Tag Archives: HEQ5

HEQ5 belt mod

I’ve had my HEQ5 Pro for somewhere around seven years and to be honest it’s always sounded like a bag of nails when slewing and has had a fair bit of backlash, so the Rowan belt mod has been on … Continue reading

Posted in Astro Equipment, Astronomy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A 127 Mak Galaxy

I’d tried and failed before, but I had to have another pop at M33. I wasn’t expecting too much as this is the sort of target for which the Mak is very poorly suited. This is 80 minutes of RGB … Continue reading

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A first visit to M71

I wasn’t sure I had this cluster in the field of view initially. It’s quite diffuse compared with the Messier clusters I’ve spent the summer imaging and against a fairly dense star field it wasn’t entirely obvious. It looks lovely … Continue reading

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A stunning globular cluster

I’ve not even got close to doing this justice, and it didn’t help that I lost my guide star after 30 subs or so thanks to the sky becoming hazy. I am going to have to come back and have … Continue reading

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Back into the ring

I had to revisit this before it disappeared from view for the winter. Sadly dew had other ideas (time to make some dew heaters…), but not before I’d managed almost two hours worth of subs. Only 90 seconds this time. … Continue reading

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Final M27 of the season

After starting to get to grips with guided imaging I had to give this planetary nebula one more crack before I move on to pastures new. So this is two and a half hours of RGB in two minute subs. … Continue reading

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Guiding for Boys

And girls, and indeed astroimagers of any other persuasion. I’ve finally assembled all the bits I need to start guided imaging. Whilst I have an ST80 that I plan to use eventually, for the moment I have a Skywatcher 50mm … Continue reading

Posted in Astro Equipment, Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Another M27 attempt

Still unguided, this is seventy minutes worth of RGB exposures of 45 seconds each. I’m not displeased with it, but the outer reaches of the nebulae definitely show that much longer exposures are required.

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Dumbbell? Apple core?

Neither really does it for me, but this is an amazing object. Another planetary nebula, and one with so much to see. It looks small, but in fact it’s huge, dwarfing our entire solar system to the point where I … Continue reading

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

One ring to rule them all

I didn’t really believe it would be possible to image this with my setup as it is, but I decided I’d give it a go anyhow. Planetary nebulae are such fascinating objects. Perhaps what lies in wait for our own … Continue reading

Posted in Astroimaging, Astronomy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment