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Amateur astrophotographer checking in, in my spare time I do this : Click here for the full 800x533 image. M101 - Pinwheel Galaxy I'll post later when I have more time about equipment, techniques and anything else astronomy related if anyone interested!
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Jun 17, 2009 17:44
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jerkstore77 posted:How much of the cost for astrophotography is related to the actual camera? I have a decent DSLR already and have always been interested in astrophotography. All of my work is done with an entry level DSLR, a Canon EOS 1000D, my single largest investment is my mount. If you want to start doing any serious astrophotography then having a mount that can accurately track objects is vital. but even with a carefully aligned and good quality mount you'll be lucky to get more that two or three minutes with out guiding. You'll want to be looking for the following, I don't know anything about the fork type mounts so best ask someone else about those! The basic rule of thumb is over mount, under scope. Start with the right mount and everything will be easier. Even if you have to get a smaller cheaper scope you'll be a long way off reaching it's limits but a good mount will grow with you. Budget The skywatcher EQ pro mounts are the most popular budget mounts for astrophotography. Good capacity, goto, autoguider port built in. Plus the hand set supports periodic error correction and backlash correction (I think).  HEQ5 Pro, the lighter of the two Pro mounts good for small light scopes, or even an array of wide angle scopes. I know an imager with four 80mm short tube refractors mounted on one of these, all with modified webcams attached.  The EQ6 Pro, the heavy weight of the family, for supporting big OTAs with guide scopes and cameras. It's important to remember that these mounts are made in china and are very much budget for this kind of work. Quality control is an issue and generally the thought is take the maximum stated carrying capacity and halve it for photography work. However they are hugely popular with a lot of after market support and resources to improve them, many people achieve amazing images (much better than mine) with these. See also, lots of mounts from Meade, Celestron, the Vixen GP and others. Mid Range If you have a bit more spare funds you are spoilt for choice, here are a few of the more well known options.  Vixen Sphinx SX, the light weight of Vixens new computerised mount family, and what I currently use! Decent carrying capacity and being Japanese made, generally considered to be understated. The mounting of all motors and electronics under the RA axis means they act as counter weights allowing a reduction in the weight you have to add.  The SXD is it's big brother, higher carry capacity and you can also see the starbook hand controller common to both Sphinx mounts. Both Sphinx mounts benefit from some fine tuning as the factory seem to tighten things up just a bit to much.  Losmandy G8, I nearly bought one of these but it didn't have go-to included. Very high quality engineering, have a bit of a reputation for requiring tuning, also know to burn out motors if badly balanced.  G11, the next one up! See also the vixen GPD mount. High End Quite a big choice once you're spending £10k on a mount, the most popular however are in no specific order :  Software Bisque Paramount ME robotic mount. Not portable, this is what you put in the dome at the end of your garden. Amazing kit and something for the very serious to save up for.  Astro Physics 1200GTO, superb engineering and portable. I really want one. I have a DSLR and just want to take pictures quickly and easily!  Behold the AstroTrac, a simple easy device which tracks for up to two hours and will take a DSLR with lens. You can even put a small scope on one if you want. A mount is an investment that should last you through many scopes, getting the right one save a lot of head aches down the line. When I next have time I'll talk about telescopes and cameras. Jekub fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Jun 18, 2009 |
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Jun 18, 2009 09:53
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I live in the middle of Basingstoke in south east England, the light pollution is awful. However with filters you can negate a surprising amount of the negative effects. Take a look at the http://www.astronomik.com/en/eos_clip-filters.html, they fit between the camera body and the lens, very handy. I have very few astronomy books, the internet generally provides most of the information I'm looking for. Google around for your camera and astrophotography, you should find a wealth of information. If you just using the DSLR you might want to look for a second hand EQ2 mount with a motor, they're really cheap and will track well enough for that load under low magnification. A nice Moon shot from the start of the month :  Click here for the full 1680x1050 image. Single frame through my 250mm reflector. edit, stupid boy, links don't work like that Jekub fucked around with this message at 13:47 on Jun 19, 2009 |
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Jun 18, 2009 22:26
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Not an Anthem posted:I think it was in the DIY forum here but I ran into a page where it showed you how you could build your own telescope by grinding your own mirrors. Anyone know what it was or where I can find it? This looks like a good place to start : http://www.telescopemaking.org/ http://www.atmsite.org My first scope was home made after I found an old 8" mirror being sold off at a boot sale. Turned out it was made by and signed by a mirror maker named Henry Wildey, selling that turned a very nice profit. I don't have a lot of pictures as yet, I've not been doing serious astrophotography for very long, but here's M27, the Dumbbell Nebula.  Click here for the full 1000x666 image.
