Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

The sky was clear the other night so I took a few shots of the Dumbbell nebula. Unfortunately the seeing was pretty bad (lots of turbulence). The stars came out a bit blotted and fuzzy, but the nebula color was reasonable. I used 20 3 minutes exposures with my DLSR connected to a 500mm lens with a 2X teleconverter to capture the image.

(Download)

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Background looks pretty clean, especially for only 1 hour of total exposure time. I’m not sure what you are using for tracking, but it looks a bit off, you are getting elongated stars. Possibly your PA was off.

Keep them coming, your doing a great job.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi Europa
Yep, the PA might have been off since the last time I took some images ( I had left the mount covered and might have been bumped). I'll be rechecking the PA with drift alignment using the PHD software the next time I give it go. I also found that the focuser on the Refactor that I was guiding with was getting a bit sloppy/loose that I suspect that may have also contributed to some of the guiding problems. These things also explained some of the issues I saw with the PHD software graph of the guiding. I have tightened the focuser up bit and will try again once the skies clear up again. The stars where also deforming in the image produced by the CCD used for guiding going from 2 to 5 FWHM which was far worse than I had seen before. This I attributed more to atmospheric turbulence at the time which didn't help any.
Thanks for the input.

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Oh that focuser issues could cause a lot of your problems.

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

Very nice!

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

It's a really nice image!

I think the best thing I did for my imaging was when I set my mount is a "permanent place" and the mount stayed very close to Polar Alignment.
I'd take in the telescope in each night, and cover my mount with a canvas bag and my 32 gallon dome. (A plastic trash can from Lowe's. )
Hey it works great!
But the point is that PA is a mechanical function of the mount. So by not moving the mount, it stays closer with each use. I'd still do some gently tweaking of the Elevation, but things were very close session to session. Many nights, no adjusting at all, just check it was close (Polaris near the crosshairs) and go ahead with Alignment.
I think I wish I had a pier. But keeping the mount and tripod stationary was my next best thing.

When I get a new mount, yep, outside she lives.
I might get a 44 gallon dome through....

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi Sonny
Sounds like a good idea. I really like the garbage can idea to protect the mount until I can someday build a small observatory building. I just blew my budget on a very heavy duty equatorial head that uses Renishaw Resolute Absolute Encoders on both axis that should help a lot with guiding (should be here in about 8 weeks). I plan to use this head on a pear and also use on my current tripod (after some modifications to handle it) for a portable solution.
Thanks for the suggestion.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Hi Ballard,
Not my original idea.
I saw a picture of a guy back East, (Ohio?) who had his pier and mount covered with a 32 gallon dome, and it had snow on the "dome".
Apparently there are quite a few of us who leave our mounts out and covered.

I like the can idea because it allows the mount to breathe but gives it an entire "roof". And ya can't complain about the price. Mine cost $9.98, 4 years ago. And is still doing good.
I use a waterproof canvas cover from a Bar-B-Que I've had stored away, and the inverted plastic trash can.
Also, the plastic can is UV resistant, so although mine has faded some, it isn't bad or cracked at all.
Highly recommend.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

On my G11 mount I have used a Bar-B-Que cover, however I don't leave it out when it rains since the wind can push water under it. But I expect I could make a concrete pad with a way to attach a large plastic garbage can to prevent water from getting to the mount. This project will probably wait until spring at this point. Great idea thanks for the input.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Just some weight on the can will keep it down. No anchors that way.
Mine is somewhat sheltered from our winds by a block wall and ivy. So no weight needed, so far anyway.
Yep, Winter and poopy weather is upon us.

But still, a very nice image of the Ring Nebula!