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My first attempts at astrophotography were rather more optimistic than with any expertise. On holiday in Cornwall under some beautiful starry skies I took a few images with my Canon EOS 550D to see what I could get.
These early images from 2011 show how optimism and simply having a go can produce images.
Ursa Major Canon EOS 550D 18-55 lens at 18mm 18s F4.5 ISO 400
Another image from the same time showing the Milky Way .
Canon EOS 550D 18-55 lens at 20mm 20s F4.5 ISO 400
Some while later I purchased a Sky-Watcher 130p on an EQ2 mount with RA drive. So now I thought I can have a go at astrophotography. I attached the camera via an adapter to the 130p and found out quite quickly that this was not going to work, as I couldn't achieve focus in the camera. So a T Barlow was purchased which solved the problem; now I could focus.
The next problem to overcome was how to get rid of star trails some of which had an odd shape. I now believe this to be due to a combination of the weight of the instrumentation being too much for the mount, periodic error in the RA drive, polar misalignment, and probably the wind. Still it whetted my appetite to press on. I tried drift alignment but couldn't adjust the mount finely enough for this to be anything but an approximate success. Still with some determination I managed to obtain some encouraging results.
M42 EOS 550D 10s 6400 ISO one shot only EQ2 RA driven mount. Probably one of the best shots at this early stage.
Comet Lovejoy EOS 550D 30s f5.6 on EQ2 mount 55-250mm at 70mm
I had quickly learned that the EQ-2 mount will not cut it in the astrophotography stakes and so when an opportunity to purchase a shop soiled HEQ5 pro arose I grabbed it with both hands. This and a repaired Sky-Watcher 200p and I was up and running with a far better setup.
The moon EOS 550D 1/80s ISO 400 SW 200p on HEQ5.
Jupiter and Venus, EOS 6D 1/4s F8 400 ISO 400mm one shot only.
M27 The Dumbell nebula EOS 550D subs and darks SW200p on HEQ5. One of my first attempts at using Deep Sky Stacker.
M31 Andromeda galaxy 30x30s subs, lights, darks and offsets SW200p on HEQ5 Stacked in DSS. Probably my best image of this galaxy to date.
The ring nebula. 10 x 120s subs EOS 550D on 200p on HEQ5. Stacked in DSS and enhanced in Photoshop
M42 EOS 550D with CLS filter 7 x 30s subs 5 x 30s darks 800 ISO SW200p on HEQ5 stacked in DSS.
The moon was 68% waning and about 10 degrees or so away, so I didn't think I stood much chance of getting a decent shot.
The Milky way at Nolton Haven, Pembrokeshire.
EOS 550D Sigma 10-20 Zoom
10mm f5.0 1600 ISO 1 x 90s unguided and undriven. Processed in Photoshop Elements.
This is a good dark sky site the light pollution at the bottom being the lights of St David's about 10 miles away. The Bortle dark sky index is 4.
The Pleiades is visible top left and M31 middle left.
Return to the Dumbell nebula.
This image is a rework from the original .tif file I had from DSS. This was reprocessed in Lightroom to give a flat image but which contained extra detail and colour and then processed further in Photoshop Elements by setting a black point in levels adjustment. This strengthened the colour in the nebula.
Orion is high in the sky and shots of M42 are easy to do.
EOS 550D One shot 60s HEQ5 Mount SW200P processed in DPP and Adobe Photoshop Elements.
Applied Imagenomics Noiseware to the final image.
Taken the same time as the image on the left this is the result of 13 x 60s subs and slightly different treatment as regards the colour.
A last image of this wonderful nebula. This time I have reprocessed the entire image stack using Kappa Sigma clipping in DSS. I feel there is more detail in this image.
The Lunar Eclipse of 28 September 2015
Canon EOS 6D 400mm 1s at f5.6 ISO800.
So to 2016 and with the weather being so wet this December there is little chance of any more images for 2015. I have learned a lot in this first year so look forward to the images I shall be capturing in 2016.
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