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punakone posted:Also, I cant find any reviews of the Bresser telescope I have, do you guys have any opinions, the telescope I have is this: http://www.astroshop.eu/bresser-tel...o-eq-sky/p,4130 Well, it's a very cheap Newtonian on an equatorial mount. If you know how to set up the mount and if those axis controls have any sort of slow motion whatever, it should work decently. Those Kellner eyepieces aren't really doing you any favors, though, and you may need to learn how to collimate it. It looks like you got a CD with some version of Cartes du Ciel on; it's a freely available sky chart program, you could use it, or its more photorealistic cousin Stellarium, to figure out what there is to look at in the sky where you are. Your 4.5-inch telescope has a limiting magnitude of around 12 for stars, optimistically, I wouldn't expect to see extended objects (galaxies, nebulae) beyond magnitude 8 or so even in a dark location. The faint fuzzies are the reason some people buy 18-inch Dobsonians  (I could be wrong about what you can realistically see, I went the photography route and the rules are very different.)
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Oct 30, 2010 01:56
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Wolf on Air posted:Well, it's a very cheap Newtonian on an equatorial mount. If you know how to set up the mount and if those axis controls have any sort of slow motion whatever, it should work decently. Those Kellner eyepieces aren't really doing you any favors, though, and you may need to learn how to collimate it. Thanks! Yeah the eye pieces frustrate me a bit but last night I had a good look at the Pleiades and the moon and checked Jupiter again, its ok for those but didnt try any galaxies or nebulaes since it was kinda unstable weather. But we did manage to spend four hours standing in a dark field with it so it was fun, even though that isnt a top of the line equipment. Should I get eyepieces for this one at some point or should I just get a better telescope, or can I use the eyepieces I get for this one on other telescopes? EDIT: Also I just started reading on collimation, seems like it isnt that bad and aswell should fix some problems Im already experiencing! EDIT: Also Im really just bumbling around, I got the telescope as a gift and set up the mount as the instructions told me. Im just fascinated by the sky, I dont have any idea for the coordinates to use on the sky, I just either see something that I piques my curiosity and point the telescope on it. Patrocclesiastes fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Oct 30, 2010 |
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Oct 30, 2010 08:37
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Check out Astro Baby's collimation guide, she writes good, clear, well illustrated articles which should get you through the process. I just got the confirmation date for new parts for my reflector which is getting a rebuild. I have a new tube, spider and primary mirror cell on the way which will hopefully fix several annoying problems I have been having.
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Oct 30, 2010 10:46
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punakone posted:Thanks! Yeah the eye pieces frustrate me a bit but last night I had a good look at the Pleiades and the moon and checked Jupiter again, its ok for those but didnt try any galaxies or nebulaes since it was kinda unstable weather. But we did manage to spend four hours standing in a dark field with it so it was fun, even though that isnt a top of the line equipment. It really depends on your budget. If you purchased eyepieces, they would work with other telescopes just fine, as yours uses 1.25" eyepieces. If you're planning on spending less than a couple hundred bucks, then I would probably pick up this eyepiece. It's a budget zoom eyepiece, so you're compromising a little on FOV, but it should be better than your current eyepieces and you have the convenience of not switching. I really like being able to keep an eyepiece in my scope and not needing to bring out a case unless I'm doing extended viewing. It got a favorable mention earlier in the thread, and the amazon rating is solid.
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Oct 30, 2010 21:42
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Clearest night I've seen here in a long time, last night. Here's M42, The Orion Nebula. It's about 180 minutes or so of exposure. Edit: Wow picture looks strange when I turned it into a .jpg welp. Uploaded a bigger better looking one below here  Click here for the full 1223x1500 image. Crusty_mabiba fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Nov 3, 2010 |
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Nov 3, 2010 15:34
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Crusty_mabiba posted:Clearest night I've seen here in a long time, last night. God damnit that is awesome. I cannot wait for the day I can get images like this. I said gently caress it and ordered a 1.25" camera adapter and nikon t-mount yesterday. I am going to "attempt" some prime focus with the D-60 and my ETX90PE. If it completely sucks I will try the webcam route. At the least I am hoping to gain experience from all this while I continue to save (for what seems like forever) for the good stuff.
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Nov 3, 2010 16:43
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Other side of fence: I have gear worth $lots; it's raining or cloudy for (at least) the next 10 days, and has been for longer than I care to think about.
