M42 - The Orion Nebula - 18.11.12



This is a further step on my journey to getting the hang of the Canon 550D. Not as straight forward as my SX cameras and taking more time than I though it would. On the other hand I suppose getting the hang of the SX ones took some time too, but it's all too far back in time to rememeber.

This one was taken on the 18th of November from the Austerfield Observatory, using the 550D and FSQ106, sat on the 900GTO mount. Guiding was not necessary as the exposures were a series at 10sec and another at 30sec. Both were pre-processed in Astroart5 using darks and flats, and sigma average stacked.
The final processing was done in Photoshop, and took a very long time. Not to do the actual processing, but to do it again and again, every time I changed my mind. A bit more red, a bit more blue, darker here, lighter there. Sod it! Start again! You know how it goes. This is actually version 8. There will probably be others.
In addition to PS I used GradX, can't do without that, and Annie's Astro Actions, a nice set of actions.

18.11.12 - A Record of Doubles Observing

This is an example of the records that Peter Smith makes when observing Double Stars. The form is one he devised for himself and fills out with care to develop a record of his activities. This was done on Saturday 18th of November, when all the other observers had left.
The equipment he uses is the Meade 14" with a variety of eyepieces, dependant on the subject under examination. He is very new to the task and has been working visually so far, but plans to progress by adding means of measuring separation and position.


If anyone would like to join him in this escapade, contact him, to make arrangements to meet him there, he has keys to the observatory and is not tied to our normal observing nights.