astrophotography shots, planets, moon, orion nebula
- Thread starter andrewkw
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andrewkw
Active member
This is true, but I have just scratched the surface of what my current equipment can do in light polluted skies, never mind taking it out a dark site.
I'm still learning about drift alignment, still trying to get proper polar alignment ect. I do need to get an illuminated eye piece. After that I will be set until I reach the limit of what I can do with the cgem mount unguided then look into a modified slr or ccd, and then autoguider and guidescope. That's the current plan anyway. I'd also like to upgrade my solar system imager to something with more resolution. Still got a ways to go there. I'd like to be able to get saturn's cloud bands before the season ends.
So you control your stuff remotely? That's amazing. I'd be happy if I could control my stuff on the driveway from inside when it's minus -15c but again obviously you need more equipment to do this. Very interesting. How many years have you done astrophotography. Are all the photos on your website yours or are the collection from your whole group? thanks for sharing.
chrishet
Member
Thx Andrew. I have been imaging the universe for about 12 years...but things really got interesting when digital photography came into being about 10 years ago. There are some great websites out there to learn more...my site is more of a gallery than anything else (and yes these are all my images). For entry level info I find the Digital Astro Yahoo group to be a great place to be. There are many folks there and everyone shares...
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/digital_astro/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/digital_astro/
Recty
New member
This is some great information 
Does either of you know how long in particular the Celestron 8SE will track an object successfully? Like could I do a 10 minute exposure and have it be sharp or will it have drifted too much by then? I dont want to do anything like a 5 hour exposure, but it would be nice to get up to a 30 minute exposure with correct tracking.
Does either of you know how long in particular the Celestron 8SE will track an object successfully? Like could I do a 10 minute exposure and have it be sharp or will it have drifted too much by then? I dont want to do anything like a 5 hour exposure, but it would be nice to get up to a 30 minute exposure with correct tracking.
chrishet
Member
It's not likely an 8SE will track accurately more than 15-30 seconds..sorry. A few issues;
1) it is an Alt/Az mount meaning it will rotate as the earth rotates, astrophotography requires you to track equatorially. You can ad a wedge device to your setup that will let you align to the pole but you have more issues....
2)It's a Celestron....IMO the minimal mount to do astrophotography is an Orion Atlas (I have friends that produce good results with this mount)...the astrophotography road is littered with Meade and Celestron telescopes...no offense but it takes an incredible amount of technology to track an object at 2000mm that is 10 million light years away, while in constant motion, and not deviate more then 9 millionths of an inch (pixel size) over a 30 minute period of time....my mount costs over $10k and I cannot take unguided 20 minute exposures...Most Meade/Celestron mounts are not built to support astrophotography - even though they advertise this, trust me....
3)guiding - no matter how good your mount is there are minor imperfections in the motors (major imperfections in most Meade and Celestron mounts), as well as adverse atmospheric conditions, that cause problems. To correct for this you really have to use an autoguider (a separate camera that locks onto a star and sends the mount periodic corrections).
I don't mean to be a downer but trust me it is not an easy, or cheap hobby. If this is something you would really like to get into I suggest researching the subject a lot before dropping a load of money and failing...Btw, star trails are easy, and fun, and don't take any special equipment...
1) it is an Alt/Az mount meaning it will rotate as the earth rotates, astrophotography requires you to track equatorially. You can ad a wedge device to your setup that will let you align to the pole but you have more issues....
2)It's a Celestron....IMO the minimal mount to do astrophotography is an Orion Atlas (I have friends that produce good results with this mount)...the astrophotography road is littered with Meade and Celestron telescopes...no offense but it takes an incredible amount of technology to track an object at 2000mm that is 10 million light years away, while in constant motion, and not deviate more then 9 millionths of an inch (pixel size) over a 30 minute period of time....my mount costs over $10k and I cannot take unguided 20 minute exposures...Most Meade/Celestron mounts are not built to support astrophotography - even though they advertise this, trust me....
3)guiding - no matter how good your mount is there are minor imperfections in the motors (major imperfections in most Meade and Celestron mounts), as well as adverse atmospheric conditions, that cause problems. To correct for this you really have to use an autoguider (a separate camera that locks onto a star and sends the mount periodic corrections).
I don't mean to be a downer but trust me it is not an easy, or cheap hobby. If this is something you would really like to get into I suggest researching the subject a lot before dropping a load of money and failing...Btw, star trails are easy, and fun, and don't take any special equipment...
Recty
New member
Yeah, I already done the star trail thing and a time lapse of star footage, I was thinking it would be interesting to get into the deep space photography.
I've been checking into this "hobby" a lot over the last 2 days and it pretty much seems to me to come down to you need to spend quite a bit of money to get this to work, although I did see a guy who had a cheapo webcam that cost about $50 hooked to a $300 telescope that then sent coordinates to the mount that the main telescope was on. That was with a Celestron 6E or something like that and he got great pictures, total setup was right around $1000.
