Bode's Galaxy and Cigar Galaxy

crimbfighter · May 12, 2020

This is an image I took last night of the Bode's Galaxy (M81), upper left, and the Cigar Galaxy (M82), lower right.

-Nikon D500, Nikon 200-500 lens at 500mm, f/6.3
-iOptron Skyguider Pro tracking mount
-66 x 52 sec exposures, stacked in Deep Sky Stacker for a total 57 minutes integrated exposure time
-Image calibrated with dark frames, flat frames, and bias frames
-Finish processing in Photoshop

Here is a snapshot of the imaging setup. I wish I could set my telescope up, but time constraints these days make this setup the best option. I can get it out, up, and running in 15 minutes, collect some photons, and be in bed by midnight.

D7K · May 12, 2020

That’s a sweet piece of art right there, nicely done and damn! That’s a setup!

Sent from my mobile device because I’m either outside or too lazy to get my MacBook..

Jeff G · May 12, 2020

Love it!

crimbfighter · May 12, 2020

D7K said:
That’s a sweet piece of art right there, nicely done and damn! That’s a setup!

Sent from my mobile device because I’m either outside or too lazy to get my MacBook..

Thanks! I'm still very much a novice in the world of astrophotography, but every time I improve and learn more and more. It's addictive and fun!

Jeff G said:
Love it!

Thank you!

K9Kirk · May 12, 2020

Nice shot.

mountainjunkie · May 12, 2020

Very nice! I’ve also recently stepped in to the DSO Astrophotography waters. So far I’ve only made a couple attempts with my 70-200 lens (also using a skyguider) but have a WO Z61 arriving tomorrow!

Here’s my (heavily cropped) attempt at Bode’s and Cigar @200mm (also pretty short on exposure time as the clouds didn’t cooperate):

Jeff15 · May 12, 2020

Impressive photography......

crimbfighter · May 12, 2020

K9Kirk said:
Nice shot.

Jeff15 said:
Impressive photography......

Thank you, both!

crimbfighter · May 12, 2020

mountainjunkie said:
Very nice! I’ve also recently stepped in to the DSO Astrophotography waters. So far I’ve only made a couple attempts with my 70-200 lens (also using a skyguider) but have a WO Z61 arriving tomorrow!

Here’s my (heavily cropped) attempt at Bode’s and Cigar @200mm (also pretty short on exposure time as the clouds didn’t cooperate):

View attachment 191349

Nice! That'll be a nice scope! I am thinking of getting a small guide scope and camera to add to this rig when more funds become available... I have a Celestron 8" SCT that I would love to set up again soon and get a better image of both galaxies.

tirediron · May 12, 2020

Really impressive for only 500mm! Nice rig.

crimbfighter · May 12, 2020

tirediron said:
Really impressive for only 500mm! Nice rig.

Thanks! I was quite honestly surprised how much detail I was able to tease out of the image.

tirediron · May 12, 2020

Using the D850?

crimbfighter · May 12, 2020

tirediron said:
Using the D850?

I used my D500. Which actually is only marginally higher pixel density than my D800. My D800 has a broken 10 pin connector, though, so I was only able to use my D500 with my intervalometer.

I'm going to send my D800 to a repair facility in Michigan because the Nikon repair centers are closed... Hopefully they do as well.

mountainjunkie · May 12, 2020

crimbfighter said:
mountainjunkie said:

Very nice! I’ve also recently stepped in to the DSO Astrophotography waters. So far I’ve only made a couple attempts with my 70-200 lens (also using a skyguider) but have a WO Z61 arriving tomorrow!

Here’s my (heavily cropped) attempt at Bode’s and Cigar @200mm (also pretty short on exposure time as the clouds didn’t cooperate):

View attachment 191349

Click to expand...

Nice! That'll be a nice scope! I am thinking of getting a small guide scope and camera to add to this rig when more funds become available... I have a Celestron 8" SCT that I would love to set up again soon and get a better image of both galaxies.

How much does your 200-500 weigh? You’ll be able to balance that and a guide scope on the SGP or do you plan to use something different? I’m assuming the (relatively) short subs are due to a 500mm focal length with no guiding? How far have you pushed lens with no guiding? Inquiring minds want to know. Lol

crimbfighter · May 13, 2020

mountainjunkie said:
crimbfighter said:

mountainjunkie said:

Very nice! I’ve also recently stepped in to the DSO Astrophotography waters. So far I’ve only made a couple attempts with my 70-200 lens (also using a skyguider) but have a WO Z61 arriving tomorrow!

Here’s my (heavily cropped) attempt at Bode’s and Cigar @200mm (also pretty short on exposure time as the clouds didn’t cooperate):

View attachment 191349

Click to expand...

Nice! That'll be a nice scope! I am thinking of getting a small guide scope and camera to add to this rig when more funds become available... I have a Celestron 8" SCT that I would love to set up again soon and get a better image of both galaxies.

Click to expand...

How much does your 200-500 weigh? You’ll be able to balance that and a guide scope on the SGP or do you plan to use something different? I’m assuming the (relatively) short subs are due to a 500mm focal length with no guiding? How far have you pushed lens with no guiding? Inquiring minds want to know. Lol

I'm not sure on the weight, but it's a few pounds. The weight capacity of the Skyguider Pro is 11lbs, so as long as it is balanced, the weight shouldn't be an issue. I had to purchase a counterweight bar extension to be able to balance it, though. I chose to extend the counterweight bar instead of adding a second counterweight. The only issue I run into is that when the lens is extended, it does unbalance it, meaning I have to try to rebalance it. However, since the imbalance is in the DEC axis, and the lens is mounted at a fixed point (tripod foot), it's not really possible to balance it in the Dec axis. I need to use a mounting bar of some kind to slide the camera forward and backward to fix that issue. I think once I do that, I will be able to add the guide scope and camera no problem. ASI makes a really nice, very small guide scope/camera combo I am looking at. I also plan to buy the ASI Air control unit to run the guiding.

When balanced well, I have seen 1.5 to 2 min exposures at 500mm come out with no star trails, but I think that's about the limit. At 52 seconds, I still lost about 25% of my subs upon close inspection because even the tiniest bobble from wind, the ground moving from stepping too close to the tripod leg, etc. will cause the frame to be unusable. If I used a more robust tripod, it would help, but I like the light portability of a standard photographic tripod.

Hope that answers your questions!