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Nov 3, 2010 17:40
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Even if it's clouded over, you might use the telescope for something like optical communication. ( http://www.modulatedlight.org ) While some of the people involved here are amateur radio operators, in most places you don't need to have a license for infra red or visible light communication. Don't point your high powered astronomy laser just anywhere though - using regular light is probably less iffy.
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Nov 3, 2010 18:17
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Also playing with Orion, although using old data. We recently had a corporate team building directive from Japan for people who have interesting hobbies outside of work, an upshot of which is that my Orion image from last year got itself published in a small corporate book and will be used in a calender, which is nice. However, last years images were processed by a far from experienced image processor, and so I had another go.  Click here for the full 1000x692 image. Crusty_mabiba what are you using for stacking / processing your image?
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Nov 4, 2010 11:11
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Thanks Choicecut. I really liked that picture. Had a really great night that night. Good luck with your new gear. Definitely post anything you get! Jekub: I'm using Deep Sky Stacker at the moment. Then just going in and cropping, etc, with photoshop.
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Nov 6, 2010 19:00
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I just finished the astro modification of my Canon 1000D! It was horrifying at times, but appears to have been a success. I look forward now to a month of cloudy nights as payment for this daring act.
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Nov 6, 2010 20:22
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Well, the ETX90 with my Nikon D60 attached is not going as well as planned. Mirror slap is KILLING me and the stupid D60 doesn't have mirror lockup. Well, it does, but it is only for cleaning the sensor and you can't take images while in lock. Really chaps my rear end, couldn't even get a decent image of Jupiter. Looks like I'm gonna have to go the webcam route for now. Edit: Looks like I could try the hat trick, but man that really sucks too. Choicecut fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Nov 8, 2010 |
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Nov 8, 2010 04:05
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Jekub posted:Check out Astro Baby's collimation guide, she writes good, clear, well illustrated articles which should get you through the process. Hey, just wanted to say thanks for the link. I've never been very clear on collimating and this helped clear it up! Definitely seeing an improvement in... seeing. Cheers.
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Nov 9, 2010 02:20
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Hey hey, I just bought my first telescope! A second hand TAL-1, circa 1994; the Russian manual is full of awesome phrases like, "The telescope is designed for visual observation of the celestial objects". I know my way around a telesope and the sky quite well (I used to do sub-mm astronomy about 5 years ago) but I've never actually set a telescope up myself. That collimation guide will come in handy when the weather clears up, so cheers! Edit: collimation not required, it is awesome! the fart question fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Nov 10, 2010 |
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Nov 9, 2010 23:29
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My chair is FIGHT!!! Modified a camping stool tonight by adding PVC pipes that slide over the existing legs. This raises the height so that you can sit and remain at a standing height. The legs easily remove to lower the seat, and for transport. The whole thing weighs a couple of pounds, and was very inexpensive. The rope is used to keep the legs from spreading apart too much when you sit on it. It's tied together with a double fisherman's knot.
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Nov 11, 2010 09:01
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INTJ Mastermind posted:My chair is FIGHT!!! A cloudy nights goon! Greetings!
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Nov 11, 2010 19:49
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Playing / testing my freshly modified camera on Wednesday night with M33, I only had an hour or two before the clouds were due to roll in so it's not very good. The real test will be when I go to image an HA nebula, I'll probably try the Heart and Soul through the 66mm on the next clear night. Click here for the full 1680x1076 image. Most noticeable in this image was how much easier it was to get good colour out of the image and how little correction the image required. In fact it was to easy and I probably got carried away with the saturation., also it's a bit on the blue side, I'll have another play tonight. I'll probably revisit this at some point, it needs 10 minute exposures and lots of them, this image was only 10 x 5 minute.
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Nov 12, 2010 16:51
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
AlwaysWetID34 fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Nov 12, 2010 19:17
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 Click here for the full 1680x1076 image. That's better, and a note to any would be imagers that you are going to spend as much time parked in front of a computer processing your data as you are capturing it.
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Nov 13, 2010 12:39
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Jekub posted:
 Makes me want to get into astrophotography, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.I got my first scope recently, the Orion 8XT, and I'm loving it. A little more unwieldy than I was imagining but I don't regret it at all. That said I'm just using the 25mm Plossl that came with it and I'm beginning to think about what eye pieces I should look at getting. So I have few questions:
I've read about Kellners and Plossls, but I've seen lots of names that fly right over my head. Many people have recommended a Barlow lens in addition to whatever eye pieces I choose to get, and assuming it isn't a piece of junk I can't see any disadvantage to that. There's also the 1.25 vs 2 inch consideration, but I have no trouble understanding that the 2 inch pieces are better for higher focal lengths and the faint fuzzies. Any bit of advice will be appreciated, and I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures. I mean goddamn guys.
