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Yooper posted:So the frost, just add more dew heaters? One for the scope, another for the eyepiece? Pretty much - you just need to keep things above the dewpoint temperature. It usually doesn't take much. Great photos though, it's fun seeing you go on the same journey I went on several years ago. I haven't done any DSO work in a while though - going to have to get back on that. In the meantime, I have been doing some more planetary stuff!  
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Oct 18, 2020 07:45
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hannibal posted:Pretty much - you just need to keep things above the dewpoint temperature. It usually doesn't take much. Nice shots man! The journey has been interesting. The first lesson I learned is everything is expensive. Next is what works for one thing will not work, at all, for another. Planetary looks super cool, but I'm not ready to drop the cash for a specialized scope just for that. Once I can consistently get decent shots then I may upgrade the scope. I picked up SharpCap and am really pleased with how well the polar alignment tool works. Totally took my poo poo to the next level crispness wise. Plus I 3d printed a fine focuser for the Takumar lens. Hopefully I'll have some clear skies tonight and can get a couple hours of subs. Are you doing the FireCapture route for your planetary?
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Oct 18, 2020 23:47
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Tell me about some beginner resources for astrophotography. I saw someone's post in PYF Recent Purchases and it was some kind of star tracker to mount a camera or scope to, and figured I'd check out the hobby and what it takes to get into. I've always been interested in this stuff, shot a couple of decent long exposures of the cottage night sky this past summer, also experimented curiously with my 150-600mm Sigma lens and was blown away by being able to see Jupiter's moons... and I'm intrigued by the possibility of getting closer images of celestial bodies that will blow my friends' minds. What do you need for this and how expensive is it at the end of the day? Thanks!
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Oct 21, 2020 23:37
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Taking pictures of planets is very different than taking pictures of galaxies / nebula which is very different than taking ultra-wide shots of the stars in the sky (and the Milky Way.) I'm not very up to speed on planet stuff, but for "deep space objects" (DSOs) like galaxies / nebula, Astro Backyard probably isn't a bad place to get started. https://astrobackyard.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn3npsPixgoi_xLdCg9J-LQ https://www.cloudynights.com/ is the main (english speaking?) astrophotography forum. Can learn a good bit there. [Edit: Two others that come to mind are Peter Zelinka's YT channel and Chuck's Astrophotography YT channel.] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt1iKYekebRPGVGmlCYN44A https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCllh0nUmlREEvoskaq9b3A Internet Explorer fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Oct 21, 2020 |
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Oct 21, 2020 23:52
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Mister Speaker posted:Tell me about some beginner resources for astrophotography. I saw someone's post in PYF Recent Purchases and it was some kind of star tracker to mount a camera or scope to, and figured I'd check out the hobby and what it takes to get into. I've always been interested in this stuff, shot a couple of decent long exposures of the cottage night sky this past summer, also experimented curiously with my 150-600mm Sigma lens and was blown away by being able to see Jupiter's moons... and I'm intrigued by the possibility of getting closer images of celestial bodies that will blow my friends' minds. What do you need for this and how expensive is it at the end of the day? Thanks! Astrobackyard, Astrobiscuit, Astropix and Cloudynights are all great. I found the subreddit to be rather elitist as are some of the other forums. Eventually I picked up Digital SLR Astrophotography by Michael Covington and found it to be a really concise guide. Probably the biggest thing I use is Stellarium or Telescopius with my DSLR and lens added as optics. Then I can click an object and get a rough idea of how big (or small). Now that I've got a few nights under my belt I see how magnitude ties into the whole mix. Another great resource is Astrobin. You can search for your lens and see exactly the sort of photos people are taking with the same equipment you have. Here's a link, https://www.astrobin.com/0nng49/?nc=user, and the dude has your exact lens tied to a ZWO astroimaging camera. His exposure length is 6 hours. Here's another of M45 (Pleiades) in 1.2 hours, https://www.astrobin.com/376886/?page=2&nc=user. I found Astrobin to be a good reality check and a baseline of sorts for what I am getting. I've got a Star Adventurer mount paired with a Canon T3 and a 1960's SMC Takumar 200mm F4 lens. All of that is paired to a laptop with Astrophotography Tool and Sharpcap to help with polar alignment. Light pollution has been my biggest issue, 30 second exposures are about the best I can get without it really washing out. edit : And the weather, get ready to realize that it's always cloudy when you've got a free night. Yooper fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Oct 22, 2020 |
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Oct 22, 2020 00:35
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Yooper posted:Had my first dark sky night and was fairly well blown away. I really cant get enough of pics like this, thanks for sharing
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Oct 22, 2020 17:50
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Here are my latest terrible photos. My problem has been that the only time I can do astrophotography is when I go camping, and usually by then I'm trying to squeeze it in with everything else and I'm exhausted. Going to try to plan on doing it a little more seriously soon. Also, I have just started on post processing stuff. Fuji XT-20 with a Star Adventurer Rokinon 135mm F2.0 Rokinon 12mm F2.0  
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Oct 22, 2020 18:15
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:I really cant get enough of pics like this, thanks for sharing Thanks! If it ever stops raining I'll get more... Internet Explorer posted:Here are my latest terrible photos. My problem has been that the only time I can do astrophotography is when I go camping, and usually by then I'm trying to squeeze it in with everything else and I'm exhausted. Going to try to plan on doing it a little more seriously soon. Also, I have just started on post processing stuff. Those are some good looking shots dude. Those Rokinon's look good.
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Oct 22, 2020 19:51
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Yooper posted:Those are some good looking shots dude. Those Rokinon's look good. They are nice lenses for sure. Really great bang for the buck.
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Oct 22, 2020 20:00
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Here are the 3 best images I managed to get over the summer. All of these were taken with: William Optics GT81 w/ 0.8x flattener/reducer ZWO ASI294-MC Pro (cooled to -5) 50mm guide scope with a ASI 120mm guide camera EQ6-R Pro Mount Elephants Trunk. First image I got with this setup. I kind of want to reprocess this now that I know a little bit more about PixInsight. Just need to make the time. This one was taken in Phoenix under Bortle 8/9 skies. Optolong L-enhance filter 17 600s exposures  Andromeda. I really like how this one came out. We took a trip up to Payson, AZ for a long weekend and I took my scope. This was under Bortle 2 skies which were incredible. Only had one really clear night. And even on that night a lot of thin clouds were moving through. Our cabin backed right up to the rim too, so there wasn't a ton of sky visible so I had to be selective and quick. Just a UV/IR cut filter on this one This is just 20 30s exposures. The dark skies were great.  North America Nebula/Cygnus Wall. I tried to do a false SHO palette on this one and I'm mostly pleased with the results. Bortle 8/9 Optolong L-enhance filter 65 120s exposures 
simble fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Oct 22, 2020 |
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Oct 22, 2020 22:06
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Whaaaaaat that andromeda pic is amazing 
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Oct 22, 2020 22:29
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Awesome. Just awesome.
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Oct 22, 2020 22:49
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simble posted:
This is great! Here's a giant HaRGB Heart and Soul nebula that's around 10 hours of 5 minute subs 
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Oct 23, 2020 04:22
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Fun fact: Alpha Centauri’s antipode lies between the Heart and Soul Nebulæ. An observer in the Alpha Centauri system would see the Sun as a magnitude zero star in that area.
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Oct 23, 2020 04:53
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Yooper posted:Nice shots man! Thanks! Yeah, I'm using Firecapture, but I've used Sharpcap before too. I like Sharpcap's plate-solving workflow (although I have used Astrotortilla in the past too). But for planetary work Firecapture is hard to beat (feature packed and free). Mister Speaker posted:Tell me about some beginner resources for astrophotography. I saw someone's post in PYF Recent Purchases and it was some kind of star tracker to mount a camera or scope to, and figured I'd check out the hobby and what it takes to get into. I've always been interested in this stuff, shot a couple of decent long exposures of the cottage night sky this past summer, also experimented curiously with my 150-600mm Sigma lens and was blown away by being able to see Jupiter's moons... and I'm intrigued by the possibility of getting closer images of celestial bodies that will blow my friends' minds. What do you need for this and how expensive is it at the end of the day? Thanks! I can agree with what others are saying for the most part. I have picked up on some claims of elitism in r/astrophotography as well - I have posted myself there a few times but never caught any flak. Really to the original question, you're definitely going down the same road I did - using my DSLR to do long exposure shots, getting a telephoto lens (300mm in my case) and doing stuff with that. I eventually bought a star tracker and did some more stuff with that and eventually bought an 8" Celestron SCT + AVX mount which is sort of a 'starter kit' in terms of a full setup. I would not recommend that now though - the AVX is a bit weak for that weight and is much more suited to a 6" SCT or smaller. But in any case you want to start simple and small and not try to do everything at once. Also, as mentioned in here as well, planetary and DSO astrophotography have different requirements & methodology which drives the need for different equipment. Planetary is all about fast framerates so you can do 'lucky imaging' (capturing frames where the turbulence in the atmosphere is minimized), but cameras do not have to be super sensitive because planets are so bright and mount stability is not a big deal since you are doing short exposures. For a single exposure of Jupiter, Saturn, or Mars you're talking a few minutes of exposures at most. On the other hand, good DSO astrophotography requires multiple long exposures, which requires a solid mount with good tracking, knowledge of camera characteristics (dealing with noise, understanding sensitivity) and the skill to do good polar alignment to minimize drift. Plus you really need lower light pollution to get good results, although you can mitigate some light pollution through filters or post-processing (another skill to learn). My favorite astrophotography book so far is this one by Woodhouse.
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Oct 23, 2020 07:02
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Another book I found to be focused on the smaller end is Astrophotography on the Go by Joseph Ashley. His focus is lighter weight equipment. One thing I liked is his calculations on exposure time and image quality (Chapter 4). As a beginner I often wonder how much do I need and what is reasonable. I'm looking at ordering a Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro for my next upgrade. The tracker is still great and I'm not sure I have the real need for the HEQ5 yet, but I can see it as the next thing to grow into.
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Oct 23, 2020 13:21
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Is there a recommended Android app for finding things in the sky?
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Oct 27, 2020 01:14
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PerniciousKnid posted:Is there a recommended Android app for finding things in the sky? Stellarium
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Oct 27, 2020 01:21
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I use skysafari, I slightly prefer the UI, not free though.
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Oct 27, 2020 11:59
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Thanks, I'm playing around with stellarium and it seems acceptable so far.
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Oct 27, 2020 19:26
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I love that you all are capturing so much detail of other planets. It blows my mind. The deep space objects are awesome as well, but can you imagine going back in time a few hundred years and showing them your photos of Saturn and Jupiter?
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Oct 27, 2020 19:59
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 I had a clear, still night, yay! Full moon, boo! Started out with the Double Cluster, found the moon flow to be acceptable. That's 120 frames, each 30 seconds long. Also did the Heart Nebula, 2 hours, which is stacking. I'm still on my trial of PixInsight and am undecided between it and AstroPixelProcessor. I liked APP too, and the workflow seemed a bit more straightforward, but PixInsight is a rabbit hole of menus and options and for whatever reason I seem to limp through to a good output.
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Oct 31, 2020 13:56
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So I am doing some black friday research and am in the market for a tablet. First and foremost it will primarily be utilized for work stuff: namely 3D architectural walkthroughs. With that said, I was hoping to find one that would run APT well... as well. The laptop I fiddled around with a couple years ago with APT bit the dust. I believe a requirement for the tablet would be a USB port to connect to my D700. Any thoughts/insights?
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Nov 2, 2020 17:37
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Hasselblad posted:So I am doing some black friday research and am in the market for a tablet. First and foremost it will primarily be utilized for work stuff: namely 3D architectural walkthroughs. i've never used the tool but assuming you're wanting a windows tablet i don't think you can go wrong with a surface?
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Nov 2, 2020 18:14
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mediaphage posted:i've never used the tool but assuming you're wanting a windows tablet i don't think you can go wrong with a surface? Does the surface have USB ports?
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Nov 2, 2020 19:45
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Hasselblad posted:Does the surface have USB ports? yessir. the pro 7 would probably be up your alley. it's got 1x usbc and 1x usba. i imagine there's no version of the app to run on the surface gos (they use ARM cpus so i'd avoid them for this purpose). the pro 5 would also work; it's a little older but probably cheaper. not sure how much the pro 7s go for where you are but looks like they start at 799$ CAD so pretty reasonably priced, imo. excellent build quality.
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Nov 2, 2020 19:49
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Anyone dealt with B&H Photo for astronomy stuff? They've got a goto mount I'd like in stock. Normally I deal with High Point Scientific but they are back ordered.
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Nov 2, 2020 20:44
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Yooper posted:Anyone dealt with B&H Photo for astronomy stuff? They've got a goto mount I'd like in stock. Normally I deal with High Point Scientific but they are back ordered. Have used for photography stuff. Had no issues.
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Nov 2, 2020 21:54
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Agena Astro and Astronomics are also good dealers.
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Nov 2, 2020 22:49
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Yooper posted:Anyone dealt with B&H Photo for astronomy stuff? They've got a goto mount I'd like in stock. Normally I deal with High Point Scientific but they are back ordered. B&H is fantastic, I buy my normal photo stuff from them as well if I can, over Amazon. I'm happy with the other vendors mentioned here as well (Agena, Astronomics, High Point). Normally I'm ok with OPT but I am trying to cancel an order with them and they're not responding to email so I guess I'm going to have to call 
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Nov 2, 2020 23:05
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I’ve purchased camera and telescope related stuff from B&H. Had to return a scope and they were totally great about it.
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Nov 2, 2020 23:25
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Cool, thanks guys. I realized once I upgrade my mount I won't need my old one. So I've rationalized buying the EQ6 instead of the HEQ5...
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Nov 2, 2020 23:47
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hannibal posted:B&H is fantastic, I buy my normal photo stuff from them as well if I can, over Amazon. Good luck with that. I've been hearing a LOT about people having serious problems with OPT over the last year. According to Cloudy Nights they've been screwing up HARD on a lot of fronts.
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Nov 2, 2020 23:54
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Yooper posted:Cool, thanks guys. Oh yeah, I have an EQ6-R and I like it a lot. It's my current workhorse mount. AstroZamboni posted:Good luck with that. I've been hearing a LOT about people having serious problems with OPT over the last year. According to Cloudy Nights they've been screwing up HARD on a lot of fronts. Yeah, my request is simple (just cancel an order that's on backorder) but I have gotten zero response to 3 emails. Which is ironic considering they have a bit of an Instagram social media blitz happening, are marketing their own telescope, etc. I will probably not buy anything from them again.
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Nov 3, 2020 04:08
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I finally got around to processing Andromeda data from last year. Rokinon 135mm and QSI 583
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Nov 3, 2020 05:35
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Wow, that's really great for that lens. Camera must be doing work and your post processing skills must be quite good.
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Nov 3, 2020 07:46
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 M33, 30 second exposures, two hours worth of integration. Moon glow was pretty nasty and really added some banding to the image. My Celestron 102 that came with the Starsense Explorer back, will it function decently for astrophotography on the new mount?
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Nov 4, 2020 00:40
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Another cable broke at Arecibo. https://twitter.com/Free_Space/status/1325455596351524865 https://twitter.com/Free_Space/status/1325456218140385280 https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1325457260504637440
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Nov 9, 2020 00:04
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Oh, gently caress. That's not good.
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Nov 9, 2020 00:08
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Luneshot, is your avatar the face Chuck Yeager made when he lit the fire on the X-1 with his huge brass balls dangling... breaking the sound barrier strapped to a rocket with wings?
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Nov 9, 2020 00:39
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