# Astro Photography



## Nigelnaturist (29 Apr 2020)

or something's I have been doing since I have been away


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## Dave7 (29 Apr 2020)

Nigelnaturist said:


> or something's I have been doing since I have been away
> View attachment 518757


I got some good moon shots using a 300mm plus 2x converter and a 500 f4 plus 1.4x convertor. Surprising how small the aperture and how fast the shutter speed must be.
Nice atmosphere you have caught there Nigel


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## SpokeyDokey (29 Apr 2020)

@Nigelnaturist 

Nice to see you again and what a great photograph.


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## sheddy (29 Apr 2020)

On BBC iplayer: 60min doc. on Hubble telescope.


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## raleighnut (29 Apr 2020)




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## numbnuts (29 Apr 2020)

WoW very nice


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## Nigelnaturist (29 Apr 2020)

I should say, this is the Horse Head Nebula and the Flame Nebula, located just below the left star (the bright one you see) of Orions Belt.
It is composed of 60x60s exposures stacked in software, along with other exposures to compensate for sensor noise and and artefacts i.e. dust vignetting.


Dave7 said:


> I got some good moon shots using a 300mm plus 2x converter and a 500 f4 plus 1.4x convertor. Surprising how small the aperture and how fast the shutter speed must be.
> Nice atmosphere you have caught there Nigel


With the scope a Sky Watcher 200P 1000mm f/5, I am using about 1/200-1400th ISO 200-400 this between half a full.


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## Nigelnaturist (29 Apr 2020)

Hello everyone, again.





M3 Globular Cluster


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## SpokeyDokey (29 Apr 2020)

Nigelnaturist said:


> It is composed of 60x60s exposures stacked in software, along with other exposures to compensate for sensor noise and and artefacts i.e. dust vignetting.



I understand bits of that but I'm also sure I don't understand the totality. 

You clearly have a talent going on there. Is this at the expense of riding your bike?


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## Nigelnaturist (29 Apr 2020)

SpokeyDokey said:


> I understand bits of that but I'm also sure I don't understand the totality.
> 
> You clearly have a talent going on there. Is this at the expense of riding your bike?


I have on;y really been at it since early March with earnest, clouds and computer issues aside, I g9ot the driven mount in March, before that limited to very short exposure, but still stacking.




If I remember right it was 30x1/4's exposures on a static mount.
This I got on the driven mount.




If you look you can just see a satellite track, since learned not to include those frames with tracks in (you can also get rid in software)
Since the assuault and break in back in 2017 I don't tend to venture out much, and circumstances have changed in that I am in a caring role (if needed) for ex, so if I go out it is usually with her shopping (current situation excepted), she is very high risk, COPD, asthma diabetic with a heart issue, she had a spinal infection in 2017 and came out of hospital in the Sept.
Part of the reasaon I got the telescope, apart from it was cheap on ebay, but the mount was damaged a little, but the level of the mount wasn't really up to the job of astro photography, I invested in a new one one level up, (a bit like cycling and groupsets really) could get one of these for the same price Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 Groupset (11 Speed) and I won't go into the issues of getting connected with a computer, sorry wondering, part of these reason there is a very close conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn on the 21/12 just over 6" of arc apart happens this close about ever 3-400 years, though conjunctions happen about every 20 years, yes I know it will be cloudy as it has been for the last two conjunctions of Venus and M45 the 
Pleiades, this one happens every 8 years, last was 2012 and both that and this were cloudy, but clear either days before and after, this I got the day before, with what is basically a 300mm lens.





and a picture of Jupiter, which is captured in a slightly different way .





and Saturn the same mourning, just before sunrise, moon wasn't far away, and there was a lot of turbulence





I need to work on the technique before Dec, but this was my very first attempt at this technique..


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## Nigelnaturist (29 Apr 2020)

The furthest thing I have knowingly captured is a galaxy some 1,000 million light years away, it is really only a smudge in the frame, but there is a website that will show all objects in an image.





To put it into context, since the dawn of our solar system, there would have only been time for 2 radio messages each way, providing there is a civilisation in that galaxy to respond. M52 is merely 23 million l.y. away.
I think I will just pop there on the bike till the current situation passes, the other is a tad far i think.


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## figbat (29 Apr 2020)

Dave7 said:


> I got some good moon shots using a 300mm plus 2x converter and a 500 f4 plus 1.4x convertor. Surprising how small the aperture and how fast the shutter speed must be.


It is, isnt it. But think about it - you are photographing a pale-coloured surface that is bathed in full sunlight; it’s like photographing a desert scene in daylight. Sure there’s a bit of atmospheric filtering and some inverse-square losses, but it is still a bright object - it just happens to be surrounded most often by dark.


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## Drago (29 Apr 2020)

Fantastic pic of Jupiter.


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## Nigelnaturist (29 Apr 2020)

figbat said:


> It is, isnt it. But think about it - you are photographing a pale-coloured surface that is bathed in full sunlight; it’s like photographing a desert scene in daylight. Sure there’s a bit of atmospheric filtering and some inverse-square losses, but it is still a bright object - it just happens to be surrounded most often by dark.