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Nov 14, 2010 03:16
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Lasting Damage posted:Holy poo poo these are amazing Seeing these guys post pictures of DSO's is what drives me into more Astrophotography. The poo poo just blows my mind and I WILL have the equipment to do it in the future. There are two things I have learned so far. One, the poo poo is freaking hard when you have low end equipment, and two, it takes thousands of dollars to get the good equipment and a ton of experience/patience to get the good images like these guys are getting. That being said, tonight was my first night using my mediocre ETX90 and Nikon D-60 at prime focus for shots of the moon. My results were not what I wanted to see, but I guess everyone starts somewhere right? I tried using Registax, but ended up getting pissed off. Edit: Got Registax figured out yesterday. Here is the result: 
Choicecut fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Nov 15, 2010 |
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Nov 14, 2010 07:23
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Are we doing moon pictures now? This was done tonight with an iPhone camera held up to the eyepiece.
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Nov 14, 2010 08:49
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Hooray, it's Orion time, and for some reason all the streetlights stopped working on a clear night. Click here for the full 1680x1117 image. Pity it was a work night.
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Nov 16, 2010 00:33
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Jekub posted:Hooray, it's Orion time, and for some reason all the streetlights stopped working on a clear night. drat that is awesome dude. I am frothing at the mouth to get poo poo like this. How many subs was that?
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Nov 16, 2010 00:49
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That was 26 x 6 minutes, plus the normal array of 21 bias, dark and flat calibration images. There is a better image hiding in the data, but I need to research methods of reducing the bright coma around Altinak which wipes out most of the flame nebula and indeed half the image. In this attempt I just reduced the saturation on the blue and green channels, which allowed the red (HA emissions) to come through a bit better. Unfortunately the Flame nebula and the small reflection nebula are reduced by this, so I need to work out a way to mask out the star coma when I stretch and saturate the rest of the image.
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Nov 16, 2010 10:08
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Jekub posted:That was 26 x 6 minutes, plus the normal array of 21 bias, dark and flat calibration images. There is a better image hiding in the data, but I need to research methods of reducing the bright coma around Altinak which wipes out most of the flame nebula and indeed half the image. I think I asked you this before, but can't remember. What is your current rig? Even with Altinak blown out, the image looks awesome.
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Nov 16, 2010 14:06
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I don't actually have an image of everything together in it's current configuration, but current kit is : Scopes and Mounts Orion Optics 250mm F4.8 reflector (main imaging) William Optics ZS66SD (Guide scope and wider field imaging) Vixen A70LF (cheap 70mm refractor for guiding) Celestron CGEM Mount (Pier mounted in the shed) Vixen Sphinx SXW (Portable, should really sell it) Imaging Modified Canon 1000D (Baader BCF filter replacement) Astronomik CLS-CCD filter Baader Multipurpose coma corrector for the reflector William Optics MkII field flattener for the ZS66 Long exposure modified Philips SPC900NC webcam for guiding an planetary imaging. Everything normally lives on permanent steel pier in the roll off roof shed at the end of my garden, both home built from second hand stuff. I received a box of upgrade parts from Orion Optics yesterday, so I'll be replacing the tube, spider and primary mirror cell of the 250mm with vastly better parts over the next week or so. I'm hoping that will see me having a spending free year in 2011, though Astrofest in London always offers temptation.
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Nov 16, 2010 15:32
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Wow, that's some awesome gear you have there. Do you think the modded Canon is better than a CCD imager? I am just starting to get my feet wet with AP stuff, using an ETX90PE with a Nikon D60. The D60 is proving too heavy for my little scope and mirror flop is getting the best of me. I am planning to pick up a webcam for solar system imaging and a Meade DSI to try and get some DSO. These can be had relatively cheap and I won't dip much out of my savings for a bigger rig.I want to take the ETX as far as I can, which should give me some decent experience. I have been saving for a good while now for a losmandy g11 with Gemini, Orion 80mm ED APO and possibly the Orion Awesome guidescope package. I can't wait!
