M27, M57 from Firhouse

Last night I managed to get a few hours of reasonably good sky, the first decent chance since I can't remember. I was on my way to bed at 1:30 and noticed that the sky was clearing so I set up rapid and spent till 3:30 shooting. I seem to be getting trouble now processing these trying to bring out the Hydrogen. My 350D is unmodified so I suppose I shouldn't expect much, also light pollution from my back garden doesn't make things any easier. So for what its worth here are the first processed images - M27 and M57 the other M45 which I'll throw up later if I can coax any good out of the data.

Larger image: farm4.static.flickr.com/3063/2812474120_498b4fe27f_o.jpg

Larger image: farm4.static.flickr.com/3082/2811850493_5d44326d91_o.jpg
Canon 350D
C8N-GT
M27 - 9 x 30sec; M57 - 5 x 30 sec

Those are really really impressive John, especially when you see they are taken with relitavely modest gear (astronomically speaking!). are these done with on the CG5-GT mount?

Yes, just the basic CG5-GT mount.
The exposure times are short - not due to the mount, but rather light pollution.

Then you have a good Mount John, I can't get even 20 seconds now I know the light pollution does'nt help.

But theses are two bright objects, and I think you have done well getting them to stand out.

Keith..

are you doing anything different during allignment, or have you modified the mount in any way john?

Keith - you should definitely be getting better than 20 secs.
I have found that setup is critical for this mount - Levelling, balancing, and reasonably accurate polar alignment (using a polar alignment scope) and then 2 star alignment with 4 cal stars. The routine only takes about 15 mins but it works for me.
I'd be happy to go through it with you any time.