Autoguiding Finally Works

I had been fighting to get autoguiding to work for many, many weeks. The results were not so bad but not as good as I wanted, frustration was setting in …

23rd March

M81 Bode's Galaxy
M81 Bode’s Galaxy. A total of 23 x 60 second exposures ISO 800. Stars are beginning to trail. Longer exposures had a 50% rejection rate.

10th April

IC 1795 Fish Head Galaxy
IC 1795 Fish Head Nebula – Nebula is identifiable but the exposure had to be stretched too much …

24th April

Lyrid Meteor
Finally, success, no autoguiding yet, sanity was saved by catching one of the Lyrid meteor shower. Street light, right side, shining brightly …

25th April

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy
Finally the autoguiding worked, M51 Whirlpool Galaxy 50 x 300 second exposures. The galaxy details are finally coming through. The universe has been opened.