Astrophotography

Toryglen-boy · 8 Sep 2009 at 04:31

Anyone here do astrophotgraphy? Here are some images i have taken, not fantastic, but not bad either, i use a Canon 1000D, through a Baader MPCC to correct coma, on a 200mm Newtonian F5 OTA, on an EQ6 mount, guided with PHD through an ST80 F4 refractor, using an Orion starshot Auto Guider.

NGC6357, Nebula in Scorpio, known as "The Lobster Nebula" i remember it doesnt rise in the UK, being just below the horizon, this is a stack of around 40*10min lights, with darks and flats.

M8, The Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius, this one does rise in the UK, although not terribly high above the horizon, this was 20*6min lights, with darks etc.

NGC 7293, known as The Helix Nebula in Aquarius, this is a gas shell from a dying star, and is one of the more closer planetary nebulas to us, at 6,500 light years.

M16, known as The Eagle Nebula in Northern Sagittarius/Scutum. This is a massive region on dust and gas where stars are born

The moon! rising over the hill, and shinging through some ghost gum trees

hope you like, if anyone else takes any astropics, then it would be great to see them

thanks

siumatfung · 8 Sep 2009 at 04:32

i think thats excellent mate where abouts where you taking these photos?

+1 awesomeness

Toryglen-boy · 8 Sep 2009 at 04:37

siumatfung said:
i think thats excellent mate where abouts where you taking these photos?

+1 awesomeness

thank you.

from my backyard, in Canberra, Australia. Only been here a couple of years, and still getting used to the sky, its very different from the norhtern hemisphere.

siumatfung · 8 Sep 2009 at 04:40

uk = ****ty sky and light pollution hell

and watch for snakes!!!

Toryglen-boy · 8 Sep 2009 at 04:44

siumatfung said:
uk = ****ty sky and light pollution hell

and watch for snakes!!!

We have light pollution here to mate, i have to use a light pollution filter to block out the emissions from sodium street lamps.

If you keep the grass short, the snakes have nowhere to hide, and leave the back yard

siumatfung · 8 Sep 2009 at 05:04

yeh but im guessing the life style must be a lot more well lets just say better than here

IMO ofcourse but im sure you can give me a brief description of how its going buddy

martinturner · 8 Sep 2009 at 08:44

Toryglen-boy said:
If you keep the grass short, the snakes have nowhere to hide, and leave the back yard

But what about on the plane

Some wonderful photos; I really like these. Really love the last one.

daven1986 · 8 Sep 2009 at 10:13

they are really cool, I do not understand the first line of your post at all - can you explain how you take these shots and what equipment you use?

Thanks

TheOtherOption · 8 Sep 2009 at 10:56

Amazing photos - a picture of the telescope / lens setup might help to clear thing up as I too don't follow what your OP says

Mud · 8 Sep 2009 at 11:43

Those're amazing...this is something I'd really like to get into, but I fear it's just not practicable in the city. Nth'ing more detail on the gear please

knowledge123 · 8 Sep 2009 at 12:00

TheOtherOption said:
Amazing photos - a picture of the telescope / lens setup might help to clear thing up as I too don't follow what your OP says

+1 I have no idea what you're on about, but it sounds damn cool!

The pictures look fantastic too, well done. :cool:

As some members say, very good to see you back, I remember some of your previous threads.

this_is_gav · 8 Sep 2009 at 12:19

siumatfung said:
uk = ****ty sky and light pollution hell

You live in Newcastle. You've got all manner of places with minimal light pollution just an hour away. Get into the hills - the Cheviots are perfect for exactly this!

Ciphon · 8 Sep 2009 at 12:22

Some very cool shots! Wish I had the equipment to do this!

jr1104 · 8 Sep 2009 at 12:23

Amazing pictures. If I could afford the equipment I would be already doing this, but unfortunately being a student means no expensive stuff for me. Another request for some rig shots here

Toryglen-boy · 10 Sep 2009 at 04:45

Mud said:
Those're amazing...this is something I'd really like to get into, but I fear it's just not practicable in the city. Nth'ing more detail on the gear please

ok ...

the whole lot sits on an EQ6 equatorial mount, that is, a mount where the declination axis is adjustable to your latitude, in my case, 33 degs. south, so this axis always points at the south pole. The mount has 2 motors, that drive it along at a sidreal rate (the same rate of the rotation of the earth) so basically, the object is always in the file of view. Ontop of this, is a 200mm (8") newtonian telescope, which is quick quick, with a widefield (F5), this has a 2" focuser, where there is a Canon 1000D, with a T-Ring, connected to a camera adapter, with a Baader MPCC (Coma Corrector) attached to the end. Ontop of that is a small 80mm F4 refractor, that has an Orion Autoguider on it, this is basically a mono CCD that takes an exposure every second, and guides on a star of your choice, this plugs into the mount, and basically says to the mount "ok, i am tracking this star, left a bit, down a bit" and keeps your selected star in the crosshairs. Its all guided with a program called PHD on a HP6220 Laptop, so this keeps the object centred indefinetly, the Canon 1000D takes a series of 10 min exposures, with an Astronmik CLS filter, placed just infront of the mirror on the DSLR, this is a filter that blocks out light on the wavelength of 490 and 510nm, or the slim band of visible light where sodium streetlights live, essentially blocking out streelights, with the filter i can go to about 20 mins before the image fogs, without the filter, its about 3 min.

So, i take a series of 10 minutes exposures, and i stack them in software, this stacking, helps to increase the SNR, and makes fainter detail pop-out, as it removes the noise around it, and increases the strength of the signal. i apply dark frames of the same exposure as a map for overall thermal noise, and flat frames to stop the field being vignetted. The image is then processed in CS4

and voila.

here is the setup.

jr1104 · 10 Sep 2009 at 08:15

That's great, thank you very much for posting that up. You talk about using the CLS filter, is it possible to use this just normally on an SLR, for when doing shots of the night sky? I enjoy doing them just using my kit lens, so anything that can help me go further is good.

daven1986 · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:11

wow that must have cost a bit!! I too have the same question as above - can you use the CLS filter on a normal SLR for night shots?

Toryglen-boy · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:21

daven1986 said:
wow that must have cost a bit!! I too have the same question as above - can you use the CLS filter on a normal SLR for night shots?

Gentleman, i just dont know ...

it fits inside the camera body, literally infront of the mirror, and between the lens and body, i have used it to shoot at night with an EFS lens

Mud · 10 Sep 2009 at 10:27

Toryglen-boy said:
ok ...

*snip*

Thanks, that's a nice stub of info for further research. How much does such a setup cost?

Toryglen-boy · 10 Sep 2009 at 12:18

Mud said:
Thanks, that's a nice stub of info for further research. How much does such a setup cost?

without the camera or laptop ...

Mount $2200
Main Scope OTA $500
Guide Scope $350
Rings $130
Orion Autoguider $450
EOS Filter $350

Total : about 4K ish