In a rush...

Awful weather for three weeks. Had to get a new laptop (thank you daughter number one for porviding an old one that, with Windows 10, works like a dream). then the lead acid battery went flat and I discovered the charger didn't...charge.

Anyway, all working, all software on, rushed outside to set up, with one eye on the showery looking clouds scudding across.

Didn't get on with PHD2 at all, so reverting to PHD1. Then the long USB cable is too long for PHD so had to take the laptop outside to get it to connect to the camera..then gave up with guiding!

What with showers, no guiding, clouds, dew, ended up wih 5 x 60 s subs of NGC 891 in Andromeda.

So much for autoguiding..

It was a fantastically clear night. We were due to go out for dinner with some friends, but I had enough time beforehand to set up the scope, get it tracking and to try out the effect of my mods.

The mods?
1. Clean  mirror - just weak detergent solution and plenty of water, finished off wih deionised, NEVER touching the mirror surface.
2. Removal of the fan assembly at the base of the scope - lighter.
3. Getting the primary and secondary closer so that I can drop the Barlow (needed to focus the DSLR)- I now have an F5 instead of F10!

In all, these changes shaved off just under 600g (it wasn't really that dirty!)

Anyway, got the telescope aligned, calibrated, polar aligned...............to find I had a dead as a doornail laptop!

So, no guiding, but around 85 x 60 s exposure plus some darks got me this:

Messier 33

Now to get another laptop; this time it will stay indoors and I will get longer USB cables - I think the dew from a couple of sessions ago killed it!

A change in approach

Ever since I started reading about 'how to do' astrophotography, I have known that my setup of an 8" reflector on  a Celestron CG5 GT was too heavy for the mount and so I would have problem tracking.
To confirm this, I decided to try a different approach with the same equipment, but dropping the telescope (not literally) and instead using the Nikon 5100 with a DX55-300mm lens on 300mm and F5.6.  The camera was guided by being piggy-backed on to the ST80, with the QHY 5II guiding camera.

The result... yep, much better guiding! Both in RA and dec, the graphs in PHD2 were much more regular. So, I really need to do one of the following if I want to take long exposure images:

1. Lighten the 8" reflector (move the optics so I don't need to use a Barlow, change the steel tube for a lighter one, remove the fan assembly ( I don;t use it anyway).
2. Get another mount (e.g. NEQ6 )
3. Use a smaller telescope (Skywatcher 130PDS seems to be good).

Anyway, here are the results of not using a telescope (but I lost a load of subs through dew and the camera battery dying!). Around 8 x 75s subs; I also used darks and flats.

The Double Cluster in Perseus

The Pleiades

Big Bear Galaxies

Great night last night! Well, for a while until the mist started to form.

For a change, I didn't forget anything or break anything or...anything! The scope has been outside all week, takes a few minutes to get going and we were off!

I used Dubhe in the pan of Ursa Majors plough (think I mentioned everything) as the sync star for polar alignment and then 'headed off' for Messiers 82 and 81. I had to image them separately because the FOV of the 8" reflector with 2 x barlow (needed for the camera) is too small for both together.

Messier 82

Messier 81

Half an owl

It's been clear and dry all week, except for the evenings when there is a thick haze....until last night!

I have had the telescope outside the whole time, just taking in the electronics (cameras, hand controller). The telescope has been set up on the three drilled 'dimples' and then left, having been calibrated, so it didn't take long to get it ready to image. Oh what it must be like to have the mount on a pedestal so its always ready to go!

However, haste waits for the unwary.

Because the moon is just past full and low in the SE, I decided to go for the Owl Cluster,  NGC 457 (also known as ET, for obvious reasons). Scope was calibrated really quickly, focused (uh oh) and after centring the Owl Cluster in the guiding camera screen (uh oh),  I set it to take 30 x 150 s exposures. It was tracking nicely, so I waited expectantly....


When I looked at the first image (reviewing them, an hour or so later), at first I wondered why my vision seemed blurred..... SO THAT'S THE REASON WE TAKE THE BAHTINOV MASK OFF AFTER FOCUSSING.....