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Jun 19, 2009 09:43
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Some more useful links and handy free software : http://www.stellarium.org/ Free planetarium software, pretty, simple, but useful. I'll stop using it when I talk myself in to buying The Sky instead. http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/ Another free planetarium, way more complicated, not as pretty. http://www.heavens-above.com/ Want to know when you can see the ISS? Or may just grab a sky chart to print out for a specific time and place? http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/ Astro small ads, buying second hand can save you a fortune. There is probably a US alternative around.
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Jun 19, 2009 16:10
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Well I won't be winning awards for this one, but it certainly works as a proof of concept. Click here for the full 1000x752 image. This is NGC6946, the fireworks galaxy, and it's my first image taken with the aid of computer controlled auto guiding. Unsurprisingly the UK can be a bit of a headache for astronomy at times, and this month the weather has just been dire. Fortunately that gives me lots of time to indulge in one of the things I love most about this hobby, a bit of DIY. This month I have built a dual mount bar so I can double mount my scopes, and modified a webcam to take long exposures for use as a guide camera. Guiding allows software on my laptop to control my mount, it takes an image from the webcam on the small scope which is pointed at a star and corrects the motion of the mount to keep the star on the same point at all times. NGC6946 is basically invisible to my eye looking through the scope, and even a two minute exposure only just brings out the core. The image above was composed of 8x6 minute exposures (plus darks, flats etc), not enough data to properly reduce the SNR but enough to prove to myself that it works.
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Jun 21, 2009 11:42
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FalconGuy016 posted:Is there a particular type of telescope or mount more suited for viewing of galaxies? I am fortunate that my parent's house is in an extremely dark and clear place in the Shenandoah mountains and it's only an hour away from me. I dream of locations like that. No specific type of mount or scope is required for general observing, it's just personal preference. For the faint fuzzies you'll want all the aperture you can get, a reflector will give you the most bang for your buck. The mount is just personal preference with visual observing, if you don't mind manually hunting for things yourself using a map then just get a dobsonian. It's the most basic type of mount and you'll learn a lot star hopping around to find faint objects. You won't be able to automatically track things, but that's not a great issue. The Skywatcher collapsible truss tube dobsonian scopes are excellent, and easy to move around in the back of a car. The bigger the better, the 12" model would be excellent, everyone seems to have a range of dobs now and the second hand market is worth keeping an eye on. If you want to be able to track the object easily then get an equatorial mount like the type I've talked about above, if you want to have goto then most come with that as an option. Visual observation of galaxies is a challenge though, don't expect to see stunning colour views or anything. At dark sites with a big scope you can expect to see the spiral arms of the brighter objects, M51 is always a good one. You'll do well with globular clusters, bright nebulas and most anything else.
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Jul 6, 2009 13:56
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Beautiful pictures you've got there. Attaching a DSLR to a telescope for prime focus photography is pretty simple. If the telescope has a focuser which accepts 2" eyepieces then you get yourself a simple adapter like this. Or the second option is a DSLR T-Ring. which converts you down to a 55mm thread for which you can get all manor of adapters for 2", 1.25" and most anything else you want. Right now I use a T-Ring, into which I have connected a Baader multi purpose coma corrector and a 2" sky glow filter. That little array slots strait into the telescopes focuser. Your only other concern is whether your focuser racks in or out far enough to achieve focus, you can get extension tubes and correctors for that as required. Hopefully someone can guide you in the direction of a decent US supplier for the bits you need, Orion who you linked to do everything. Astrophotography with a dob isn't something I've tried, but it can certainly be done, and for imaging the ISS they are perfect. The first thing I'd look at is balance, if you put a heavy DSLR on the scope you will throw the balance out. On my old dob I had a couple of 35mm film cannisters stuck on the back which I could put coins in to level things out. Place it slightly ahead of the object so the vibration has gone by the time you shoot and use remote shutter release so you don't have to touch anything, mirror lock up is handy as well. My current setup, I just remounted everything.  Jekub fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Jul 6, 2009 |
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Jul 6, 2009 20:47
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Astromart classifieds looks like a good place for second hand kit in the US, lots of dobs for sale http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/list.asp?classified_category_id=12 There's a 25" obsession, that would be fun. Jekub fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Jul 6, 2009 |
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Jul 6, 2009 22:00
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FalconGuy016 posted:Hmm, I just realized galaxies are extremely far, and I imagine I'd need a really strong eyepiece. Wouldn't that make the Earth's rotation extremely noticeable? Or would it be completely managable Actually you'd be better off with wide field views than to much magnification for faint fuzzies. I don't normally drop below 10mm unless I'm observing a planet or the moon, but a selection of reasonable quality eyepieces is worth having. Loztblaz can probably advise you better on what's available in the US market, but for that price you could get a new 8" and a set of extra eyepieces, more than enough to get you started. Second hand you could probably get a 10" with some extras thrown in. The very best advice is to find a local astronomy society or star party and go along. Have a look through some scopes and get an idea of what you can expect to see and what best suits your needs, you'll get no end of useful information. Some where there is a website which shows deep space objects as they appear to a visual observer in different size telescopes and in different conditions, but it's late and I can't find it.
