March 26th, 2011 - Orion Nebula

Alrighty, so I knew that if I wanted to try getting the Orion Nebula M42 through my scope and with the DSLR, I had to try it soon since Orion won't be up for much longer and it's always setting and getting closer to more light pollution all the time.  So I went out last night and just messed around with DSLR and got some decent shots for just messing around.

150s exposure, ISO 200 with DSLR & EON refractor 

This one was my favorite.  Light pollution limited me to this long of an exposure.  Perhaps next time I'll use a nebula filter or a light pollution filter (just thought of that right now...wish I had last night).

 

270s exposure, ISO 100 with DSLR & EON refractor

As you may be able to tell if you zoom in on this one...tracking was a problem.  I'm pretty darn sure it's because the mount has shown to be more wobbly and moveable - this movement has increased after every star party I hold.  Lesson learned

70s exposure, ISO 400 with DSLR, 2x Televue Barlow, EON refractor

 This is using a 2x Barlow Lens to get up close a little more.  It was hard to focus, and I was running out of patience, but you can see the red vs. blue stars well because of the lack of focus.

Yeah yeah, I know I should have used my Newtonian for better light collection, but it doesn't track - perhaps I'll use the SCT next time.