First Night with New Guide Scope!

[Colorado CJ]

Well, I used my guide scope last night for the first time. I had to shoot between clouds, but it was worth it!

This is going to make my Astrophotography a lot better! Here's what I shot last night. First 85 minutes of the Triangulum Galaxy (16 subs at 320 seconds each). Then the clouds moved in. Breaks in the clouds let me shoot the Flame and Horse Head for 120 minutes (30 subs at 240 seconds each).

Stayed up way too late, but this time of year there aren't many chances to shoot because of the weather.

Equipment used:

Stellarvue SV80 Access
EQ6-R Pro Mount
Nikon D600 (unmodified)
SFF3-25-48 Field Flattener
Astromania 60mm Guide Scope
ZWO 120MC-S Guide Camera



Flame and Horse Head by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr



Triangulum 85 min by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

 

[AlanLichty]

Both of these are beautiful.

 

[JimFox]

Awesome work Andrew!!!

That Flame and Horse Head really jump out at me.

So the guide scope is for what? Alignment? How is it making everything better?

 

[Colorado CJ]

Awesome work Andrew!!!

That Flame and Horse Head really jump out at me.

So the guide scope is for what? Alignment? How is it making everything better?

Thanks guys!

Jim, the guide scope locks onto a star and corrects the mount's tracking, to the sub pixel level. This way you can shoot longer photos and each image will be as sharp as possible since the stars aren't getting blurred by movement.

With a good guide setup, you can shoot exposures of an hour or more, if you need to or have the right camera for that long of exposure.

 

[Ben Egbert]

They just keep getting better.

 

[Tom Narwid]

Well, I used my guide scope last night for the first time. I had to shoot between clouds, but it was worth it!

This is going to make my Astrophotography a lot better! Here's what I shot last night. First 85 minutes of the Triangulum Galaxy (16 subs at 320 seconds each). Then the clouds moved in. Breaks in the clouds let me shoot the Flame and Horse Head for 120 minutes (30 subs at 240 seconds each).

Stayed up way too late, but this time of year there aren't many chances to shoot because of the weather.

Equipment used:

Stellarvue SV80 Access
EQ6-R Pro Mount
Nikon D600 (unmodified)
SFF3-25-48 Field Flattener
Astromania 60mm Guide Scope
ZWO 120MC-S Guide Camera
You get real nice results with that mount.


Flame and Horse Head by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr



Triangulum 85 min by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr

 

[JimFox]

Thanks guys!

Jim, the guide scope locks onto a star and corrects the mount's tracking, to the sub pixel level. This way you can shoot longer photos and each image will be as sharp as possible since the stars aren't getting blurred by movement.

With a good guide setup, you can shoot exposures of an hour or more, if you need to or have the right camera for that long of exposure.

That sounds really great!

 

[Mike Lewis]

Andrew,

Your cold tolerance must be legendary! These are very good, and I assume from your post that you ran into no issues with getting PHD2 up and running then. If/when you take the plunge to a dedicated astro camera with cooling, you will see your noise levels drop too (although the cold weather will help a bit with your uncooled DSLR as well). You are doing great things, nice to see someone getting outside and getting data when the nights are nice and long.

 

[Bob Denton]

Stunning!

 

[Colorado CJ]

Thanks everyone!

Mike, I'm sitting outside right now, next to the scope. It is imaging Andromeda.

It is currently 3° F out right now. I'm Scandinavian, so I am the most comfortable in the cold