yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
This was my first weekend using the Orion Starshoot CCD. So I am very proud of the results. The first night, I took pictures of M31 and M13. The focus on these pictures is pretty good. The following night, I took M51, M81, M27 and M57. Unfortunately, I was out of focus the second night. So the results are not as good as I would have liked.
I used Maxim DL essential to capture and combine the pictures and Nebulosity to process the pictures. My telescope is the CPC 11 XLT and I use the Meade 3.3 focal reducer. I am imaging in Alt-Az with roughly 30-70 images with a 30 seconds exposure. Except for the Ring Nebula in which I took 50 x 5 seconds exposures. M31 and M13 were 20 seconds exposures.
Edited by yg1968 (08/07/06 09:33 PM)
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
M27.
Edited by yg1968 (08/07/06 01:35 PM)
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
M31.
Edited by yg1968 (08/07/06 06:14 PM)
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
M51.
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
M57.
Edited by yg1968 (08/07/06 09:31 PM)
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
M82.
|
Greg K.
Reged: 12/11/03
Posts: 17634
Loc: Clifton Park, NY
|
|
Pretty good for a first effort - it's always exciting to get something recognizable in an image for the first time.
Definitely work on focus, and it looks to me from your out of focus shots that your collimation may be off a bit.
--------------------
Astro-Tech AT111EDT f/7 | AT72ED f/6 | Celestron CGEM
NexStar 11 GPS | Orion SkyView Pro 8EQ (w/ Autostar mod)
Canon EOS Rebel T2i (modded) | QHY5L-II mono
astrophoto gallery
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
Yeah, I have yet to collimate the telescope since I purchased it, this year. I am afraid of making it worse than before. I am surprised that you can tell from the pictures that my scope needs to be collimated.
I also have to work on my focusing as you mention. I was excited to get such good results with very little in terms of efforts. This CCD camera is very easy to use. A lot easier than I expected. I was imaging in Alt-Az, so perhaps that is another factor. Although 30 seconds exposures should probably be OK in Alt-Az.
Thanks for your comments.
Edited by yg1968 (08/07/06 07:38 PM)
|
UrbanStarSeeker
sage
Reged: 04/23/06
Posts: 427
Loc: Fountain, CO, USA
|
|
Quote:
I am surprised that you can tell from the pictures that my scope needs to be collimated.
You can tell the collimation is out because the out-of-focus stars look like pacman instead of nicely symetrical doughnuts.
Nice first effort though.
Allan
--------------------
My Flickr AP
Astro-Tech 8" Ritchey-Chrétien
Astro-Tech 6" Imaging Newt /w Moonlite focuser
SV Nighthawk II
SBIG ST-8300M /w FW8-8300
Orion Atlas EQ-G
My Flickr AP
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. - Voltaire
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
Yeah, I noticed that afterwards. Well, it gives me something to work on for the next time...
Thanks for your comments.
Edited by yg1968 (08/07/06 07:40 PM)
|
GoToSleep
sage
Reged: 05/13/06
Posts: 282
|
|
Very Nice!! Were are you from Yg? Trying to figure this camera out myself. Your M51 makes me wanna go shoot that myself.
--------------------
Mike
Orion Sirius 8 EQ-G Reflector W/ GoTo
Orion 80mm Guide Scope
StarShoot DSI, StarShoot SSI,
SPC900NC Toucam unmodded
0.5x Focal Reducer
Stargazer filter set and OIII
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
I am from Montreal, Canada. M51 is right under the handle of the Big Dipper (3 degrees under it). In my case, I can only see it early in the evening. Afterwards, It becomes too low for me to image.
Edited by yg1968 (08/07/06 05:43 PM)
|
Rayh
sage
Reged: 08/22/05
Posts: 214
Loc: Gilbert, AZ, USA
|
|
Nice work! It encourages me to get going with my StarShoot. Unfortunately Arizona only seems to be getting clear skies when the moon is full!
Ray
--------------------
Ray Heinle
Gilbert, Arizona, USA
7" LX 200GPS MAK, Comet Hunter Newt-Mak, Celestron 80ED
iEQ45 mount
QHY8
Orion SSDSI
Nikon D40x
|
s58y
Postmaster
Reged: 12/12/04
Posts: 6505
Loc: Eastern NY
|
|
Nice shots, especialy for first light. It looks like you've been quite productive, so far. There's nothing like a big scope to bring in the smaller astro targets, and gather a lot of signal quickly.
--------------------
Hutech 500D/T1i, 550D/T2i, DMK21AU618, SBIG ST-402 autoguider
SV80S, TV102iis, EdgeHD 800
Lenses: 800mm, 180mm, 135mm, 105mm, 85mm
AP900, Barndoor tracker
http://www.flickr.com/photos/s58y/
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
Thanks for the compliments.
|
LBartolomei
sage
Reged: 09/13/05
Posts: 278
Loc: MN, USA
|
|
Man, that M51 will look killer when you get the focus/collimation on! You have a wealth of detail there!
--------------------
Luis
Meade ETX RA
Astro Tech AT102EDF
Coronado PST - Gold objective type
Meade LXD75 mount
Orion Starshoot DSCI II
Denkmeier Big Easy binoviewer
Olympus 7x50 WP binos
|
lawrie
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/31/06
Posts: 2083
Loc: Okanagan Valley
|
|
Looks like the starshooter works pretty well. those images seem to have a lot of information in there.
Lawrie
--------------------
Clear Skies
Lawrie
9.25 Edge/Hyperstar
NP 101is
WO 80fd
G-11/Atlas
ST 8300
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
Some have had better results than I have had, see the photo albums:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Orion_StarShoot/
Edited by yg1968 (08/09/06 02:26 PM)
|
GoToSleep
sage
Reged: 05/13/06
Posts: 282
|
|
Did you use a barlow for any of these images? I see you used a focal reducer but Some look like you needed magnification.
--------------------
Mike
Orion Sirius 8 EQ-G Reflector W/ GoTo
Orion 80mm Guide Scope
StarShoot DSI, StarShoot SSI,
SPC900NC Toucam unmodded
0.5x Focal Reducer
Stargazer filter set and OIII
|
yg1968
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 1859
|
|
Hi Gotosleep,
I didn't use a barlow. However, I imagine that I could have imaged M57 with a 6.7 reducer or without a reducer at F10. That would have meant resetting focus which I didn't want to do. It turns that my focus wasn't that good in any event. But at the time I didn't realize that!
I am not sure that it is a good idea to use a barlow on top of a reducer. I think that you are better off using a 6.7 reducer for M57 or simply imaging it at F10 without any reducer.
Edited by yg1968 (08/09/06 02:16 PM)
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: