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Choicecut posted:Haven't posted in awhile, here are some of the images I took over the past few months: That there is a spectacular testament to time well spent learning something new, good job. Now go print some of those out, frame them and put them on a wall somewhere, you can replace them as you take better but trust me it's worth doing. I have my five favorites running up the stairs, I get to look at them every day and remind myself, even when the weather has been terrible for weeks of exactly why I love doing this. Also I'm off to Astrofest in London in a couple of weeks, lots of good speakers and I have a budget for the trade stands this year. The shopping list currently has better focuser, off-axis guider and light panel for flats.
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Jan 24, 2013 10:03
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Jekub posted:That there is a spectacular testament to time well spent learning something new, good job. Thanks Jekub! My skills are definitely improving. I have been printing off my images through Walgreens here in the US, but I think I might take some of my better ones and have them printed by a more professional organization. I know some folks say they can just look at images on the internet rather than invest money in equipment and take their own images, but for me, there is some kind of connection I get with the universe when taking my own. It makes me feel like I have a real understanding of our place, as tiny as that may be, in the vastness of space. It also makes me realize how much deeper I wish my pockets were!
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Jan 25, 2013 04:51
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I recently dug out my dad's old Meade 826. The tube and mirrors are pristine, but the mount is rusty and it looks like the gears on the tracking mechanism are frozen up (can't expect perfection from a guy who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, right?  ) Cleaning up the gears and motor shouldn't be a problem, although I have my doubts about the clutch surviving the 20 or so years since it was last used. I want to get it to usable condition for sentimental value as much as practical, it was my dad's college graduation gift from my mom, and I fondly remember being 4 or 5 and my dad holding me up to the eyepiece to see Saturn and Jupiter.If I expect the worst and assume that I won't be able to get it working, is there such a thing as an inexpensive tracking mount for a telescope that size? money is really tight for the foreseeable future, so the last thing I want to do is blow money I shouldn't really be spending on something crappy. I don't need a mount that can seek, I'd be perfectly happy with one that could just track whatever I have pointed at it. If that's not feasible, I'll just disconnect the motor drive and deal with moving it manually.
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Jan 26, 2013 05:28
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I had a scan through this thread to see if it was mentioned, and I couldn't find it. I just thought I'd post this link to The Backyard Astronomer's Guide This was the most complete beginner's guide to astronomy that I've seen. I found it very useful when I started this most excellent hobby 2 years ago, and still use it quite regularly. It covers primarily visual astronomy, but does also has a reasonable guide for the budding astrophotographer as well. My astronomy library started with this book, and it's only grown from there. I like to find stuff manually (I don't own any guided scopes), and as a result, I need a halfway decent sky atlas. Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas is my first choice. It's ring bound, which means I don't have to worry about the drat book closing on me when I'm looking stuff up, and the pages are plastic treated and are quite resistant to the dreaded dew. I've used this atlas when out with My William Optics 90mm refractor, and my SkyWatcher 10inch dob. I find it very easy and convenient to use. Regrettably, I've not been able to do much viewing recently, but I can't wait to get back out there. 
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Jan 28, 2013 11:17
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I've been mildly into astronomy for a long time now- my birthday is coming up and I'm thinking now would be a great time to get more into it. One of the first posts in the thread recommends a book and some binoculars to start out with. The book is easy enough, but are there any recommendations for certain brands/types of binoculars? There is an astronomy club on campus that sometimes holds star parties. I've been meaning to go but there was a scheduling conflict with their meeting time last quarter, and this quarter I haven't heard a peep from them.  e: I'm assuming a cheap compass might be a good idea as well. stimulated emission fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Jan 29, 2013 |
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Jan 29, 2013 18:05
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Chiba City Blues posted:I've been mildly into astronomy for a long time now- my birthday is coming up and I'm thinking now would be a great time to get more into it. One of the first posts in the thread recommends a book and some binoculars to start out with. The book is easy enough, but are there any recommendations for certain brands/types of binoculars? The Nikon Action Extreme 10x50 and the Pentax PCF WP II 10x50 are both highly recommended for astronomy use. A compass isn't that useful since the stars move across the sky. It's more important to learn to recognize the constellations - something you can be doing now while you wait for your binos to arrive.
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Jan 29, 2013 20:50
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Been wanting to get into AP for a while now and took the plunge and bought an HEQ5 + Skywatcher 80ed to get started. Unfortunately the weather has been crap for the past few weeks with solid cloud, although the other night there were a few clear hours but a full moon so I took it out for a trial run. It's nothing compared to what you guys can do but this is my first attempt at M42:  The moon was drowning a lot out so given the conditions and the fact I completely buggered up my 3-star alignment I'm pretty chuffed with my first ever attempt, things can only get better!
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Jan 29, 2013 22:17
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mr_jolly posted:Been wanting to get into AP for a while now and took the plunge and bought an HEQ5 + Skywatcher 80ed to get started. That is fantastic for your first attempt! If I recall, my first few outings were complete failures. I couldn't get good alignments and focusing was never spot on. What's the specs on the image? Time/number of exposures? What software are you using for processing? I used DSS for awhile until Jekub showed me the light with PixInsight. Definitely worth the cost if you like the hobby. Do you have a Bahtinov mask? If you don't, definitely get one. It makes focusing a snap and they are really inexpensive. Anyway, great shot!
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Jan 30, 2013 02:42
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Choicecut posted:That is fantastic for your first attempt! If I recall, my first few outings were complete failures. I couldn't get good alignments and focusing was never spot on. What's the specs on the image? Time/number of exposures? What software are you using for processing? I used DSS for awhile until Jekub showed me the light with PixInsight. Definitely worth the cost if you like the hobby. Cheers! It's a stack of 5 images of ~18 seconds stacked using DSS, I adjusted the curve slightly and removed camera noise in Paintshop as I completely forgot to take dark frames while out so snapped a couple while indoors but still got quite a bit of noise after stacking. Just ordered a Bhatinov mask as focusing was a pain while trying to view through the viewfinder, unfortunately the 350d doesn't have live view though but hopefully it'll make things a bit easier than taking multiple exposures trying to guess when the stars are at their smallest! I think the problem with my alignment was down to my polarscope and finderscope not being aligned properly, when I did them during the day I used a TV aerial on the house opposite which probably wasn't far away enough or something. When adjusting the latitude bolts on Polaris it would shift to the left & right slightly so will redo the scopes at the weekend on something a bit more distant. I found DSS a bit of a pain trying to bring out the colour, had to adjust the RGB sliders really carefully otherwise the entire image turned into grayscale (or red/green/blue scale!) Will take a look into PixInsight as I see there's a trial available. Edit: Here's a crop of one of the original frames showing how nice & blue the moon made it all! 
mr_jolly fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Jan 30, 2013 |
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Jan 30, 2013 09:24
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Picked up a lot of data for the minimal exposure time. I was in complete astonishment when I got data on Orion. Being one of my first AP targets, seeing that first image of actually capturing something blew my mind! My 1000D has live view, but when getting focused in, I still throw on the Bahtinov and take some stills. It looks like you are doing great for just starting out and working out the kinks. About the only advice I can give is don't get discouraged when things go wrong, because things usually don't go as planned!
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Jan 31, 2013 01:24
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I think I saw Jupiter tonight! Is it visible to the naked eye, reddish, and flickery? I've always been able to find Orion so I'm using that to guide me to other constellations. They all seem closer than they look when you're comparing to a star chart. I could only see a few stars out of Taurus though, two or three. My immediate area has a lot of light (college campus) and I'm in an orange-level town. Obviously once I get my bionculars I'll be trekking out to places with less light but this'll do while I'm learning.
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Jan 31, 2013 05:06
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Chiba City Blues posted:I think I saw Jupiter tonight! Is it visible to the naked eye, reddish, and flickery? Look for one of the sky map applications (like google sky) on your smart phone or tablet; there doesn't have to be much mystery as to what you're looking at for major objects these days.
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Jan 31, 2013 05:53
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Chiba City Blues posted:I think I saw Jupiter tonight! Is it visible to the naked eye, reddish, and flickery? Was it part of Orion? If it's his left "shoulder" then that was Betelgeuse. Stars generally flicker when the seeing isn't the best. Planets (and the moon) don't usually flicker so much unless the seeing is really bad, since they're discs of light, instead of the point lights of stars.
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Jan 31, 2013 14:30
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Chiba City Blues posted:I think I saw Jupiter tonight! Is it visible to the naked eye, reddish, and flickery? Jupiter should be pretty much straight overhead in early evening right now. Its the brightest thing up there by a good margin and even naked eye you can tell it looks larger then surrounding stars. It should NOT flicker unless its a really bad night or you wait till late and its more near the horizon. Jupiter in binos is really cool. Its obviously a 'disk' and not a pinprick like stars are. When you find it there will be no mistaking it. You should be able to see the pinpricks of moons in a straight line. Its pretty mindblowing when you first realize your looking at moons of another planet.