Now, this could have been a good time to notice what the FOV actually was, but no,  festina lente ..

An hour or so later, I remembered that when  I had centred NGC 457 so carefully in the guide scope FOV, I hadn't checked the telescope FOV to see how they compared. Anyway, here is my 'half and owl' . At least  I got the eyes! (top left and upside down, the eyes are the two brightest stars).

First Guided Photos

The QHY5-II colour planetary/guiding camera arrived over two weeks ago! It was easy to get it set up on  the ST80 and then to load the drivers and software (PHD2 plus Cartes Du Ciel). However, that first evening, all I got was very dodgy pictures of star trails....

After a while, I realised what the squiggles on the graph in PHD realted to...

Ah! Polar Alignment is critical. The telescope had not been able to adjust the declination enough. So, that discovered, Iwent ot bed somewhat consoled.

Then , two weeks or so without a suitable evening (weather or me).

Anyway, the (yet another) new routine is:

1. Polar align using polarscope
2. 2 star alignment
3. 2 star calibration
4. Polar align using Celestron Nexstar (using the last calib star)
5. Sync to a star near the target.
6. Ready to go.

Given that the last polar alignment means     adjust the  alt az lugs on the mount, I think I am going to drill holes in the paving slabs where the tripods legs go (they have a prong on the bottom). This should mean more consistent placement and hopefully faster final alignment.

I have also found that putting the Nikon iso on Hi 1 (about 24000!), I can view everything I need using Live View - easier than peering through an eyepiece.

First image..yuk..too bright a moon, tracking was off (telescope not liking the object lower in the sky?), but it is recognisable as M33, if somewhat blurry (4 x 180 s, no darks):

Anyway, the first decent image is of Messier 103, an open star cluster (6 x 180 s , no darks):

The final target was NGC 185 in Cassiopeia, a spheroidal galaxy (8 x 180 s, no darks):

Cartes Du Ciel

The first clear night for some days!

However, I am still waiting for the arrival of my new QHY5L-II Color High Speed CMOS Camera for Guiding and Planetary. BTW, I had decided on the color version rather than mono since money is always going ot be a consideration and I can use the color camera for moon/pplanet imaging as well as quiding. I appreciate it is not as sensitive as a mono but from what I have read it is better than the QHY5 guider and most people were happy with that at the time.

So, game plan was to actually LOOK at things astronomical, i.e. stick an eyepiece in and use an eyeball. More importantly for imaging, I also wanted to use the laptop with the telescope, specifically, to use Cartes du Ciel to control the mount.

Recap on Setup

Setting up the mount is easy now:
1. Carry it all out.
2. Polar align using polar scope
3. Two star align
4. Two calibration stars
5. (Polar align check using Celestron software)
6. Sync to star near object of interest

Having the DSLR set to ISO of 6400 and using Live View, I can centre the target stars on the camera screen and also focus using the Bahtinov mask.

Cartes Du Ciel

This is a straight foward download and installation on a laptop. Combined with the ASCOM Platform 6 software and drivers, plus the Celestron driver for  the CG5-GT mount, I already knew it connected to the scope fine, so I wanted to now use it in anger to actually drive the scope.

Regarding cables, I bought a 10 m USB extension so that I don't have cables 'hanging' between the scope and laptop in the dark. Instead, using an old door mat, I made sure there was plenty of slack and then covered the cables with the doormat - didn't walk into them or trip once !!

Anyway, once mount/scope was set up, all I had to do was to connect the Celestron RS-232 Cable (Serial) (attached to a CSL - USB 2.0 on serial RS232 adapter (Com Port)) to the Celestron Nexstar+ handset and then click on 'Connect Telescope' in Cartes Du Ciel. I had already set the program with my location and time (matching what is in the Nexstar+ handset) as well as the telescope details.

And that was it! Click on a target (using Full screen, night view), select Sync and with a loud noise, the telescope slewed to the object.

