Ring Nebula (Messier 57) & the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules (Messier 13)

As any follower of this blog will know, I have recently started playing around with a HEQ5 mount and my DSLR camera. However, I also have been trying it with my 127 Mak telescope in addition to the standard Lenses.

Without guiding and due to the statistics of my telescope I am limited to bright, smaller targets and so I have recently decided to image the Ring Nebula & the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. First up with the Ring Nebula in the constellation Lyra which is a stack of 10 x 90 second exposures.

I was pretty chuffed with this, especially considering my camera ran out of batteries before I could take any Dark or Flat frames. My unmodified camera does block the red elements of the nebula which is a shame but it is still a nice enough image.

Next up was the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules which is a stack of 16 x 75 second exposures. One thing I did this time was use Dark and Flat frames as I had remembered to charge my camera battery so I actually had time to do it.

I really like this image and think it shows that I am slowly learning how to use the camera and processing software. I do wonder how far I can go with my current setup and I now realise what people mean when they talk about how this hobby sucks the money out of you as there is always something better out there!