks! I'm pretty happy with it for a first try, though aware of the issues mentioned. My ed80 arrived today so once this pesky work thing is out of the way I'll be trying again. Thanks for the encouragement, I'm so excited about what I might manage soon... though also more than a little intimidated by the learning curve ahead.

[Saturn%5 (Graeme)]

I wish my first shots we that good keep it up Chris

[Constant (David)]

Stunning!