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Jul 7, 2009 22:36
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That's awesome, that amateurs can still contribute so much to astronomy is one of the great strengths of the hobby. Jupiter is my next imaging target now it's started rising at a reasonable hour, but it won't stop raining down in southern England right now. For every hour of clear sky, we seem to get half an hour of pouring rain. It's starting to get a bit tedious.
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Jul 20, 2009 10:23
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There are some good globular clusters up at this time of year, like M13, which will prove a good test for a small telescope. It's not to hard to find and makes for an interesting test for you eyes and telescope. It's still raining in England, I think the weather is broken. I had to remove cobwebs from my telescopes yesterday evening.
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Jul 22, 2009 16:24
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Tann posted:Cheers for the quick reply but I'm in England. Specifically Kent, Sidcup. Would the proximity to London be a factor or is it more local illumination like street lights? Yeah, that close to London you're going to suffer, nature of the beast I'm afraid. The London glow ruins the sky for miles in every direction. Here are some resources for seeing just how bad it might be : http://www.britastro.org/dark-skies/bestukastrolocation.html http://www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.uk/light_pollution_uk.htm As you can see, we all need to live in Wales, Cornwall or Scotland. Don't despair though, you are on the darker side of London and plenty of people get some very good astronomy done under such tough conditions. This society appear to be close to you : http://www.orpington-astronomy.org.uk They have regular practical and lecture meetings, very well organised by the look of it. I'm off to spend two weeks in the Italian alps as of Saturday, I'll be taking my camera, mount and the little vixen scope so hopefully I can get some decent photography done. Jekub fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Aug 11, 2009 |
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Aug 10, 2009 22:44
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You'll be surprised just how much light pollution can be blocked by the correct use of filters, but those guys will no doubt be able to give you the best advice. Hoping for the best in Italy, the weather in the UK this summer has just been hilarious. They only night I had a chance to do any work I turned on my mount and it started tracking at twice the correct speed for some reason which I've not yet worked out. Jekub fucked around with this message at 09:21 on Aug 11, 2009 |
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Aug 11, 2009 09:16
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Nope, the skies were good on Tuesday night but last night was miserable again. Looks like a fairly light shower again this year, though some of my friends reported multiple fireballs last night.
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Aug 13, 2009 16:36
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I'm back! Click here for the full 1200x677 image. M31- The Andromeda Galaxy 92 x 2.5 minute exposures, plus darks and flats taken with a little William Optics ZS66SD APO refractor which is awesome on my Vixen Sphinx mount from Lago Di Ledro in northern Italy, a place I would happily live forever. I've been mucking about with this all night and I'm now to tired to think. Jekub fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Aug 31, 2009 |
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Aug 31, 2009 03:19
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I'm using an unmodified Canon EOS 1000D at the moment, so all colour comes from the camera. Normally I'd use a light pollution filter but I don't have one to fit this scope, not that I really needed it up there. I stacked using IRIS this time instead of DeepSkyStacker, I found it much easier to work with the colour in Photoshop afterwards but a lot harder to use. I still have a lot to learn on the post processing side, my photoshop skills are lacking.
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Aug 31, 2009 10:05
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From my experience light pollution filters are a must for imaging, but I've never noticed a great improvement when observing. Mind you I only have a cheap skywatcher filter but it seems to cover my needs (or it did, more on that in a sec). For some research on the many different types of filters available and what they may or may not be good for take a read of these : http://www.astronexus.com/node/4 http://tiny.cc/lumicron As with anything else in astronomy buying filters can be expensive and your results may vary. Nothing beats a proper dark sky site. On the subject of light pollution I was sitting in my living room last night trying to work out what was different, something had changed. It wasn't till I stuck my nose out of the back door that I worked out that the council have changed the old LPS streetlight outside my house for a new HPS streetlight instead. So now I'm flooded white light instead of orange. Tonight I'll be trying to work out exactly how this affects my viewing, as it is dimmer and better shielded, but still produces far to much stray light.