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Jan 31, 2013 16:04
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Unormal posted:Look for one of the sky map applications (like google sky) on your smart phone or tablet; there doesn't have to be much mystery as to what you're looking at for major objects these days. dedian posted:Was it part of Orion? If it's his left "shoulder" then that was Betelgeuse. Stars generally flicker when the seeing isn't the best. Planets (and the moon) don't usually flicker so much unless the seeing is really bad, since they're discs of light, instead of the point lights of stars. Bombadilillo posted:Jupiter should be pretty much straight overhead in early evening right now. Its the brightest thing up there by a good margin and even naked eye you can tell it looks larger then surrounding stars. It should NOT flicker unless its a really bad night or you wait till late and its more near the horizon. Used Google Sky to help identify Sirius, along with Castor and Pollux. The rest of Gemini isn't visible. I can't wait to get my binos and take a good look at all this stuff!
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Feb 1, 2013 02:52
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I hope you have light weight binoculars, or have something to lean on to steady your hands. You'd be amazed how tricky it is to keep still enough to see what you want properly. Tip: sit in a beanbag so you can recline comfortably and rest your arms on something to keep them steady. You won't have to strain your neck, shoulders and arms this way. More energy and comfort leads to more actual viewing. If you are particularly anal, many binoculars have a mounting point which, with an adaptor, will allow you to mount your binos on a standard camera tripod. Most good camera shops sell these adaptors. I have found the tripod setup useful, but not strictly necessary. Good luck, and have fun.
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Feb 1, 2013 03:22
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Chiba City Blues posted:I downloaded Google Sky and confirmed that it was Jupiter I was looking at. It wasn't flickering tonight at all. Saw Betelgeuse too, it's really red and I can't believe I didn't notice that before. On a really clear sky (and we've had a few here, minus loving 35 last night without the windchill) Betelgeuse and Rigel really stand out. It's awesome. Something else that might help a bit, and can be had for around $10 or less is a planisphere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planisphere Easy to use with the naked eye or with binoculars. The one I own doesn't have planets on it (I think most of them don't) but it's a good way to learn constellations. Even though I have apps on my iPad and the Pocket Atlas I still use it because simple is better when freezing your rear end off outside. I don't grab my accessory chest, just a simple planisphere and a red light flashlight.Cold sucks. 
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Feb 1, 2013 15:24
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Unormal posted:Look for one of the sky map applications (like google sky) on your smart phone or tablet; there doesn't have to be much mystery as to what you're looking at for major objects these days. SkEye on android is my favorite. Especially for the option to switch the display to red to save your night vision. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lavadip.skeye&hl=en
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Feb 1, 2013 18:03
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Google Sky has this too
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Feb 4, 2013 22:47
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We've been enjoying some relatively mild temps and clear skies this week, so I thought I'd try my hand at some wide field astrophotography.  DSC_3410.jpg by meramsey, on Flickr Right now I'm using a tripod and a nikon dslr with a 35mm f/1.8 lens. I'm in a town of about 270k, so light pollution is a bit of an issue. Fortunately I've got access to a farm about an hour away that is in the middle of nowhere, so I'm looking forward to some overnight sessions with really dark skies.
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Feb 13, 2013 03:58
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That is a really nice shot. I don't recognise the object in the photo though. Mind telling me what it is? 
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Feb 13, 2013 04:02
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darth cookie posted:That is a really nice shot. I don't recognise the object in the photo though. Mind telling me what it is? Looks like a tree to me, abet one with some interesting illumination.
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Feb 13, 2013 04:07
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Thanks, and yeah that's the top of a 70 foot maple tree. There are two in the back yard, so they managed to sneak in to most of the shots. They lit up like that from a few lit windows in neighbors back yards. Here's another one that shows more tree, but I think 20sec was a bit too long of an exposure.  DSC_3411.jpg by meramsey, on Flickr
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Feb 13, 2013 04:26
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shezihka posted:Looks like a tree to me, abet one with some interesting illumination. Well yes, I managed to figure that part out myself  I was actually more interested in what constellation/celestial object was being photographed.
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Feb 13, 2013 06:57
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darth cookie posted:Well yes, I managed to figure that part out myself Ahh, I see  I believe that cluster of stars is Pleiades, though I have to admit I didn't really have a target in mind.
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Feb 13, 2013 15:01
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Goldmund posted:Ahh, I see If you just took that pic this week or so, the real bright dot in the middle is Jupiter. Odd that its so blue, but all the stars are in there.
