The Andromeda Galaxy. Although one of the largest deep sky objects, it is a challenge to get a good image of it. This was taken through my DSX 60 using a Meade DSI. It was taken early in my hobby and I was not keeping written records of details. I believe I took around 30 images at about 4 seconds each. The mount was Alt/AZ. I used Rot N' Stack to do the aligning and stacking, then, edited the resulting PNG file with an image processing program called Arcsoft Photo Studio. Created on November 4, 2007.
The Lagoon Nebula is a beautiful sight. The exposures, stacking, and post processing were simular to the Andromeda photo. Imaged on October 14, 2007.
As a contrast, this is another image of The Lagoon Nebula. It was one of the first images I tried. Using a Meade LPI, it just didn't quite make it. Taken on September 18, 2007.
My Images
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The Double Cluster, NGC 869 & 884. I am very please with how this turned out. Taken November 11, 2007.
Comet Holmes taken on November 10, 2007. This was the most exciting image I had taken. I had not heard of this comet, but learned of it through the Space Weather web site. Toward the center is a white star. Just to the left is a fainter object. That is the nucleus. The Coma, evaporated gases around the nucleus, had grown to about the size of the sun.
A beautiful little jewel in the night sky, the Dumbbell Nebula is easy to find and does not take long exposures to get good images. Taken on October 14, 2007.
Ok, not so great, I know. Planets, in this case Saturn, are not easy to image. I tried several shots at .32 seconds, but, they were all too washed out. I then adjusted my gain control on Autostar Envisage way down to 19. This was the result with 24 stacked images in Drizzle mode. I was also using a 3X Barlow, and, the DSI instead of LPI. I was going to try again using slightly different settings, but, accidentally kicked one of the tripod legs, throwing the scope completely out of alignment. It was too late to set everything back up again.
Arguably one of the most spectacular and beautiful sites is The Great Orion Nebula. Located in Orion's sword sheath, it is easy to see in low power telescopes and is easy to photograph. This was done with the ETX 60 in Polar Alignment. It was the result of 10, 42 second stacked images.
The Wild Duck Cluster is a real nice one to image. Like connecting the stars in a Constellation, it is easy to see the wild duck flying through the night sky.