Targets for the night

I looked at the following:

M32/32 Andromeda Galaxy
Gamma Cassiopeia (eruptive variable star)
M15 Globular cluster in Pegasus
M71 Globular cluster in Sagitta
M27 Dumbbell Planetary nebula in Vulpecula
NGC 7331 Spiral galaxy in Pegasus

Now, I appreciate I have cheap eyepieces ( will be buying a better widefield when funds allow), but I was disappointed with looking at fuzzy blobs. I think imaging has ruined me for visual observing. I decided I preferred using binoculars to look at objects (or where they are). So, once I have the guider, if I buy anything at all, it might be a pair of bigger bins ( I have Nikon 8 x 32 - lovely and clear , but  a pair of Celestron 25 x 100 Skymaster Porro Prism Binoculars would be the sort of thing).

Now I need that guider!

Targets

It was a lovely clear night. I decided to get more data for NGC6781, to combine it with the subs I got earlier, plus some darks. I also aimed to get images of Brocchi's Cluster and M32 (using the ST80). As it was so clear, I ended up adding NGC147 and M33!

In processing order:

M33. I took these using iso3200 because I had a feeling the images wouldn't have enough data for DSS. I was right, so I had to convert the .nef into .dng and increase the exposure in Lightroom. Then, I tried processing the exported .tif files (didn't bother with darks since I still suspected the images wouldn't have enough data).

Nope.


M32: This was taken using the Skywatcher ST80, NOT the newtonian. The chromatic aberration is there, but not too bad; shows why achromats are cheaper than apo's. Shame the image wasn't centred!

After converting to .dng, cropping and then converting to .tif:

Brocchi's cluster = didn't have a wide enough field of view.

NGC 6781:

A definite improvement! Based on around 90 x 45 second exposures at iso1600, plus some darks.

However, the main conclusion is...I need to guide.

I have purchased a QHY5L-II Colour CCD/Guider. I decided to go for the less sensitive colour (over the mono) because  I can then use it for moon/planet imaging as well. $200 from a chinese website, inc delivery. IF I don;t get stung for import then £60 cheaper than in UK!

The Eagle and its dim relation

Another bonus night, or sort of anyway. The sky cleared around 8, so I set up, hoping to image NGC 678, a low surface brightness planetary in Aquila. Once the scope is set up, before I take any subs, I do a longer exposure to check that it is tracking accurately. Tonight, the target was Altair. This is the result of a single 107 second (unguided) exposure:

Not too shabby at all!

The target was close to Altair, within a few seconds, so I used Altair as the sync star. I planned on taking 90 plus 45 second subs, but sadly after about 40 minutes, the clouds rolled over. after getting rid of the worst, DSS stacked 27 to give me this:

Again, not too shabby considering!

On the equipment front, I am now considering:

1. Skywatcher Synguider Autoguider - seems ot be ok for most users, need a 80 mm guidescope (got that), plus the main thing is it does not need a laptop, just a powersupply (batteries at a push)
2. A set of Televue Plossls (25, 15, 11, maybe a 35)

Messier 27 The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula

According to the previous day's weather forecast it was going to be raining all day; on the day it dried mid afternoon and left a lovely clear sky with only a little cloud.

I decided target for the night was going to be M27, mainly because I had had a go at imaging it previously in the summer and hopefully would be able to see some improvement, now that I have a routine for setting up the GEM to track accurately.

 I have also made a mount for the Skywatcher ST80 to piggyback the Newtonian. When I get a guiding CCD, I was going to get a SW 80ED but the newt is pretty good and I know a few of its idiosyncrasies now. Following advice from Stargazers, I have considered getting a 9 x 50 finderscope, but thought I would see if the mount could handle the weight of the newt plus DSLR plus ST80. So, with DSLR mounted over the counterbalance bar and ST80 on the opposite side, I was hoping for an interesting night!

I took around 120  x 45 second exposures; once cloud problem, squiggles, meteors and planes had been removed , I had 90; DSS left me with 27! Anyway, pretty pleased with this compared with my earlier go:

Next time, I will take some darks and bias and see what they do for me.

