I'm very excited because I think I've managed to crack the "Drift Aligning" code this evening. Just when I was about to throw in the towel, I thought I'd give it one more try. And much to my surprise I started understanding what I was doing.
Once I was confident with my alignment, I turned my attention to Omega Centaurus to see how much this new alignment was working compared to my Friday night drinks session a week ago. I'm very happy with the result although I think I have a fair amount of coma as the stars seem to elongate as I move away from the centre.
I've stacked 19 x 30s subs in DSS, ICNR as well as high ISO NR, and the images were taken at ISO800 using a Pentax Km.
Anyway, once again I would appreciate any thoughts/comments on what I have produced. I've learnt so much from what I have posted before - I really do appreciate your comments!
sad to see the beer gone, but it seems to have got you some good results! Thats fantastic
Drift aligning is a bit of a pain - but I find it is about the best way to do it. I tried a couple of the software aligning tools, but there always seemed to be some problem with them.
Paul, There was tracking, but not with a guidescope. I was happy, surprised, elated, ecstatic with this result as I'd been perplexed by drift aligning for quite a while. Last night was a night where I went out with the sole intention of sorting out my drift aligning issues.
And guess what, it worked!
Thanks all for your kind thoughts - my next target is M4..... stay tuned!
for your first real go that is pretty darn good. I apologise but i reproed your shot to try and remove some of the green colour cast. Dont panic i have been taught by a blind guidedog if you can mate buy a Baader MPCC to help you remove the coma when you image. cant wait to see what you get when you have a guided image
Very nice unguided image. Drift alignment can be a real ***** of a thing but once mastered it is pretty easy. An MPCC will make a huge difference to the final image but as it is you have to be very happy with this one.
Doug, Steve and Jen, I appreciate your kind thoughts about my image. It means alot to get feedback from people who have been down this road before and the fact that it's good feedback makes it even better!!
Dave, thanks for the repro on the image. I had real trouble with the green in the image. I was trying to increase the saturation in PS but there was a point where I started getting the green tinge. I tried to back it out but it was late at night and I thought "that'll do!".
I've got an Orion ST80 to use as a guidescope but I've yet to jump through those hoops of hooking it all up! I kind of feel that I should understand drift aligning before I head down the guidescope route anyway, if only for my own understanding. As for the coma, I'll look into the Baader MPCC and then add it to, what my wife calls, the never-ending list!
Unfortunately it's raining again in Brisbane so I'll just have to bide my time until I drag the gear out again for some more fun in the dark!
Once drift alignment is sorted the rest should all fall into place. Guiding is the next big challenge which is so much easier once you have conquered drift alignment.
I found the biggest challenge for guiding is getting the focus right so that you can find a guide star. Once you know where your scope focuses there should be no problems. Download PHD from Craig Stark, get yourself a small guide camera and you are on your way to long subs.
You have done pretty damn good on this one mario, Like hughy said, getting a MPCC is critical for these newtonians. www.tan14.com Peter tan sells them for just under 200 to your door which is a damn site better than you can get here. alot of people can vouch for hong kong pete hes a pleasure to deal with.
PHD for guiding isn't bad but i prefer Maximdl5 for guiding/capture as it really does a good job. its also the other features of it that make it a total all in one package (all they need to do now is sort out there rough image presentation and it would be the sole astroprog that i would have).
If you are really going to get into astrophotography, eventually youll look into Vingetting basically the cut off of the light cone. a quick easy fix/mod to do to the skywatchers is replacing the secondary mirror with a larger one, quite in expensive (mine was 49+p&h) but the increse 100% illumination of your ccd/dslr sensor is worth it.
Be sure to ask many more questions as there is alot of knowlege/experience in this forum!
Good luck and hope to see some more non beer affected subs!
Nice image Mario .
I struggled with Drift Alignment too, and like yourself just went out one night determined to get it right. My MPCC is counted as one of my "best buys", was amazed at the difference on the image edges.
Awesome shot Mario. You've certainly got your guiding spot on. Focus is very good too. Had another look and your picture is heavily black clipped. It's a shame because the data is outstanding. If you have photoshop, try to lower the black point and balance your channels. You'll see that you have a lot more stars resolved even inside the core. Top work. Have another beer, and a cigar
Thanks for the feedback - I'll go back and look at my clipping. I know I brought it up in Levels to try and stretch the dynamic range but maybe I've overdone it.
I've been a bit slack with the imaging over the last month as I've been busy trying to get the guiding setup so that I don't need to rely to heavily on drift aligning. Once that's sorted I'll be back with some more happy (hopefully!) shots.
if you can mate buy a Baader MPCC to help you remove the coma when you image. cant wait to see what you get when you have a guided image
