First Light New Camera

Couple of Beginner shots with new SBIG Camera, no bias, no flats, no filters, images converted to JPGs. Fog rolled in so had to pack up.

Clear skies
Mike

M42: farm3.static.flickr.com/2768/4333185497_6b85f9a6fe_o.jpg
M27: farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4333925072_5973766f9c_o.jpg
IC1907: farm3.static.flickr.com/2778/4333179455_1ce1d62f75_o.jpg
M38: farm3.static.flickr.com/2745/4333917958_15e67f6b1b_o.jpg
M81: farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/4333174483_dc7317378f_o.jpg

Mike

For "beginners" shots they're really quite impressive.
Your tracking seems pretty much spot on. If there are any signs of star trails I didn't spot them.

Focus might be a tad off (or maybe a bit of star bloat)- on one or two - but M27 seems very sharp to me (there is a background mottling effect on that one when viewing the enlarged image but this is probably due to the compression of the file format).

Where these done on the same night? - if so a good bounty.

On the other hand sticking to one target per session allows one to maximise the achievable quality of the capture. That advice originates from others on this forum.


Excellent stuff Mike.


Mark

They are quite respectible Mike, you'll only get better with experience and thats what it all comes down to.

Thanks guys for the advice
Yes, it’s a real learning curve alright (but enjoyable). The tracking is not too bad for the Celestron CG5-GT mount once it’s calibrated and polar aligned well it performs admirably, although it is definitely nowhere near the same class as a G42, AP1200 or Paramount.
Your right Mark, the telescope I think requires slight collimation tweaking and more precise focusing which I will address on the next observing run. BTW all the images were on the same night until the fog rolled in unfortunately. The images were saved in 16bit FITS format but I needed to convert them to Jpg for display on a website hence some image degradation. I am very impressed with the SBIG camera; it’s really sensitive, has a large CCD chip matched to a 8” SCT gives a FOV of 28 x 35 arcmins (at F10) and comes with excellent software for camera & telescope control and image processing. Just need some clear nights for practising astrophotography I guess.

Clear skies
Mike

Hi Mike,

Thats a wonderful haul for a first light night. Keep that up and you'll be producing first class images very soon. I'd echo what Mark said, I thing the collimation might need a bit of tweaking. Spend some time on that its worth the effort. So come on whats the deal, details!!! What model is the new SBIG? What scope? Exposure times?

Anyway great work.

Dave.

Hi Dave, OK, you’re putting me on the spot here!
Camera: SBIG-STL 1302E
Telescope: 8” F10 Celestron SCT
Mount: Celestron CG5-GT
Exposure: ~25 seconds x 50 exposures
Cooling: -30 degrees C
Filters: None
FOV: ~28 x ~35 Arcmins @ F10
Reduction: Dark frames only, no flats
Software (control and imaging): CCDOps, CCDSoft V5, TheSky6.

I guess it’s now time to bite the bullet as they say and therefore I will be upgrading the mount to a G42 over the coming months and the telescope to a 14” SCT shortly. I have on the way to me an Optec 2” TCF focuser and photometric filters, my goal is to have an MPC Observatory Code before the end of the year and to add (in my small humble way) to the great work you guys are doing. So, plenty of questions on the way!

Clear skies
Mike