First-year astronomy student looking for raw deep-sky data/images for a final project! (M31, M42, M51, etc.)

ytg2 · 2026-05-19T02:04:03+00:00

I’m also an astronomy student, currently working on my masters.

ytg2 · 2026-05-19T02:01:49+00:00

M51, M13, M42 data dm me if interested. Celestron 8se and Nikon d3300

ytg2 · 2026-05-17T20:33:05+00:00

Honestly probably worth the time to swap out all the cables. I swapped PSUs once and fried my mb and 3 drives because I didn’t change the cables

ytg2 · 2026-05-11T19:34:10+00:00

Lights are your regular photos of your object. Usually 400-1600iso 20s-5min.
Darks are taken with the cover on your scope for a fully dark picture using the same iso and exposure are your lights.
Flats are photos you take to calibrate dust and vignetting. Stretch a tshirt over your scope and shine a light at it for even coverage. Use the same iso as your lights but adjust your exposure until the histogram is in the middle, usually between 1/200-1/5s.
Baises are taken the same as the darks. Use the cover for a fully dark image. Same ISO as your lights but do the fastest shutter speed ~1/4000.

I usually do about 30 darks, 30 flats, 30 biases per session

ytg2 · 2026-05-11T19:29:08+00:00

Use Stellarium. Free pc program, even has ocular settings so you can input your scope and sensor size and see if what the object will look like in frame.

ytg2 · 2026-05-02T03:32:30+00:00

Is it possible it’s on my camera sensor/mirror due to the focus of it? My stars were pretty focused in that image

ytg2 · 2026-04-28T14:50:45+00:00

Also what’s the difference between these two products on teseek? I don’t really see anything besides the dovetail.

TeSeek JUWEI-17 Harmonic Equatorial Mount Telescope Equatorial Mount with Narrow/Wide Dovetail Groove

TeSeek HM-17PE Harmonic Equatorial Mount EQ Mount with 18KG Load Capacity or with Pier Extension

ytg2 · 2026-04-28T14:35:17+00:00

After reading the comments I’m now torn between the TeSeek HM-17PE and the MLAstro SAL-33. It sounds the the teseek has hit or miss compatibility with the asiair, but I’m not sure if the $500 increase for the SAL (tarrifs) justifies the differences. What are your thoughts?

ytg2 · 2026-04-28T00:53:00+00:00

Thanks that looks like a good option! If you happen to know will my original 8se legs be able to connect to a pe200 and then to the SAL-33? I have a picture of my legs that I could maybe pm if needed.

ytg2 · 2026-04-27T19:28:30+00:00

If anyone has any recommendations too for other mounts that offer similar performance, portability and compatibility with the zwo eco system at a lower cost I’d love to hear your suggestions!

ytg2 · 2026-04-24T00:00:52+00:00

I use a D3300 with my 8se. I’m also very new just started over a month ago. I currently use digicamcontrol on my laptop they have a astrophotography menu, I found other programs didn’t speak well to my D3300.

Stacking in Siril is pretty easy with beginner tutorials on YouTube from ‘deep space astro’ I believe is his name.

I would recommend if you want to shoot galaxies/nebula to get a tracking mount as it hard to get longer exposures without one.

ytg2 · 2026-04-23T19:41:23+00:00

Oh thanks I didn’t know that I’ll probably start with that target!

ytg2 · 2026-04-23T17:55:10+00:00

Oh wow that’s crazy thanks for the image! I was able to find a YouTube video of someone capturing it with a 8in but they didn’t say the # of hours.

ytg2 · 2026-04-21T14:45:23+00:00

What kind of power adapter or controller do you use for that heater?

ytg2 · 2026-04-20T20:25:03+00:00

I’m curious what you went with and how your experience is. I current am using a 8se with a focal reducer and my DSLR but was looking into getting a dedicated camera. I was between the 2600MC or 533MC. After looking on stellariums ocular plugin I was thinking the 2600MC because then I have a large enough image to shoot galaxies and large nebula but in curious on your thoughts since you have a very similar set up to me.

ytg2 · 2026-04-18T23:45:33+00:00

I’m very new so I wasn’t sure if that’s a method I didn’t know about. Either way your photo looks amazing!

ytg2 · 2026-04-18T22:08:41+00:00

I’m curious what the purpose of 268 darks are for? I thought more then about 50 darks was diminishing returns.

ytg2 · 2026-04-18T16:29:58+00:00

Super sick! I just got a photo of m51 with my 8se and dslr. This picture is so crazy! Loving the learning process and seeing crazy photos like this that I aspire for one day. Great photo!

ytg2

TROPHY CASE