It is the reason there are no stars in the images shot on the moon, the exposure is to short to record them, it what these people who claim there are no stars in the shots forget, or more likely don't know, it was cited on that daft program "Loose Women" once claimed, the thing people believe such s***, that comes out of peoples mouths in potions like that.
Here is another daft one, look up the messages under Nibiru on youtube, I have from time to time tried to make them understand, what they cliam as second suns photographed on mobile or cheap (low quality) optics are just reflections/refraction/flare in the lens, the last one went on some, till I showed I what I record and have never seen such a thing, he still thinks I am an unbeliever, dam right I see stuff so far away they can't even contemplate the distances, anyway he shut up after the last set of messages.


M57 remnants of a star that has thrown off its outer layers of gas, you can just see the star in the centre. there is also a faint galaxy about half past 1 as you look at the ring, and just above and left of the brightest orange star in the same direction, but it is a smudge, if I remember right about 500 million l.y. 
M57 is a really small object to capture, I have never seen it visually and whilst the image isn't very good, I was pleased to have recorded it, if only to say finally yes it's there. I used the 1,000mm f/5 scope with a kenko 1.4x converter making it a 1,400mm f/7


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## Nigelnaturist (29 Apr 2020)

Drago said:


> Fantastic pic of Jupiter.


Thanks, I will get better as it climbs through the summer months.


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## beastie (29 Apr 2020)

Here's couple I took a few years ago with the wife's telescope. Used a £10 webcam and registax


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## Joey Shabadoo (30 Apr 2020)

On a general space theme, I found this fascinating


View: https://youtu.be/HBE8qBtQMuA


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## Joey Shabadoo (30 Apr 2020)

And this - the numbers are huge


View: https://youtu.be/uD4izuDMUQA


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## Drago (30 Apr 2020)

I did some observing as part of my studies, but never much. Back then, nearly 20 years ago, the kit wasn't so widely available and so cheap as it is now. Also, I'm too into spending my money on bass guitars to go back, but I'm enjoying the results of your efforts.


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## Profpointy (30 Apr 2020)

There are some amazing photos in this thread. When I was a kid and first got interested in astronomy and physics I had a picture book, I think it was the brochure from the London Planetarium, which had images similar to those on this thread - many were captioned "taken with the 200" Hale telescope at Mount Palomar) and here we have photos of similar quality taken by an amateur from his garden

Wow is all I can say


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## Nigelnaturist (30 Apr 2020)

Drago said:


> I did some observing as part of my studies, but never much. Back then, nearly 20 years ago, the kit wasn't so widely available and *so cheap* as it is now. Also, I'm too into spending my money on bass guitars to go back, but I'm enjoying the results of your efforts.


We have the Chinese industry to thank for that (not turning this into a debate), however there downsides to that as well, and whilst you cna get spectacle results like using web cams,


beastie said:


> Here's couple I took a few years ago with the wife's telescope. Used a £10 webcam and registax
> View attachment 518870


and on the whole reflectors are cheap £300 or so for a reasonable 8", other stuff like APO scopes get expensive very quickly going up in size, but from my photography I know the most important thing is a sturdy mount, but I still have a lot to learn, my hard drive dies as I was starting to get to gris with some of it that was two weeks ago, and typical the ssd drive I ordered got held up in the post and now the weather is set to be cloudy for the next week or so at least.


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## Nigelnaturist (30 Apr 2020)

beastie said:


> Here's couple I took a few years ago with the wife's telescope. Used a £10 webcam and registax


Can I ask if you can remember how long the video sequence was, I managed mine with a 500 frame sequence, it was more a test than anything serious.


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## Nigelnaturist (30 Apr 2020)

Profpointy said:


> There are some amazing photos in this thread. When I was a kid and first got interested in astronomy and physics I had a picture book, I think it was the brochure from the London Planetarium, which had images similar to those on this thread - many were captioned "taken with the 200" Hale telescope at Mount Palomar) and here we have photos of similar quality taken by an amateur from his garden
> 
> Wow is all I can say


It is mainly the digital revolution that has enabled us to do such images, from control of the scope to stacking images, but yes it is wonderful that on a modest amount amazing images can be achieved.


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## beastie (30 Apr 2020)

Nigelnaturist said:


> Can I ask if you can remember how long the video sequence was, I managed mine with a 500 frame sequence, it was more a test than anything serious.


