L: 20x120sec (ISO1600)
D: 5x120sec (ISO1600)
F: N/A
B: N/A
Guiding: DIY 50mm miniguider & Imaging Source DBK21
Captured with BackyardEOS, processed with PhotoshopCS3
A massive, gorgeous spiral galaxy sometimes visible to the naked eye from dark skies. Approximately 2.5 million light years away in the constellation Triangulum (hence the name). Imaged last night from my home observatory with EOS550D and C9,25(f/6.3) guided with 50mm miniguider.
L: 20x120sec (ISO1600) D: 5x120sec (ISO1600) F: N/A B: N/A Guiding: DIY 50mm miniguider & Imaging Source DBK21 Captured with BackyardEOS, processed with PhotoshopCS3
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So here are the first results of my first dive into the Deep from the new setup and observatory! Had a real struggle trying to enable guiding due to a) The DIY miniguider I assembled using a 9x50 finder and a makeshift 1,25" nosepiese could not reach focus with the DBK so I had an epiphany and switched back to the side by side setup with the Orion ST80...
and b) It took me roughly 3 hours to figure out how exactly to get PHD to talk to the NEQ6 aswell as activate the guide commands... more on that later though! First day in the observatory today! Still a lot of work as far as moving in, arranging everything e.t.c. but the scopes are in and operational! The split-roof works great as a Sun shade for solar observing/imaging! Had a quick snap with through the ST80 guidescope as its the only size filter I had available but I love it!
On Saturday, August 3, we drove up to Paradisos Hills at Lysos in Paphos forest to visit our friends wo were spending the weekend there. The skies up there are unbelievably dark and clear so we took the opportunity to snap a few pics...
We also met some amazing people, Lisa and Nick who were visiting from the U.S.A. Here are some pics! On the night of July 29, we gathered at the pine tree locale with our friends Rolandos & Koulla to seek out supernova 2013DY in Lacerta. Our attempt was a success and we were treated with beautiful dark skies (best SQM reading was 20.89 at zenith) and a multitude of fireballs that seemed to be early Perseids! I set up the camera quite a few feet away to capture this but I seemed to have annoyed a critter who kept walking around the camera nervously but remained in stealth mode (good thing it didn't touch anything!). Here's a quick and silent timelapse of our activity! ...belated I know. Here's a shot of the Trio as it appeared above our horizon here in Ay. Varvara. EOS 550D with 55-250mm IS.
My biggest mistakes in planetary imaging are: a) I am always too impatient to rest after an early morning session BEFORE touching the data and b) I take the data with me and process them on my netbook instead of processing them on my comfortable, calibrated 20" monitor at home. This of course results in me not producing the best images possible out of the data at hand. I'm still going through the data set but one particular avi stood out, that of 01:11 UT. Here's a reprocessed version of that with better color balance and limb issues corrected.
Opinions? The amount of detail that comes out of planetary imaging attempts is directly proportionate to the amount of detail you put in to your preparation i.e. collimation!
I set up yesterday afternoon without any expectations for the morning since the forecasts were not at all favorable. I spent a good deal of time attempting to improve the collimation of the scope since it had shifted considerably due to a couple of trips to dark skies. Packed up, slept for 2 hours and got up again at 03:00 local to find Jupiter shining brightly and looking very very good! I must have been under a pocket of steady air as this data set is the most consistent and clear set I 've ever acquired! All 45 GB's of it! As a teaser, here is a first, very rough, attempt presented in 120 and 150%. Note that this set was acquired working at approximately f/30 with the actual f/ number soon to follow! The weather conditions last night / this morning were nothing special but I could not stand another night away from the scope so I set up anyway hoping to catch some good seeing in the early morning hours. Lots of wind gusts meant I was unable to check the scope's collimation (which is severely off especially after two dark sky trips!) and so I could only shoot as is and hope for the best.
P.S. I also took another profile shot of the C9,25 with the DBK loaded! I have been busy testing the 550 these past few weeks and I must say I'm very pleased with what I see.
I shot a couple of Messier objects from Xyliatos on the 23rd and took some panoramic shots from Amiantos on the 30th. I used Backyard EOS for the Messier objects, a software I highly recommend to all EOS users! Full imaging automation from exposure planning to live focusing and guiding! Awesome! So here are the shots. My CG5 mount was really struggling to hold the C9,25 with the camera so I had to make due with 15sec unguided shots. The wide field shots taken on the 30th are unprocessed! |
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