With a few good nights in the bag I wanted to step back a little and take it easy with some old school stuff using my DSLR and lens.
I have been toying with the idea for a while to mount my camera on to the HEQ5PRO and then simply use the mount to track without guiding. Obviously I am limited to the exposure time, but this was an experiment after all.
I used Affinity Photo in the post processing. It has a really, REALLY good gradient removal tool which I definitely needed as there was a very strong light pollution gradient running from bottom-right to top-left.
I have been toying with the idea for a while to mount my camera on to the HEQ5PRO and then simply use the mount to track without guiding. Obviously I am limited to the exposure time, but this was an experiment after all.
I chose Cygnus for a number of reasons - easily identifiable, looking at a rich area of the Milky Way and high enough to help combat light pollution. There was also a half Moon, but that was not in a position to hinder my efforts.
It took me a while to settle on the exposure settings, but I went for 30 seconds at ISO800. The lens is a Sigma zoom and was set to the widest at 28mm f/3.5.
I decided to take about 30 minutes worth of data. My aim here was to hopefully show that you don't need mega kit to get results. I also took bias and dark frames (no flats).
I used Affinity Photo in the post processing. It has a really, REALLY good gradient removal tool which I definitely needed as there was a very strong light pollution gradient running from bottom-right to top-left.
Standard adjustments using Levels, Curves, Shadows/Highlights and Selective Colour.
Clear skies.
MJ
Clear skies.
MJ
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