I've been checking into this "hobby" a lot over the last 2 days and it pretty much seems to me to come down to you need to spend quite a bit of money to get this to work, although I did see a guy who had a cheapo webcam that cost about $50 hooked to a $300 telescope that then sent coordinates to the mount that the main telescope was on. That was with a Celestron 6E or something like that and he got great pictures, total setup was right around $1000.
chrishet
Member
money is the key...the more money you spend on equipment the better your pictures will be...simple as that.
I recommend 2 books, The New CCD Astronomer by Ron Wodawski
http://www.amazon.com/New-CCD-Astro...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266967932&sr=1-1
http://www.newastro.com/
, and Digital Astrophotography by Michael Covington (a personal friend)
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Astro...mateur-Astronomy/dp/0521700817/ref=pd_sim_b_1
and this site
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/INTRO.HTM
Good luck to ya and keep us updated as to your progress....
Regards,
Chris
I recommend 2 books, The New CCD Astronomer by Ron Wodawski
http://www.amazon.com/New-CCD-Astro...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266967932&sr=1-1
http://www.newastro.com/
, and Digital Astrophotography by Michael Covington (a personal friend)
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Astro...mateur-Astronomy/dp/0521700817/ref=pd_sim_b_1
and this site
http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/INTRO.HTM
Good luck to ya and keep us updated as to your progress....
Regards,
Chris
andrewkw
Active member
You obviously know a lot more then me, and have much more experience, however I disagree. The CGEM mount may be an entery level mount for astrophotography, but for the price it will suit my needs for at least a few years.
I've only been using it a few months and had almost no astronomy experience prior. I've seen plenty of good photos. I've also been told I should be able to track for 2-3minutes unguided and 6-10 minutes with an autoguider. To me this is more then enough. Obviously there will be many things I can't image with this setup, but there are tons of things I can.
chrishet
Member
Hi Andrew...I think if you re-read my post you would agree that I said "most" Meade/Celestron mounts are not built to support astrophotography....the CGEM is an exception and is light years (no pun intended) better then Recty's Nexstar (whom I directed that reply). From what I have heard the CGEM is a fairly capable mount, probably very similar to the Atlas, and since it does have an autoguider port you can make corrections for its periodic error. 2 to 3 min unguided exposures will be tough...but if you get a dead on polar alignment, and can program out your Periodic Error, you should be able to get there. The degree of PE, and the focal length you are imaging at, will determine your ability to track guided for longer exposures. Sounds like you are well on you way....
On your posted images...nice work. I have once suggestion on your processing. Make iterative and small adjustments to levels and curves and keep an eye on the histogram in Photoshop. You do not want to clip your data which is very easy to do when you are stretching. I downloaded your Orion widefield shot and you clipped about 1/2 your data. The histogram should be a nice bell curve shape. You have a lot of data in there and when I stretched it out I could even see the Horsehead and Flame nebulae...nice work again...
On your posted images...nice work. I have once suggestion on your processing. Make iterative and small adjustments to levels and curves and keep an eye on the histogram in Photoshop. You do not want to clip your data which is very easy to do when you are stretching. I downloaded your Orion widefield shot and you clipped about 1/2 your data. The histogram should be a nice bell curve shape. You have a lot of data in there and when I stretched it out I could even see the Horsehead and Flame nebulae...nice work again...
You guys make me wanna jump back into this wonderful hobby. I first started around 10 years ago, with a Meade ETX-125 and a Nikon CoolPix 995.
Still got the ETX125, though they make a better version today. I got teh Canon XTi and need a T-ring for it.
Anyone on here has that same combination e.g., Meade ETX 125 and Nikon XTi ?
Still got the ETX125, though they make a better version today. I got teh Canon XTi and need a T-ring for it.
Anyone on here has that same combination e.g., Meade ETX 125 and Nikon XTi ?
Last edited:
Recty
New member
terahz
1x10^12 Hz
I was doing some astro shots years ago. Since I moved to Stamford, can't even see the milky way...
Anyways here are couple of my shots
Jupiter usingthe movie mode on one of my old P&S:
top to bottom (if I remember correctly, it was 5 or 6 years ago, 5am in the morning): Mars, Venus, Moon, Mercury
Anyways here are couple of my shots
Jupiter usingthe movie mode on one of my old P&S:
top to bottom (if I remember correctly, it was 5 or 6 years ago, 5am in the morning): Mars, Venus, Moon, Mercury
Doubtful, I dont believe Nikon makes an Xti
OOOPs, sorry .... my old cam is a Nikon Coolpix 995 ... My current is a Canon XTi
What can I say ... you got a good eye!
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