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Thread: Some of my astro pics

  1. #1
    Member Petrol's Avatar
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    Some of my astro pics

    Wow, taking pics of stuff in the sky is mind blowingly complicated.

    Firstly, they need long exposures as they are so dark – you can’t even see some of them! Then they are moving so you need a tracking system on the tripod. Thought I would give it a go so I bought this telescope and tripod




    Then fitted the camera - it’s still got paint on it from the S14 rebuild pics



    Some of my pics. They fall a bit short of what I am hoping to eventually achieve

    M31 - this is another galaxy




    Pleiades this is some stars that are close together




    Just a star pic - Capella



    This is called the double cluster. You can't see it with the naked eye but a telescope shows it



    This is not easy to do It's good fun though
    Pete


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  2. #2
    Guest Waveydavey's Avatar
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    Cool man, what sort of moon pics can you do with that?

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    Guest fozzie's Avatar
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    Smahing pics dude,
    Juz has some great ones of the moon but yours are on a different level. I love it my daughter has been learning about the solar system today & i was tasked with homework on this & I love it but for a 4.5yr old I know too much, she cant take it all in so I kept it simple,
    She has a little telescope though & loves looking at the night sky with it, at least now now she knows most of the planets (google sky is great)
    Last edited by fozzie; 15-11-2010 at 22:27.

  4. #4
    Member Petrol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Waveydavey View Post
    Cool man, what sort of moon pics can you do with that?
    The moon is easy, it's close at 250,00 miles away




    M31 galaxy is a bit further away at 2.54 million light-years. It's a bit bigger than the moon though
    Pete


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    Banned sideways14a's Avatar
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    I was thinking of getting a second hand scope like yours and trying some astro photography at some point.
    Lots to learn with it, but hey i watch the sky at night every month

  6. #6
    Member Petrol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fozzie View Post
    She has a little telescope though & loves looking at the night sky with it, at least now now she knows most of the planets (google sky is great)
    Jupiter is the brightest thing in the sky at the moment. It rises in the east early on so that's worth a look. With a small telesope or better still some decent binoculars, you can see it's moons
    Pete


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  7. #7
    Guest fozzie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Petrol View Post
    Jupiter is the brightest thing in the sky at the moment. It rises in the east early on so that's worth a look. With a small telesope or better still some decent binoculars, you can see it's moons
    Cheez dude,
    i will look out for that it makes one feel so in-significant What time scale do you think i should be looking?

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    Guest Daz's Avatar
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    Nice little shots there.

    Are you stacking the photo's and working the curves in photoshop afterwards? Will bring out loats of detail.

    Like this,


  9. #9
    Engine Builder Mark's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daz View Post
    Nice little shots there.

    Are you stacking the photo's and working the curves in photoshop afterwards? Will bring out loats of detail.

    Like this,

    Love that photo
    Quote Originally Posted by silverzx View Post
    I like Mark, he seems fair.
    Quote Originally Posted by Slip_n_slide View Post
    Mark is right.

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    Guest Smoothound's Avatar
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    Awesome! This interests me

    I've got a Helios 150 (basically a rebadged short-tube Skywatcher 150) but I've nver got round to sticking a camera on it. Which is weird seeming as it was part of the reason for getting a DSLR

    I never really bothered as I haven't got RA motors. Have you just done it by folllowing manually? Or just with short exposures?

  11. #11
    Guest G-Bone's Avatar
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    Don't forget Leonid meteor shower tomorrow night

  12. #12
    Guest clarity's Avatar
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    Sweet how much was that scope?

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    Awesome pics!! Now I want to play too!

    I hate these types of threads as they always involve me spending money

  14. #14
    Member Petrol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fozzie View Post
    Cheez dude,
    i will look out for that it makes one feel so in-significant What time scale do you think i should be looking?

    It’s under the moon at about 6 PM at the moment

    Quote Originally Posted by Daz View Post
    Nice little shots there.

    Are you stacking the photo's and working the curves in photoshop afterwards? [/IMG]
    No not yet, I need to get my alignment and tracking optimised first. Staking takes a long time as you have to do multiple exposures of the object called light frames, then you have to do dark frames using the same exposure, Iso and everything has to be at the same temperature. Then you have to do light frames and bias frames…EEK!


    Quote Originally Posted by Smoothound View Post

    I never really bothered as I haven't got RA motors. Have you just done it by folllowing manually? Or just with short exposures?
    My scope mount automatically tracks the object (It’s a bit more than an RA motor, it’s a goto so it has 2 motors) You only get what you pay for though and the tripod and scope mount cost me IRO of £500. For proper tracking you need to be spending in the order of about £900 on just the scope mount (That excludes the tripod) The pic above will have been taken with at least £5K’s worth of gear.


    Quote Originally Posted by clarity View Post
    Sweet how much was that scope?
    Scope was £400, upgrade to auto tracking was £300. With other bits and bobs (eyepieces, filters adapters etc) I have probably spent just short of a grand.


    Roll on clear skies!
    Pete


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  15. #15
    Guest nene's Avatar
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    Have you tried putting any of the images through the astrometry solver on Flickr?

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    I think your homework tonight should be pointing that thing at Jupiter
    It'll be near the moon this evening.

    Daz, you should submit that pic to the Astrometry solver and see if you can give them a headache

  17. #17
    Guest Smoothound's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by McRearout View Post
    I think your homework tonight should be pointing that thing at Jupiter
    It'll be near the moon this evening.
    The moon is a big problem. Better to wait till it's away from Jupiter...or not visible at all!

    As for the leonids - overcast last night. Has been the same every year I've remembered. I can usually catch one or two over the week though.

  18. #18
    Guest ReKo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Waveydavey View Post
    what sort of moon pics can you do with that?
    I found some really detailed moon pics in Petrols Flickr album...

    Here is 1 shot that stood out particuarly!























  19. #19
    Member Petrol's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nene View Post
    Have you tried putting any of the images through the astrometry solver on Flickr?
    No, and I haven’t used any post processing on any of my pics yet. It’s early doors for me and am finding it a bit of a challenge! Still, something to get my teeth into

    From what I can gather the next thing I need to sort is an autoguider. This is basically another smaller telescope mounted on top of the main scope. When fitted with a camera and appropriate software, it can make adjustments to the angle of the telescope to improve tracking. It looks at stars and makes corrections.

    I want to get my images as sharp as I can, albeit on a limited budget, before I start processing them

    Oh and ReKo – I will be polite If you have nothing decent to say then don’t bother posting at all. Please do not lower the tone of the forum
    Pete


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  20. #20
    Banned sideways14a's Avatar
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    Been looking at second hand scopes on the bay, still quite expensive but a lot cheaper than new. Once had a 12" Mead complete with auto gubbins, pc connection, ccd and a mount that weighed the same as the moon. Think it was 15 grands worth

    Please do not lower the tone of the forum
    Too late, been here for years... Sorry

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