Deep Sky - An Update

This is a bit shorter than the Moon update...

All these were shot with the Canon 450d attached to the C80ED, mounted on a guided HEQ5, guided with a QHY5v attached to the Konus Vista 80s with PHD.

After M3, I decided to attempt a project on M101, my aim to get over 12 hours of capture. I decided to use ISO400 as a balance between the exposure time, doubling that used for my Orion widefield, and doubling the ISO also, to make up for the change in focal ratio. This took place over three nights, the guiding worked flawlessly...

Night 1 31 subs of 10 minutes


Night 2 added - 55 subs of 10 minutes


and the final result, Night 3 added - 76 subs of 10 minutes


I had intended to go for even more time at the outset, but I think the problem I'm facing is not having enough focal length to get the image large enough on the sensor to pull the details out. Not quite sure what I'm going to do about that at the moment... I think I'll probably get my webcam modded for long exposure.

I thought after this, I'd got for some widefield and easier targets, which my current setup is far better suited to...

Mars and The Beehive (M44)


M67


I also decided to try an experiment on M3, this time adding in my Kenko 2x teleconverter



That brings the Deepsky up to date.