Cassiopeia, M52 and the Bubble

Nice dark clear night. lovely! Will the telescope track accurately after a polar alignment using the polarscope, two alignment stars and two calibration stars....no! So, after an hour of faffing, it seems a polr alignment using the Nexstar hand controller is well worth it. I even managed to get a half way reasonable unguided exposure of 160 seconds.

So, sometime after midnight I started getting some decent image data. M52 was slightly off centre but having wrestled with Deep Sky Stacker and Astroart, DSS won out (tried it with and without darks, did't seem to make any difference):

According to Wikipedia, Messier 52 (also known as M 52 or NGC 7654) is an open cluster in the Cassiopeia constellation. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1774. M52 can be seen from Earth with binoculars.
Due to interstellar absorption of light, the distance to M 52 is uncertain, with estimates ranging between 3,000 and 7,000 light years. One study identified 193 probable members of the cluster, with the brightest member being magnitude 11.[1]
Messier 52 is evaluated at about 35 million years old.

I also tried imaging the Bubble Nebula, NGC 7635, also called the Bubble Nebula, Sharpless 162, or Caldwell 11, is a H II region[1] emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. It lies close to the direction of the open cluster Messier 52. The "bubble" is created by the stellar wind from a massive hot, 8.7[1] magnitude young central star, the 15 ± 5 M☉[4] SAO 20575 (BD+60 2522).[7] The nebula is near a giant molecular cloud which contains the expansion of the bubble nebula while itself being excited by the hot central star, causing it to glow.[7] It was discovered in 1787 by William Herschel.[5] The star SAO 20575 or BD+602522 is thought to have a mass of 10-40 Solar masses. (Wikpedia)

The star is a Wolf Rayet star, a really interesting and rare type that one day will produce a supernova.
Anyway, I got around 30 x 45 second exposures, all pretty nice. Not having a filter is a problem since I think it means I miss most of the nebula ! One day when I have saved enough pennies, I will be able to do long exposures with a filter and see it in all its glory. Anyway, for now , this is what I have found:

Veil Nebula

I am not sure if it is being ambitious or stupid. I ought to use a filter (OIII or UHC I think ?) plus lots of long exposures, but hey, why wait just because I don't have the equipment? This is based on 7 x 90 second exposures (there were going to be 20 but the clouds did for 3 and I need to take into account the tie it takes the camera to process the dark - which accounts for the other 10).

Anyway, camera settings as per last post ( but now I need to adjust the intervalometer settings). Veil was bang on after synching on Sadr:

A New World

Based on feedback from Stargazers Lounge and last nights ( brief, cloudy) experience,  a new world of setting up the GEM  is on my horizon:

1. Mount and tripod taken outside a couple of hours/hour before observing.
2. Telescope attached, collimated, balanced ( mirror very slightly heavy).
3. Polar scope used to align telescope to celestial north (aided by app on smart phone, showing where Polaris should be on a reticule; also use the same app to set time/date).
4. Using eyepiece, two star alignment carried out ( using Arcturus and Mizar ).
5. Add two (or three?) calibration stars; Deneb, Altair and Caph; again, it offers a limited list.

(Now use the Polar Align routine in Nexstar+; last night the telescope used Deneb; it was almost dead centre anyway, so maybe Polar Scope is good enough?)

7. I now replace the eyepiece with my Revelation 2" Barlow and Nikon D5300;  Bahtinov mask in place and last night I used Deneb to focus the telescope. 
8. Skew to a star close to the DSO I am after and use SYNC. Et voila, DSO will then be dead centre on GoTo.



Camera Settings

Going to try:
ISO  1600 - its noisy, but 800 doesn't seem sensitive enough for low surface brightness objects like galaxies.

Long Exposure Noise Reduction ON - and I will not take darks since the camera will do this AFTER EVERY LIGHT SUB automatically then process the raw using the in camera dark.

High ISO NR OFF

Exposures of 60 seconds seem easily attainable, from my experience two nights ago ( but that was also using the Polar Align  in Nexstar+, 120 -180 seconds are also worth trying.

