M16 Eagle Nebula

From Wikipedia:

The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. Its name derives from its shape which is resemblant of an eagle. It is the subject of the famous "Pillars of Creation" photograph by the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows pillars of star-forming gas and dust within the nebula.


6 each 5 minute images: Canon xt (un modified), SkyWatcher 254N 10" newtonian, SW EQ5pro, guided.

M57 the Ring Nebula

I have been doing some major mount alignment, getting it dialed in so the autoguider doesn't have to do quite so much work. I have started using PHD to fine tune the polar alignment and also have changed the position of my OTA so as to help eliminate some of the weight issues. Last night I finally got things dialed in so figured I would attempt to image something. Here's a 16 minute (8 x 2 min)  guided image using my Canon XT (unmodified). I used my doghouse flat panel to take my flats, this time I used the 5 led tap light to illuminate the panel. Very little post processing was done to this image so I'm really happy about how things are working now.

M13 with DSLR

I attempted to capture the M13 Hercules Cluster last night after changing my method of taking flat frames. I now use a white panel at the end of the dog house as my flat capture point. It seemed to work much better and faster than the 't-shirt' method I was using before.

Anyway. Here's my attempt. 4 each 2 minute images ISO 1600 Canon 350d un-modified.