Is my telescope broken

[korbitz]

So been out a few nights now with my second hand WIlliams Optics 51 telescope and a Canon EOS SL1 rebel camera, i have a equitorial mount but due to the limited time with the weather i am chasing breaks in the clouds so i can get something, really anything. Yesterday i photographed Orions Nebula but forgot to set my focus first, wasted night, but happy to see i can at least pick up nebulosity through my setup.

Tonight i tried again i set my camera to a 2 second exposure and 800 ISO with the bhatinov mask in place, got good focus, so happy with that. When taking further 2 second exposures without the bhatinov mask attached i see star trailing. I am currently using the touch panel on my camera to initiate the capture, would this cause the trailing effect or does my scope need calibrating?

The images i have attached is poor as cloud cover tonight is bad, 1 shows the bhatinov mask image the other is a 2sec exposure at 800 ISO

Any help will be appreciated.

[Thefatkitty]

Well, if you're touching the camera to initiate the shot, that would cause vibration... I use a remote shutter; they're pretty cheap

Hope that helps,

[Juno16]

A remote shutter works well. Also, you can try a shutter delay. Most dslr’s have something like a 2 or 10 second delay that will give some time for the rig to stabilize.

[JayTee]

Don't touch the camera. Use an IR remote and a 2-sec delay to initiate your images. Also, get your Polar Alignment as close as you can. The closer you get to perfect (which isn't achievable) the longer you can image before star trailing becomes apparent.

Cheers,
JT

[korbitz]

Thanks for the replies, only reason i never got a IR remote was i was planning on using a full computer setup to control the exposures. WIll try the DSLR delay function next clear spell i get.

Thanks

[JimMinCT]

A couple more points to consider.
Always shoot raw, never jpeg. You lose too much data.
Never use the in-camera noise reduction, it doubles the exposure time, and limits your processing options later.
Use the longest delay setting you have to allow the setup to stop shaking from your touching it.
Good Luck!

[korbitz]

A couple more points to consider.
Always shoot raw, never jpeg. You lose too much data.
Never use the in-camera noise reduction, it doubles the exposure time, and limits your processing options later.
Use the longest delay setting you have to allow the setup to stop shaking from your touching it.
Good Luck!

I only converted the images to jpeg to post them in here
Both Long exp. noise reduction and High ISO speed NR are both set to OFF, is there any other settings on camera devoted to noise reduction?
I have set the timer to 10 secs, hopefully will get some breaks in the clouds tonight to i can try again.

Thanks for the help.

[korbitz]

Okay so 2nd night with scope, reduced exposure to 2 seconds and used the cameras timer at 10seconds before capturing the images, i took 20x2 sec exposures, got some good shots of orions nebula, still getting elongated stars, just to clear though, i am not using the tracking part of mount, i just want to get some images. So after processing with the little bit of light i have i get this. Happy with the result of my first DSO astrophotography, now i need a clear windless night so i can make a use out of my mount to take longer exposures to get more light photons.

Bhatinov mask was not 100% in focus, was close but when i zoomed right in, it was very slightly off center.

So based on the above any reason i should still be seeing elongated stars?

[sdbodin]

So based on the above any reason i should still be seeing elongated stars?

Yes, the short answer. Now, why, I assume you used the RedCat 250, not stated, but looks about right. At a 2 sec unguided exposure the star trails will be 30 arc-sec long, and that looks about right too.

Turn on the tracker, without autoguiding you should get at least 30 seconds of good tracking.

Good luck,
Steve

[korbitz]

Okay so my telescope aint broken, seems it was the user

Managed to capture 19x10 sec exposures with tracking mount on this time (not polar aligned, so couldn't go much higher on exposure) stars look just about round, a slight elongation. FInally happy with the processed image that i have, yes there is a lot of grain, but got the 3 nebula and some of the color, not bad for the 3rd attempt.

Thanks for all the assistance, i now have the bug

[JayTee]

Thanks for all the assistance, I now have the bug

Give your wallet to your wife (or significant other) because it will now always be empty. I just spent $3K on a new mount and that's not even an expensive one!!!

Congrats on getting a nice image,
JT

[korbitz]

Thanks for all the assistance, I now have the bug

Give your wallet to your wife (or significant other) because it will now always be empty. I just spent $3K on a new mount and that's not even an expensive one!!!

Congrats on getting a nice image,
JT

Haha, she has all my money, but is also keen on astrophotography, so she wants to get the good stuff (as long as i do all the hard work, she can claim she did it)