Hopefully its clear tonight!!


News!!
The 90 mm telescope rings have arrived, just waiting on the dovetail plate. These are really for the time when I have a Skywatcher 80 ED Apo, with a Skywatcher ST80 piggy backed for guiding., but I am going to try using  the Skywatcher ST80 itself for imaging. I think it's a fantastically good telescope for the money and TBH when I have looked at the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and various stars, the chromatic aberration seems pretty minimal, hence the experiemnt.

Much Improved Tracking on the Celestron CG5-GT mount

A lovely clear night and my first chance to put into place my new set up 'routine' ( well, hopefully to become a routine!).

New Setting Up Routine

1. Mount and tripod taken outside a couple of hours/hour before observing.
2. Telescope attached, collimated, balanced ( mirror very slightly heavy).
3. Polar scope used to align telescope to celestial north (aided by app on smart phone, showing where Polaris should be on a reticule; also use the same app to set time/date).
4. Using eyepiece, two star alignment carried out ( using Arcturus and Mizar - seems to be a limited menu choice, I assume it is recommending suitable stars as opposed to any stars).
5. Add two (or three?) calibration stars; Deneb, Altair and Caph; again, it offers a limited list.
6. Now use the Polar Align routine in Nexstar+; last night the telescope used Deneb; it was almost dead centre anyway, so maybe Polar Scope is good enough?
7. I now replace the eyepiece with my Revelation 2" Barlow and Nikon D5300;  Bahtinov mask in place and last night I used Deneb to focus the telescope. I can just about see the three lines used to check focus but I took a photo to check:

8. And now a photo without the Bahtinov mask to see it in all its glory:

READY TO ROCK AND ROLL!!

At an estimate, it took maybe half and hour to set up ( my first time at trying everything in the list).


Targets

I really wanted to see what the effect of all the steps outlined above had on tracking ( still no guider I am afraid). I chose Messier 51 since it was high and is easy to see even on a relatively short exposure. It was not dead centre, but was lower left in the screen,  Slightly puzzling, since my normal set up of two star alignment plus two calibration stars ends up with object just about central. Anyway, after a few tentative adjustments I was able to take some pics:

10 x 90 second exposures

210 second exposure (!)

I have been toying with the idea of not bothering with darks and bias, but since I have not tested the effects of using/not using in the dreaded DSS, I decided to shoot some darks and bias. Later I will see the effects of with and without ( remembering this time that DSS does not like DNG files; I need to export as TIFF before loading into DSS. (I am probably going to look at AstroArt 5 since Olly Prentice recommends it).

uh oh.... clouds appearing. So, now change of plan. Instead of exploring why a filter is needed for a good shot of M16 The Eagle Nebula, I slewed the scope to Messier 32 and tried some long and not so long exposures...

Conclusions   from the night




Regarding Accuracy of GoTo and Field Of View
According to the BBC Sky at Night field of View calculator (200mm aperture, 1000mm focal length , 2x Barlow):

F ratio: f10        Focal Length: 2000mm     Field of view:40.54' x 26.92'      Resolution:0.57"/pixel

From the size of M51, this looks about right. So, using those figures, the GoTo accuracy is off by about 15' x 10'. I wonder if this is typical ? (I shall ask in Stargazers Lounge I think !).

PostScript: Use Sync on a nearby star....not sure about refocussing now (have to remove camera, find star, sync, attach camera, refocus...)

Useful book for finding Deep Sky Objects

Years ago when I was living in Cambridgeshire, I bought a copy of 'The Universe from your Backyard' by David J. Eicher. This was based on a series in Astronomy magazine in the 1980's. I have always found it a fascinating book. It is set out via constellation (more or less). There is a section for each of the major constellations and the main DSO's that can be seen. IT also gives you the best season for that particular constellation. As well as some photographs, there are sketches of the DSO's , all taken using telescopes of different apertures/type. All in all very useful.

