Orion & Andromeda - First Attempt at DSO

Z3roCool

Z3roCool

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Tommy
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Hi - a couple of shots taken with my Canon 7D and 400 5.6 lens. After finding out that these kinds of shots could be taken from Earth with normal cameras and lenses. I had to get into it! Spent 2 months investigating gear and bought a SkyWatcher NEQ6 mount. These are my 2 first shots with about an hour a piece of data. Cannot describe how it felt the first time I sat there with the timer running down and I could see a very faint image of Andromeda. Mind was blown. Need to work on PP a lot and also getting the core of the nebula not blown out. Got some lower timed subs so will have a go at that when I have the time. Cheers for looking :)

Tom.

Orions%20Nebula-XL.jpg


Andromeda%20Galaxy-XL.jpg
 
Hi, please could you go into more detail about the equipment.

The SkyWatcher NEQ6 mount is a telescope I assume.
Is that all that is needed and the camera / lens ?

It is very interesting that you could do this without industrial equipment etc.
 
GTG said:
Hi, please could you go into more detail about the equipment.

The SkyWatcher NEQ6 mount is a telescope I assume.
Is that all that is needed and the camera / lens ?

It is very interesting that you could do this without industrial equipment etc.
Click to expand...

No problem.

NEQ6 is a mount - This model is the upper I think of the lower range of mounts for DSO. You have to be really careful on weight if imaging. Was looking at the HEQ5 mount (Also Skywatcher) but decided on the NEQ6 (More Expensive but has a bigger payload). This includes a tripod with the rotating head that goes on top.

I spent a bit on a Side by Side bar to mount a small scope with camera on to Polar Align and track stars (Abot £400 all together on this).

Other than this I purchased a few other bits (Power Battery, couple of cables, Photoshop License).

Need a laptop to plug it all into and download software to do the work...most of it is Freeware but some cost but not that much.

**EDIT** Forgot to add, I do not use a telescope yet, just 400mm 5.6 Canon lens with DSLR

Cheers,

Tom.
 
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This is a shot of the equipment. Near scope is the Guide Scope that I use for Polar Alignment (So the mount rotates around the North Celestial Pole - Rotates with the stars). The Purple camera in the back helps with this (Using Software) and then is also used to Guide the mount (Track a Star you lock onto). The far setup is my 400mm 5.6 Canon and 7D DSLR.
 

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Well done. You've got some great detail there. What length were your subs, out of interest? I do a similar thing but using the Sigma 150-600 on an EQ3-2 mount. It has the advantage of being light enough for me to (wo)man handle it outside but the disadvantage of a fairly small payload. I keep my subs really short so I don't guide. You should be well set up for if/when you do decide to move to a scope. The processing is the worst and most difficult bit as far as I'm concerned (so what colour is the Orion Nebula.............? ;)). I still have some images I took and integrated last year but haven't processed yet as it's a chore I hate. If you can do some sort of HDR merge with shorter subs you should be able to get round the burnt out Trapezium region. It can help with the core of M31 too. That's what I did with my images of the same objects, except I took the cheat's way out - I didn't have the integrating software at the time so someone did it for me.............. I can't use that excuse now!
 
That is excellent, lets se some more ;)
 
Jannyfox said:
Well done. You've got some great detail there. What length were your subs, out of interest? I do a similar thing but using the Sigma 150-600 on an EQ3-2 mount. It has the advantage of being light enough for me to (wo)man handle it outside but the disadvantage of a fairly small payload. I keep my subs really short so I don't guide. You should be well set up for if/when you do decide to move to a scope. The processing is the worst and most difficult bit as far as I'm concerned (so what colour is the Orion Nebula.............? ;)). I still have some images I took and integrated last year but haven't processed yet as it's a chore I hate. If you can do some sort of HDR merge with shorter subs you should be able to get round the burnt out Trapezium region. It can help with the core of M31 too. That's what I did with my images of the same objects, except I took the cheat's way out - I didn't have the integrating software at the time so someone did it for me.............. I can't use that excuse now!
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks - subs were about 2.5mins. Tried a few at 3mins also but cannot remember off the top of the head which. I have got a guide scope with a camera so looking at getting that tracking with PHD2 and then going up to 5+ min subs. I love the processing part :) Need to work out the processing to keep the blown out cores etc under control.
 
Looks like a scene from Star Trek Discovery, it's nuts to think things like that are out there!
 
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