Very Disappointing Results.

Having re read my copy of 'Capture every photon' again, I decided I had been using too high an ISO on the Nikon D5300 and so decided to drop it from 3200 to 800. After the usual trials and tribulations I ended up getting around 2 1/2 hours of data for M81/82 and about 1 1/2 for IC405 . The results:

HORRIBLE!!

There was an almost full moon, hence the realy bad gradient on the IC405 pic. However, though th e images are 'cleaner', there is much less detail. I think I will try 1600 ISO (though I might just go back to 3200!)

A very clear night

I now set up the telescope in the daylight, making sure the software is detecting the mount and the tracking cam. Once it is dark, I polar align the mount (hardly any adjustment needed usually). I then use 3 stars to align the mount , start taking the darks and check the tracking is ok. Then I can start getting the data I want.

Having decided to go for IC1396 in Cepheus, it turned out to be so close to the meridian it would require a 'meridian flip' - bad idea!. So I started with the Pleiades again. A change from previous sessions and showing my  'tracking confidence', I decided to go for 300s exposures. Compare this image with the previous one, based on 180 s exposures:

The Pleiades Open Cluster in Taurus

This is a cropped image. Despite taking flats, darks and bias,  the images  still show some vignetting. This might be because I changed the ISO when taking the bias  and flats. Note to self not to do it next time and see if that improves things

The main target, as I said above, was IC 1396 , a very large emission nebula in Cepheus. This contains within the 'famous' Elephant's Trunk nebula. plus a number of dark nebula.

Emission Nebula IC1396 (part of ) in Cassieopeia

I am not sure what caused the artefact top right, but overall I am pretty pleased with the image. There are several dark nebulae clearly visible  (clouds of dust blocking light from the stars behind). The Elephant's Trunk is centre bottom. The nebula is too bog to be captured with one field of view, but this is a good first try!

Pleiades and the California Nebula

Another gap between sessions, largely caused by:
1. Weather, as ever
2. The USB-Serial link had packed up. This meant that I could not connect the PHD tracking software to the telescope. Two whole wasted sessions, plus a rebuild of the Windows 10 laptop until I worked out where the problem lay!

Anyway, after a surprisingly easy set up, I managed to get 30 x 180 s of the California Nebula in Perseus and 8 x 180 s of the Pleiades in Taurus:

California Nebula

Pleiades

Both would benefit from a lot more exposures . particularly the Pleiades since the nebulosity is barely visible. Not sure why I am getting the 'circle' effect; possibly because I forgot to take the bias pictures before taking the camera off, so attached it again in what I thought was the same orientation.

It's been a while....

I haven't done much astronomy at all, pending getting new equipment. Finally, I have purchased a second hand Skywatcher Evostar 80ED apochromatic refractor. This is much lighter than the (now sold as a dobsonian) Altair 8 inch reflector. I have carried out two observing sessions and the auto-guiding is much improved. Once a target star is selected, it will carry on tracking (unless a cloud gets in the way!).

Some results of the first session are here:

Andromeda Galaxy M32 

Ring Nebula in Lyra

The region around Sadr in Cygnus

As you can see, thye are better than previous images; these were al taken with 60 second exposures, but unfortunately I messed up the flats, hence the vignetting. There was also a lot of light pollution.

The second session was my first attempt at using a filter. I had bought a UHC filter some time ago but had never used it since the main problem I was having was auto-guiding. So, now that is solved, the issue is getting long exposures. So, I attached the UHC filter next to the Nikon camera ring adaptor and took 180 second exposures. For a target, I tried the Veil Nebula in Cygnus (NGC 6960). I had tried this once before (this picture is the first one!!)

Veil Nebula - 8inch reflector on poorly tracking mount

Veil Nebula - 80mm refractor on properly tracking mount