Now that I have started to take my first wobbly steps in astrophotography, David Eicher's book  sets me a great challenge in that with my equipment plus my skill, I am working at a level of detail around that of the late 1970'/early 80's! I hope to see my progress.

Anyway, I decided I needed another book  ( can never have too many books!). So, via good old Amazon, I have order a copy of 'Observing Handbook and Catalogue of Deep-Sky Objects' by
 Christian B.Luginbuhl, It sounds good, has a good review and was only £7.48 plus about £3 postage for a hard back!! Seems to be a step up from David Eicher's book in that there are many more objects. This book was published in the 90's. So. now I have the two books ot use to find and compare DSO's with. When I can 'do better', I will have to buy a more modern book!

Awesome picture of the day:

Best yet of Pluto

A clear night!

First clear night in over a week. So, I decided to have a look at M13 Globular Cluster in Hercules, M57 Ring Nebula, M16 The Eagle Nebula, IC 4665 open cluster and NGC 6905 planetary nebula (Blue Flash Nebula) in Delphinus. Then, what the hell, a galaxy, NGC 5985 (Trio) in Draco!

Ok, so these were intentions. But, pretty much carried out. Here are the best:

Now, problems. First, cheap laser collimator decided to do the dying swan, so it took ages to get the reflector collimated, (light kept fading). Then, I was all set, I decided that the wobbles I had the last time I tried imaging were due to the scope being too well balanced. I tried un balancing it a little, but it made little difference. Reading up after, I think I am just trying to be too ambitious, now that I have the intervalometer that lets me SET but not take smoothly 3 minute exposures. The advice is to make the scope slightly mirror heavy, but get it balanced on the other axis. Then , 30 second exposures are about the limit without guiding.

So, shopping list is a Skywatcher 80ED Evostar plus QHY5 II guider! Need to save the pennies.

Trying to process the images is very frustrating. I keep on trying to use DSS but it is a sod. It does not seem ot like much in the way of images. Certainly it does not like DNG files. So, exporting out of Lightroom as TIFF seems to be better ( other wide DSS says there are no stars!). I still seem ot have more success mucking them up in Lightroom plus Photoshop than in DSS. Defintiely work in progress.

Things I have forgotten. I didn't     think  the mount had found the Eagle nebula, so only took the one shot, then went elsewhere. When I 'processed' ( = murdered) it in Lightroom, this is what I had ( the lower left is from Google for comparison!!!:

So, using a filter, taking several exposures, stopping the mount from trailing and I will be there with a decent picture!

Anyway, in future, note to self:

1. Buy a new collimator

2. Make sure scope is slightly mirror heavy

3. Find out how to use the Celestron Polar Align tool (makes a difference apparently, over just using a polarscope)

4. Add a third calibration star across the ecliptic from the other two.

5. Possibly take the mount apart and try hypertuning it ( = could wreck it though??)

M71 Globular Cluster in Hercules

Not the most ooooo-inspiring target, but I had not seen it before, let alone tried photographing it. Apparently its a really interesting globular cluster since it barely has the correct characteristics. IT has a shorted of RR Lyrae stars and not a lot of metals. So, for a long time it was thought to be an open cluster. After some photometric surveys, it was clear that this was a mere baby of a globular cluster, maybe only 9-10 billion years old, instead of more like 12,000,000,000 years old!

Read a really good account of this interesting Messier object here

So, notes on the night...

Balancing the telescope is definitely a good idea, likewise making sure the power lead stays attached.  also discovered that letting the intervalometer hang by the cable from the camera (while I was trying to do something else quickly) is not a good idea; it separates at the connector and then falls... luckily it still works.

The sky really is too bright, especially with the moon approaching full. So, the image looks very 'thin' compared to others on the Internet. It will be interesting to compare this image with some taken later in the summer when the skies are darker.

I think the telescope mount works best when the scope is aimed above 45 degrees from horizontal; I can take 210 second unguided exposures then, but when it was aimed at M71, at about 45 degrees, several of the 60 second subs showed either a bit of a trail or double (slippage?). I will explore this further. 

