M42 Orion Nebula

Looks good to me

Thanks Brian! These stars have a blue halo around them, not sure if I focussed well enough.

You caught the nebulosity really nicely... great colours.

However, the stars are bloated, and are suffering from chromatic aberration. It may be because you weren't quite focussed, or it could be the optics. The bloating of the stars is also likely to be due to errors in your manual tracking adjustments, I suspect.

It is very difficult to manually track, and I think you are pushing the limit by manually tracking only every 25 frames. Some form of tracking mount would be advisable for imaging of M42.

Still, it's a great effort given the amount of manual intervention that you've had to perform!

Great effort, Sumia. How do you try to achieve best focus? I use a laptop with Canon utilities to get the 5X 10X Liveview on the laptop screen. I find it easier and more manageable than using the the camera LCD. Of course I appreciate laptops are not always convenient to take with you but there are also android/iphone apps on a phone that can show the liveiew on a smartphone or tablet. Just wondering what your method is.

Also, I think bahtinov masks are available for camera lenses, they work brilliantly for me on telescopes.

Happy new year!

Thanks Mike and Tej!
I just wanted to try and see what I could achieve with just a camera so I can teach the camera club. I'd love to try a tracking mount, alas I can't afford one right now 🙂

However, the stars are bloated, and are suffering from chromatic aberration. It may be because you weren’t quite focussed, or it could be the optics. The bloating of the stars is also likely to be due to errors in your manual tracking adjustments, I suspect.

It is very difficult to manually track, and I think you are pushing the limit by manually tracking only every 25 frames.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree I may not have done a great job at focussing on this, I was struggling. I will see if I can try again by tracking every 10 frames (I might have been guilty of laziness on this one :p).
My dad's tripod is not greatly stable as well...

Just wondering what your method is.
Also, I think bahtinov masks are available for camera lenses, they work brilliantly for me on telescopes.

Tej - I focussed with live view. I can flip my live view screen which is quite handy when shooting targets at strange angles and so never tried with the computer (but could have tried as I was doing it from the balcony). I've not investigated what I need to install though.

What are bahtinov masks for?

This is another stack I did on the same night and finished processing. I think it's not too bad? I perhaps could have done 2sec exposure to get more of the dust clouds?

M45 - The Pleiades Stacked
by Sumitra_S, on Flickr

I found these: http://www.ioastronomy.com/product/bahtinov-mask-65mm-100mm-canon-nikon-dslr-uk
Had never heard of them before and will invest in one for myself and my dad. Thanks Tej!

I found these: http://www.ioastronomy.com/product/bahtinov-mask-65mm-100mm-canon-nikon-dslr-uk
Had never heard of them before and will invest in one for myself and my dad. Thanks Tej!

Definitely worth the investment for precise focussing and they dont break the bank either! Actually, you can make one yourself for a few pennies if you are the DIY sort of person. But I think its more difficult to do with small aperture lens because of the thinner slots to cut out. I never gave it a try, I took the lazy route and bought my masks but I might give it a go for my Zoom kit camera lens.

http://www.deepskywatch.com/Articles/make-bahtinov-mask.html

I do have a flip LCD too btw on my camera but I guess I spoilt myself using the bigger screen laptop.

The Pleiades look great, I can see some nebulosity on one of the stars. I also didnt spend enough time on my opportunity with the Pleiades to take enough exposures to get that nebulosity. Its the seven sister stars that attracts me most about the Pleiades anyway and you got that nicely 🙂

Definitely worth the investment for precise focussing and they dont break the bank either!

Agreed, they are a great tool to use. You do need to use a bright star though, in my experience... but that shouldn't be too difficult. Just make sure you don't touch the focuser again after using the mask.

Hi Both,

I'll definitely get one, perhaps I'll try to make one in the mean time to use with my dad. Thanks for the details!

Once Luna has gone away a little bit more, I'll try the pleiades again with 2 second exposure and see if I can get more of the nebulosity. 🙂

I've caught the comet yesterday, just processing the photos and will upload soon!