You’ll have to bear with me. It was along time ago. It was on a 80mm refractor, with a Celestron tracking mount. I think it was about 2500 frames. I then stacked the best 15 % on registax. The hardest part was getting the telescope really accurately aligned so that I could keep Jupiter in the scope for long enough.
The moment I saw Jupiter on the laptop for the first time was pretty cool.
I have other images somewhere on a flash drive, if I find them I’ll put the best of em up
Telescope plus webcam was about 180 pounds


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## Nigelnaturist (1 May 2020)

beastie said:


> *The moment I saw Jupiter on the laptop for the first time was pretty cool.*
> I have other images somewhere on a flash drive, if I find them I’ll put the best of em up
> Telescope plus webcam was about 180 pounds


This is what I think about everything I see that I know about, but have never seen.
I was doing the Owl Nebula when the computer through it's wobbly. You can get some amazing telescopes cheaply these days, the scope I got is an 8" reflector off ebay £140,
From what I understand about registax so long as the image is in the frame it will do a good job, the one I did of Saturn supports that as it seemed the tracking stopped part way through the sequence, I was watching so managed to enable the tracking again, hopefully the new windows install and software might correct this issue.
This is a composite image of how Jupiter and Saturn will look on the 21st of December at approximately 333x magnification. I hope to get a more dedicate astro cam by then, it wont be an expensive on, the one I have in mind plus a 2x barlow on my scope will also give this approximate view.
The angular distance I think is about 6.3", the camera will also enable be to get better views of galaxies. 






I am using my Canon 6D at the moment and I get serious vignetting, not so much with the 40D, but I can't seem to couple it up right at the moment, something to do with camera processor age, but I really have only been doing it since March the 6th with the new mount, and missed all the good days last week, so not a lot time really.


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## icowden (1 May 2020)

These are my best shots to date using my wife's Canon attached to my skywatcher dobsonian...


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## Nigelnaturist (1 May 2020)

icowden said:


> These are my best shots to date using my wife's Canon attached to my skywatcher dobsonian...


How did you do the close up, I can do eye piece projection with a 10mm e.p. to create a 18m f/90 scope or there abouts.
This is one of them.



These I think are my best but I have few,









This is a project I am working, I think you can see where I am going with it.


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## icowden (3 May 2020)

The close up was using a short barlow lens (1.25 inch, 3x).
I'd really like to try and get Jupiter but haven't figured out how to do it yet. All I have managed is a very bright blurry blobs...

I also need to get much better with the dobsonian. It tends to end up so tight I can't move it easily, or so loose it knocks off target or drops. It's also too low to use easily. I chose dobsonian as I though it would be better for the kids but in retrospect...

Iain


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## Nigelnaturist (3 May 2020)

icowden said:


> The close up was using a short barlow lens (1.25 inch, 3x).
> I'd really like to try and get Jupiter but haven't figured out how to do it yet. All I have managed is a very bright blurry blobs...
> 
> I also need to get much better with the dobsonian. It tends to end up so tight I can't move it easily, or so loose it knocks off target or drops. It's also too low to use easily. I chose dobsonian as I though it would be better for the kids but in retrospect...
> ...


The best way to get plantary images is to do short videos, these can be done using web cams, then using registax to get the best frames and then stack those. If using the Canon, depending how old, but most in the last decade or so have a live view, use the live view to focus. If doing single plantary images and it to bright shorten the exposure use manual mode. This is a single frame of Venus I used a high ISO as the effective focal ratio was f/90 I used eye piece projection to create a telescope with an effective focal length of 18m yes 18m the ISO was 12,800 and exposure was 1/60, so 1/60th @f/90 ISO 12,800.


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## gbb (12 May 2020)

Just extraordinary...


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## gbb (4 Aug 2020)

Can't sleep so just remembered reading Jupiter is visible...got my birdwatching scope out and could not only see Jupiter but 4 of its moons as well.
Jupiter as a distinct circle but no colour of course through a smallish scope and the moons as mere but distinct dots.
Again, I'm 62 and never saw such things with my own eyes before, amazing.


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## icowden (6 Aug 2020)

Jupiter is awesome when it's clear.


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## gbb (17 Aug 2020)

icowden said:


> Jupiter is awesome when it's clear.


Jupiter looks as bright as I've seen it yet. Low in the south I can see what i think will be Saturn just to the left. A bit obscured by trees where i am, I'm going to get my scope out soon and have a better look....if the cloud doesnt get in the way.
I feel like a 10 year old, all these years and i had no idea you could see them like this, it's amazing.


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## gbb (9 Oct 2020)

gbb said:


> Jupiter looks as bright as I've seen it yet. Low in the south I can see what i think will be Saturn just to the left. A bit obscured by trees where i am, I'm going to get my scope out soon and have a better look....if the cloud doesnt get in the way.
> I feel like a 10 year old, all these years and i had no idea you could see them like this, it's amazing.


Again, tonight, I wished I had a reasonable telescope and tripod...Jupiter and her moons are very obvious in the SW through a good birding scope held by hand...plus , very poorly but slightly higher to the south I can see what I think are Saturns rings...i can pick out what seems to be a flattened out planet. I assume that's the rings giving it that appearance. This is very small of course.


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## icowden (12 Oct 2020)

Well... Christmas is coming... maybe ask Father Christmas!! (worked for me...)


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## MrGrumpy (31 Dec 2020)

A bit of a thread bump but how are you capturing the images ?


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