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Pleiades M45 5/10/2014


Johnnyaardvark

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I have wanted to image this since I was a kid and there are many better versions of this image out there but... this is a first attempt at what has been of a life long ambition!


 


Was fighting with dew (heaters and controller my next purchase I think!) so limited the amount of data I could collect. Street lamps and lack of guiding also limited the length of my subs. Think I have god about as much out the data as I dare without over doing it but I am certainly open to suggestions on imaging processing here. 


 


SW ED80, HEQ5 Pro unguided, Nikon D5000


 


 


Light frames


35x 30s ISO2500 subs


1x 52s ISO1600


3x 120(ish) ISO800


and a few other test images of shorter duration


 


23 Darks 30s ISO2500


 


All stacked in DSS and processed in CS2


 


Bit of a miss mash, had to give up on collecting more data due to dew... got my 200p on the go after that for some visual observation and then tried to collect some images (M31 but not good enough to post here!) on that until the secondary succumbed to dew a few hours later. Had a great night though! :)


 


Thanks for looking and any comments/feedback


 


Steve


 


15265546917_fd04a0d470_h.jpgPleiades by sja88, on Flickr

Edited by Johnnyaardvark
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Nice plug Daz... you on commission? :)


 


Thanks all for the comments...


 


Vicky, your recent M45 is also very nice indeed and with more nebulosity.


 


Want to collect more data and get longer subs but am struggling a little as I can't automate exposures longer than 30 seconds. Bulb control via external PC software seems not to be supported on the Nikons unless I am missing something. Quite disappointing but hey, may just have to go down the Canon route for a dedicated astro body...


 


S


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Steve a great start for limited exposure time but the background looks a bit too blue on my screen


 


I thought  the Niks can be controlled with software for longer exp but you may have discovered why nearly everybody uses the Canons :D


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You have got to be happy with that, but I reckon you will be going back to this some time, you haven't scratched the itch yet! :lol:


 


A real nice image though.


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Steve a great start for limited exposure time but the background looks a bit too blue on my screen

 

I thought  the Niks can be controlled with software for longer exp but you may have discovered why nearly everybody uses the Canons :D

 

Agree about the colour Steve... It is a bit blue. I may back that off a little. Any other thoughts on getting more out of this would be appreciated but I think I may be pushing it a little to show much more with these short subs?

 

 

You have got to be happy with that, but I reckon you will be going back to this some time, you haven't scratched the itch yet! :lol:

 

A real nice image though.

Thanks :) Will certainly be having more of a go at this from darker skies!

 

Regards

 

S

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Thanks Steve. Had looked into that briefly and had at least found a few references to it. The link to the exe appears to be dead unfortunately. :( ... But a little searching and there are newer versions to have a look at!!


 


Will let you know, Ta.


 


Steve

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