First M42 through ED80.

stardust steve (Steve) · #1 19-10-2012, 05:00 PM

Hi everyone. First M42 ever imaged through a telescope for me. It is a total of 25 min @ 45 secs, darks and flat incl. I am pretty happy with how it turned out but as always something could always be changed/improved. I have never had this amount of data to play with and already i can see there is more detail there but extra noise (on top of what is there already) quickly follows.
My questions is generally speaking, for 26 mins data, is this about the amount of detail to expect or are there any tips to extract more and "boost" the image a bit?
Don't hold back, let me have it lol. Need a bit of criticism.
500D
SW ED 80 PRO
EQ3 with tracking motor unguided.

Cheers

Steve.

pluto (Hugh) · #2 19-10-2012, 05:20 PM

Awesome first image!!

I'm really jealous of your skies as I have a similar setup (5DmkII+SW ED80+EQ5) and I don't get that much clean detail (in light polluted Sydney).
My 1 piece of advice would be to take some exposures at a lower ISO (or shorter exps) to get some more detail in the really bright sections.

Larryp (Laurie) · #3 19-10-2012, 05:31 PM

Going great Stephen!

stardust steve (Steve) · #4 19-10-2012, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pluto

Awesome first image!!

I'm really jealous of your skies as I have a similar setup (5DmkII+SW ED80+EQ5) and I don't get that much clean detail (in light polluted Sydney).
My 1 piece of advice would be to take some exposures at a lower ISO (or shorter exps) to get some more detail in the really bright sections.

Thanks Hugh. I was imaging up until around 12 and trying to get as long exposures as i could trying to image the Sculptor galaxy, picking gaps in cloud. I got 1min exp's at one stage but only about 20% of the subs were ok, the rest were throw away, enlongated and and trailing.

Maybe i am expecting too much out of my used EQ3. I hope it still has more in it with better alignment.
Then got 3 hrs sleep, awoke for the 3am good conditions of M42.
Needs am energy drink tonight i think.
Thanks for the tip

stardust steve (Steve) · #5 19-10-2012, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryp

Going great Stephen!

Thanks Laurie

pluto (Hugh) · #6 19-10-2012, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stardust steve

Thanks Hugh. I was imaging up until around 12 and trying to get as long exposures as i could. I got 1min exp's at on stage but only about 20% of the subs were ok, the rest were throw away, enlongated and and trailing.

Maybe i am expecting too much out of my used EQ3. I hope it still has more in it with better alignment.
Then got 3 hrs sleep, awoke for the 3am good conditions of M42.
Needs am energy drink tonight i think.
Thanks for the tip

Well I'm only a noob with drift aligning myself but I've had the same experience with sub length on my EQ5. Good 45sec, mostly good 1min on M42 and on ngc2070, near the scp, I've had good 90sec - 2min subs. Trying to save some money for a guider at the moment.
Good luck tonight, I'm heading out too

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #7 19-10-2012, 05:54 PM

That's lovely Steve.
The background is very blue though. You can fix that up easy enough in either Curves or Saturation.

stardust steve (Steve) · #8 19-10-2012, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

That's lovely Steve.
The background is very blue though. You can fix that up easy enough in either Curves or Saturation.

Thanks JJJ

i will have a play with the image again tonight while i wait for the sun to set. I did find when i tried to set the black point with RGB values in the range of 20-30, it quite often made the image too dark and i lost some of the finer outer detail.
Thanks.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #9 19-10-2012, 09:06 PM

Choose the blue channel in curves and pull the curve down a bit.
Alternatively, go to Colour Balance, under Tone Balance choose Shadows, and adjust the blue/yellow slider. You might want to do the same with the Midtones as well.

graham.hobart (Graham stevens) · #10 19-10-2012, 09:40 PM

That is a damn fine first shot. Congrats!

Graz

OICURMT · #11 20-10-2012, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stardust steve

EQ3 with tracking motor unguided.

Anyone who says you have to have an EQ6 CGEM MX ME blah blah blah should just learn to shut up....

this pic says it all.... and on an EQ3...

stardust steve (Steve) · #12 20-10-2012, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by graham.hobart

That is a damn fine first shot. Congrats!

Graz

Thanks Graham.

stardust steve (Steve) · #13 20-10-2012, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OICURMT

Anyone who says you have to have an EQ6 CGEM MX ME blah blah blah should just learn to shut up....

this pic says it all.... and on an EQ3...

i would if i could but at the moment i can't so i will just have to push this old mount for all it's got in it

I thought it showed some promise when i was practising doing 250mm kit lens images with the camera mounted straight to the mounting plate.
It got me thinking, i wondered if it could handle something that is a bit heavier and with a longer focal length.
Being a very lightweight setup makes it ideal for travelling as well.
I am finding out that balancing everything is crucial to the % of images that i keep/DSS keeps.

Chris85 (Chris) · #14 29-10-2012, 11:57 PM

Great image Steve!

Did you drift align your mount or just get it pretty close without?

I'll be getting a very similar set-up by the end of the week, so it's great to see what can be done with the old eq3

Chris

loki78 (Jon) · #15 30-10-2012, 12:08 AM

Looks great Steve, can i ask what ISO you were shooting at?

stardust steve (Steve) · #16 30-10-2012, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris85

Great image Steve!

Did you drift align your mount or just get it pretty close without?

I'll be getting a very similar set-up by the end of the week, so it's great to see what can be done with the old eq3

Chris

Hi Chris, thanks. I did a little drift align to get what i thought was close. I do not have an illuminated reticle so i use my highest powered eyepiece with a barlow to speed up any drift and adjust that way.
Here is a typical example of what i do to set up.

Get the tripod pointing 172 deg (from what i have read 8 deg east of south) for my location with the compass on the iphone. Level the tripod. Fit mount and adjust to 35 deg alt for my location with the Clinometer on the ipad. Make sure AZ adjustment knobs are centralised. Turn on RA tracking motor. Do some drift aligning with my highest powered eyepiece with a barlow to speed up any drift and adjust that way, ( I am still at the trial and error stage of drift aligning) and counter adjust to any drift i see.
Take some 30 sec test images and zoom into stars to inspect for any trails. Then adjust AZ adjustments to try and lessen the trails to a point that i am happy with. I do find that i need to take a few images at the same AZ setting as sometimes the result is different( maybe from a wind gust or a PE error ?) Once happy with small as possible stars i then hook up to the EOS Utility that come with my 500D and use the little clock timer icon to set the exposure and amount of images to be taken.
I do find there is a difference of the position of the object in frame of image compared from the first and last image taken. Maybe because polar alignment not spot on.
When i finally get to guiding, hopefully i will get better looking results but for now i am happy with what i can get out of this cheap set up.
The old school of trial and error and mistakes make for good lessons learned.

Good luck with your set up, looking forward to seeing some images

stardust steve (Steve) · #17 30-10-2012, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loki78

Looks great Steve, can i ask what ISO you were shooting at?

Hi Jon. Yeah no worries, they were all at ISO-1600. I never really tried any at 3200, i just assumed it would be too noisy. I did try some at 800. They looked good. Maybe when i finally get to taking longer exposures i will drop down to 800.