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Feb 13, 2013 16:41
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When I was a kid I distinctly remember looking through my dads telescope and seeing Jupiter as a planet, the rings of Saturn and our moon. Very fond memories all the way around and I want to recreate that for my kids. Here is my question, I would like a nice setup with a budget around four to five hundred dollars, something that could work for astrophotography with some work and travel/pack into a trunk pretty well. Specific recommendations?
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Feb 14, 2013 20:32
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I had a great night tonight, very first time seeing Mercury! 20 minutes later I finally managed to locate Andromeda for the first time as well. Just an amazing evening.
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Feb 15, 2013 02:50
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Sort of related to Astronomy, an meteorite exploded over eastern Russia today. http://news.yahoo.com/possible-meteor-shower-reported-eastern-russia-052833588.html
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Feb 15, 2013 16:42
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The meteor over Russia got me to dig out my old telescope and have a look around. I had to wait until last night before I got a night without cloud cover, but I saw the ISS, an iridium flare, various satellites and when I focused on jupiter I could make out 2 of it's moons, but no distinct colours. Overall a good evening
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Feb 20, 2013 00:48
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So I took a picture of the sun. It's very hard to see there but there are two sunspots visible:  I am going to try to get some video tomorrow and try my hand at image stacking.
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Feb 24, 2013 07:36
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Atimo posted:
How does one manage to take a picture of the sun that has spherical shadowing?
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Feb 24, 2013 16:14
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Fog Tripper posted:How does one manage to take a picture of the sun that has spherical shadowing? I think the camera was misaligned.
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Feb 24, 2013 18:03
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I'm thinking about getting this for my first telescope: http://tinyurl.com/24kma3w I like it because it has a lot of good reviews and it comes with a filter/lens set and a motor drive. Do you guys recommending beginners, like myself, getting a telescope with or without the goto feature?
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Feb 25, 2013 22:23
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I just got started a few months ago with a Dobsonian without any pushto or goto at all. Its been very easy to find anything I have cared to look at. If your worried about not being able to find things I started with Turn Left at Orion Its for beginners with their 1st telescope and walks you through finding objects and what to look for. Again with a book and a starchart I had no problem finding anything I have looked for so far. You run into a price balance between size/quality and a big features like goto. So its up to you what you chose. If you are interested enough like I was to start learning constillations and about the sky in general I've been learning a lot finding objects myslef. Whatever you chose, get it soon, Juipiter is overhead and very good viewing in early evening right now.
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Feb 25, 2013 22:40
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ROOMBA floorvac posted:Do you guys recommending beginners, like myself, getting a telescope with or without the goto feature? I think the general consensus (and I agree with) is that beginners should get a telescope without goto, in order to learn the sky a bit themselves. A completely manual dobsonian, like Bombadilillo says, is a good choice. Also, don't underestimate the usefulness of binoculars in astronomy either. I have two telescopes (a 4" refractor and 6" schmidt-cass) and two pairs of binoculars (7x50 and 15x63), and the binoculars get way more use simply because I can just grab them and head outside - no setup or temperature adjustment time needed. Good binoculars are also more than enough if you just want to look at galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae. If you truly are a complete beginner, as in you've never done any of this before, I'd recommend binoculars as a portable, take-anywhere means to learn the sky. Once you've done that then yeah, go nuts and get whatever kind of scope and mount ya want.
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Feb 25, 2013 23:01
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That 70s Shirt posted:I think the general consensus (and I agree with) is that beginners should get a telescope without goto, in order to learn the sky a bit themselves. A completely manual dobsonian, like Bombadilillo says, is a good choice. From advice in this thread I did get some bino's 15x70's to see if I'd like this hobby, but the first time I looked up at Jupiter and saw a disk and 4 moons in a row I immediatley knew I would be investing in a telescope. Binos get a lot of use as just a quick jump outside to see how good the seeing is and of course Star Clusters, Andromeda, ISS and other sat passovers. You pretty much need a pair to see everything in the sky.
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Feb 25, 2013 23:09
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Pretty terrible, but it was my first try.
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Feb 26, 2013 01:58
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Are the Bushnell 10x50 Binoculars in the OP still the recommended newbie purchase? I think it's time I dive into Astronomy and Binoc chat here has convinced me to go that route. I'd like to get a pair that I won't want to replace anytime soon (with other binoculars that is) and I'll definitely pick up Turn Left at Orion as well.
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Feb 26, 2013 02:11
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Thanks for all of the info! I ended up buying the telescope bundle I previously linked, along with a better finderscope (Apparently the stock one kinda sucks). Can't wait to start! 
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Feb 26, 2013 15:36
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