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Nov 16, 2010 16:33
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Choicecut posted:Do you think the modded Canon is better than a CCD imager? No, but depending on what type of dedicated CCD imager you are talking about of course. You can certainly get excellent results from a DSLR and I prefer mine to say an entry level and many mid-range dedicated solutions, but if I had the money I'd be looking at something from Atic or S-Big built for the job, but a reasonable step up for me at this point is something like an Atic 314L+ at £1080. A step sideways would be something from QHY I guess, it's not really something I'm expecting to be doing any time soon so I've avoided looking into it to much. Maybe I'll get a really good bonus next year and blow my 'no spending on astro in 2011' resolution. My astrophotography friends keep telling me it's the next thing for me to do, but then most of them are a bit better off than me.
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Nov 16, 2010 16:52
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Ha! Yeah I have seen some incredible images taken with the Atik and Sbig stuff, but when you are talking 1400+ for a ccd, it makes you really think about it. Seeing the images you are getting (especially the orion nebula above), I think you are doing some great work man.
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Nov 16, 2010 17:34
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
AlwaysWetID34 fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Jan 18, 2019 |
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Nov 17, 2010 06:41
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I was able to squeeze out a decent image of Jupiter and moons last night using the "hat trick". Also got a good pic of the moon. Jupiter is 3 subs, the Moon is 15. Both stacked in Registax. 
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Nov 18, 2010 19:30
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Got a few hours of clear sky last night. Went back to Orion with some filters and such, and got some better detail and colors out of it this time. Click here for the full 1200x1578 image.
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Nov 20, 2010 00:06
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Crusty_mabiba posted:Got a few hours of clear sky last night. Went back to Orion with some filters and such, and got some better detail and colors out of it this time. Nice man! I am going to take a stab at this tomorrow night with my D60 and ETX90. What kind of gear you using?
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Nov 20, 2010 03:37
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Thanks Choicecut. Using a Celestron Omni XLT 127". CG-4 mount, with motor and a Nikon D5000. Theres a little over 2 hours of exposure here. About 45 miuntes of which are through a typical broadband LPR filter, and the rest is unfiltered.
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Nov 20, 2010 15:14
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Crusty_mabiba posted:Thanks Choicecut. Using a Celestron Omni XLT 127". CG-4 mount, with motor and a Nikon D5000. Nice man. How do you like the Nikon D5000? I am looking to upgrade my D60 to possibly a D90 but I haven't decided. Mirror slap is getting the best of me. Does the D5000 have mirror lockup or exposure delay?
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Nov 21, 2010 00:37
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I really love the D5000. I'm obviously using it for astro mostly, but I've enjoyed using it as a general purpose camera as well. I don't believe it has mirror lock, but to be honest, I haven't run into any problems with that. It does have exposure delay, but like I said, never run into any issues, so I don't use it. It stays quite still for me. The only extra I bought is one of the wired shutter controls so I can just press the button and go to sleep for a few hours while it clicks away in my yard. I know some people online don't like Nikons for astro stuff, but screw the haters. Mine has been flawless so far, and I can't imagine ever running into any limitations unless I got a MUCH bigger scope. I would highly recommend one.
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Nov 21, 2010 02:12
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Thanks to this thread my credit card is now exhibiting a pleasant glow from being well used and I am now the proud owner of a new Celestron NexStar SE6 and some eye pieces, Click here for the full 373x800 image. No first light yet due to the cloudy nights, but here's fingers crossed for later this week. From a light polluted suburb of a typical town which of the planets could potentially be seen with a 6" scope ? I'm guessing Neptune may be possible with good viewing.
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Nov 21, 2010 19:09
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All of them. Planets count as bright point sources which aren't affected by light pollution. Same for double stars and clusters. Its only the nebula abd galaxies that get washed out
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Nov 21, 2010 19:27
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Crusty_mabiba posted:I really love the D5000. I'm obviously using it for astro mostly, but I've enjoyed using it as a general purpose camera as well. I don't believe it has mirror lock, but to be honest, I haven't run into any problems with that. It does have exposure delay, but like I said, never run into any issues, so I don't use it. It stays quite still for me. The only extra I bought is one of the wired shutter controls so I can just press the button and go to sleep for a few hours while it clicks away in my yard. Nice. I really like my D60. I don't think mirror slap would be an issue if I was using better equipment like you are. The ETX90 is a great scope for viewing but not so great for astrophotography. It might perform better for imaging with a webcam or CCD cam, but the DSLR is too heavy I think. I am hoping in the near future I will be able to get better gear. I plan to come in this thread and start showing you guys up at imaging. 
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Nov 22, 2010 02:49
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