And now really up to date and on time from now on (maybe)

So, today, took the mount covers off, removed the should that stops the power connector going in far enough, checked the velcro strap  I had made earlier to help it stay in place and hopefully we are back in business.

Weather is great ( clear) but warm (turbulence?).

Anyway, given the bright moon, lack of true night and my increasing frustration, I have decided to stick with globular clusters and open star clusters until night return in Mid July.

So, targets for tonight will be clusters in Cygnus ( about the darkest part of the sky for me).

How exciting!!

Note to self - dont bother till after 11 pm and BALANCE THE SCOPE!!!!!!!!

Today or rather last night

First try out with my new Revelation barlow and remote intervalometer. My target was the DumbBell ( again), plus M101 Pinwheel galaxy.


Mixed results - not dark enough with the fullish moon and astronomical twilight. Then, because I hadn't bother to balance the scope carefully, the tracking was erratic. So I ended up with one 90 second exposure of the Dumb (

Steve) Bell.

Anyway, it looks like the glow has gone.


After spending around an hour taking 10 x 180 second exposures of M101, plus darks and bias, I found I had disturbed the very sensitive power connector and had reset the mount! So, it wasn;t tracking. I had one exposure only, but enought to see the Pinwheel was dead centre. If it had been truly dark, it would have been a good pic ( honest).

Getting Current

Ok, almost up to the present, but not quite.

nice, M81 Bodes Galaxy

M5 Globular Cluster in Serpens Caput

Found that after the collimation saga, I could no longer used the DSLR at prime focus without a barlow. This didn't seem an issue since the GoTo is so accurate. Then , oh no, look at my shots of the DumbBell Nebula...

Glowing M92 Globular Cluster in Hercules

Glowing M27 Dumb Bell nebula in Cygnus

From what I have been told/read, its likely  to be caused by the (cheap) Celestron barlow. plus I haven't bothered with flats, just bias and darks.

So, my first new purchase = Revelation 2" Barlow -oooooooooooooooooo lovely!!

Another issue was that to get accurate timings, I have been using the built in intervalometer in the D5300. However, this restricted me to 30 second exposures> From a few longer ones, I know that the mount is good for up to 180 seconds, even without guiding. So, I bought another Ebay special, a remote intervalometer. Works a treat. Just need dark skies now ( In June?!?!?!)

And a bit more history..should have written this earlier !

Beginning to rock now!

Found out that if the Celestron CG5-GT mount is two star aligned, follwed by two star for calibration, it is a real dead-eye dick!

It went straight to M57 Ring Nebula. Allowed me to start to wrestle with Deep Sky Stacker (DSS).

Also early success with M13 Globular Cluster in Hercules and M51 Whirlpool Galaxy in Cane Venatici.


Some issues though....


1. Cheap laser collimator from Ebay needed collimating ( then disassembly, repair and re collimating). This introduced me to the joys of collimating a reflector, reading all the posts on Stargazers Lounge and Cloudy Nights re collimating, how lasers are just a trap for the unwary (me) and Cheshire are the only way to go. Wait, that is laser collimators with barlows. No, wait...

I just used the laser, twiddle till it looks right and it seems ok. Life is too short. But I do collimate every time I set up.

More History

May 2015 Ok, so, camera without any tracking is just frustrating.

Ebay to the rescue; mainly because its a good mount for the money, I ended up buying an Altair Astro 200 mm F5 reflector on a Celestron CG5-GT Goto mount. No eyepieces or finderscope. Leisure battery for juice.

So, purchases to get it working:

Baader Red Spot finderscope - excellent.
Second hand 25mm Super plossl eyepiece - ok
New cheap 15 mm Plossl -  ok
Celestron Barlow with T thread - ok ( I thought)
T adaptor  Ebay special

First targets : Jupiter

Moon

Moon
Saturn


Tried using Registax; certainly improved the Saturn image captured using video.

History to Date

Got bitten by the Astronomy bug again, got out the camera, tripod, remote release and aimed it at Jupiter and Praesepe

Took exposures of around 15 seconds since no tracking possible.