M45 Pleiades image taken with a Celestron Travelscope-70 21035

m45_northern_optics

I took this image of M45 the Pleiades through a Celestron Travelscope-70 and a Canon EOS 1100D body. The mount was a Skywatcher HEQ5. Was not very well polar aligned, so kept exposure to 20 seconds to avoid star trailing.  Light pollution was an issue as always where I live, so an Ostara Moon / Skyglow filter helped keep the orange glow down to an acceptable level.

To get true focus, you should always use live view, and lock the focus once achieved. The RAW file was processed in DPP (Digital photo professional). This is the software you get as standard with Canon DSLRs. Using ISO 6400, noise was an issue. This was improved with noise reduction in DPP. Using the same software, the image was sharpened and the red cast removed using curves.

For astro imaging ALWAYS use raw files, not JPEG. With a RAW file you can bring out so much more detail that will be lost forever in jpeg

Given the basic spec telescope, badly aligned mount and light pollution, I am happy with the end result

The Celestron Travelscope-70 can be purchased HERE with the option of buying a t-ring as an option

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