My Astro Pics

[Valkyrie]

I don't have the skill that nytecam has but I thought I'd post my astro pics. I still have to get some gear for autoguiding, coma correction etc to improve things! Because of the lack of autoguiding I can only take on average 30 min exposures but try to stack as many as I can!

I have a Skywatcher 200P scope on an HEQ5 Pro mount, a Canon EOS 40D DSLR and a Phillips SNC 900NC webcam, and a few other little things.

Alex

The orion Nebula - M42



Jupiter and a moon



The Andromeda Galaxy - M31 (only half revealed!)



Bode's Galaxy - M81



A portion of the veil nebula - NGC 6960



Cigar Galaxy - M82



Needs no description!

[artdemole]

Some good shots.Pity My Skywalker 130 cant get the images like yours.

[nytecam]

Very cool astro pics - keep up the good work

[Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by artdemole

Some good shots.Pity My Skywalker 130 cant get the images like yours.

What type of mount does yours have? I've seen very good pics from small scopes. I'm not very knowledgeable but I'm sure nytecam could help.

[Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by nytecam

Very cool astro pics - keep up the good work

Thanks nytecam.

Do you autoguide by any chance??

[nytecam]

Originally Posted by Valkyrie

Thanks nytecam.

Do you autoguide by any chance??

Although I've been imaging for a very long time [starting with film!] I've only recently started autoguiding using a SX Lodestar mono cam on a piggybacked Meade ETX-70 via PHD freeware - the best autoguide s/ware I've seen I *white-out* in >2-3min exposure [because of London sky light pollution] via my 12" SCT running at a *fast* f/3.7 on the Lodestar-C one-shot-colour [OSC] cam.

I don't use any filters before the cameras - relying on their sheer *speed* to capture faint photons in brief exposures. The OSC software has a LP filter that removes my hideous orange background skyglow to a neutral grey/black - marvelous.

Below is 60s shot of Bowtie PN recording mag 16/17 stars in 60s exp under skies that barely showed mag 2 stars to the unaided eye due to heavy haze - a gain of 14 mags or x400,000 times fainter than by eye alone - way to go! Hope that clarifies

[Valkyrie]

Nice shot! I've come into a bit of dosh from a book I'm selling so will get a dedicated auto-guide camera. I also want an Astronomik EOS clip-in filter for my DSLR and a few other things. Light pollution isn't brilliant here either and will be a bad problem with longer exposures, so I need the filter.

What's this OSC software?

I'm getting there!

[nytecam]

Originally Posted by Valkyrie

Nice shot! What's this OSC software?

Starlight Xpress Lodestar-C = one-shot-colour astro-cam - as opposed to mono cam and red/green/blue [RGB] filters and separate exposures to create a colour image. Nowerdays a L = luminance [monochrome] image may be added to create favoured LRGB. I'll stick to OSC as it's quicker and adequate for my needs

[Valkyrie]

I couldn't afford a CCD camera at the mo so will just have to stick with my Canon DSLR and Webcam, sobs