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Sep 4, 2009 13:01
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A mixed weekend for me. The moon was about as bright as I have ever seen it, completely removing any chance of deep sky work, so I stuck with some visual observation of the moon and Jupiter. Then I worked out that by zapping the light sensor on top of the streetlight with a 5mW green laser I could turn it off, which kept me amused for hours. Then I fell on my arse and smashed the LCD of my starbook controller. Not great, that's basically my observatory out of commission until I get it repaired. Either via arguing with insurance and it taking an age to get sorted by a dealer, or just sucking up the loss and ordering a new panel myself. If I get desperate I still have the EQ5 in the garage I guess.
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Sep 7, 2009 17:53
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I had a go at webcam imaging last night as the mount is still out of action. Not great, but you can at least tell what it is. I need a UV/IR cut filter in order to zoom it in any further.
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Sep 11, 2009 10:05
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I re-processed my M31 image using Pixinsight, a dedicated astrophotography processing package. Got to say, the improvement is immense. Click here for the full 1600x995 image.
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Sep 16, 2009 15:22
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More pictures from me. The ISS came over tonight for a nice bright mag -3.5 pass, and I had to have a go.
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Sep 16, 2009 22:47
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The WO ZS66 is a lovely little scope, I'm really happy with it. Visually it's pretty drat good to, but the tiny 66mm aperture needs dark skies and a good eyepiece. I don't have a great deal of other images yet, this is my first year doing astrophotography, this winter I'm hoping to get a lot more done. However for a sence of progression this was my first ever attempt :  Click here for the full 1024x683 image. The Orion nebula on a lovely EQ4 mount, badly aligned, 45 second exposures and not many of them.  Click here for the full 1000x666 image. That's my first decent image after building my roll off roof observatory, the whirlpool galaxy. I can't wait to have another go at that.  Click here for the full 1000x666 image. The dumbbell nebula, showing signs of improvement! Jekub fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Sep 24, 2009 |
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Sep 24, 2009 16:43
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Something like an Orion mini-EQ or EQ1 mount with the motor drive would be about the cheapest purpose designed option I would think. That would give you tracking and a reasonable support, and you can always get a good tripod for it later. Mini-EQ http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=mounts_and_tripods/~pcategory=accessories/~product_id=09055
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Sep 28, 2009 09:26
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I would assume that it would fit a normal photographic tripod, but check with a supplier first. The split leg aluminium tripods you can buy them with tend to be a bit nasty. Once you have tracking sorted you are free to start increasing exposures and taking multiple images for stacking. Then you get to open an entirely new can of worms. The rule of thumb with imaging and mounts is 'over mount, under scope'. That little EQ1 will take a DSLR and small lens for wide field, but don't expect to put a scope on it and get good results, it won't cope with anything heavy. If you can afford something better then do so, it will only help you out in the long run. My latest effort :  Click here for the full 1000x636 image. The Triangulum Galaxy - M33 I need to take another couple of hours data for this to really come out well. Also, colour correction of images taken with the reflector and filter is much harder than those taken with the APO refractor. Jekub fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Sep 28, 2009 |
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Sep 28, 2009 20:40
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dur posted:I just wish the mount was a little more stable - it was really shaking around a lot. Or is that normal-ish for higher zoom levels? Higher magnifications will suffer from vibration more than lower. What mount is it? It's pretty standard for mounts to come with basic split leg aluminium tripods, which are horrible and flex all over the place. However there are a few things you can do to improve them. 1) Fill the legs with filler, foam or sand, or even lead shot if you have a cheap source. 2) Hang a weight underneath from the centre can help. 3) Anti vibration footpads, these can help damp down movement. 4) Make sure all the bolts that hold it together are tight. It's often over looked but improving your mount can have real benefits on your viewing, make it rigid and heavy and things will improve.
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Oct 5, 2009 09:33
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If it's Japanese made then it's probably an old Vixen model, but I've not had any luck tracking down exactly which one it is. As you have an accessory tray, try sticking a weight on that to make it a little more solid, wood is better than aluminium but try to reduce any flex by tightening it up where possible. Comaerror I assume that is for a fork mount? I never used one if so, but that sounds right. You could try setting the mount to it's central position, then adjusting the mount till polaris is centered in the finder scope (northern hemisphere), that should be close enough for visual use. I'm sure there will be plenty of good advice online if your manual isn't clear, let us know when scope and mount it is.
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Oct 6, 2009 11:10
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There are always fun things to find on the moon, take a moon atlas with you if you have such a thing, if not take a laptop with Virtual Moon Atlas on it ( http://www.ap-i.net/avl/en/start ). There are plenty of interesting features to hunt for, or you can try and identify the locations of the Apollo landings. I found this image for another discussion, figured people in here would be interested to, it puts the Moon and Andromeda in the same frame at same scale. Giving you a good idea of just how large the Andromeda galaxy is relative to the night sky. http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0606.html Jekub fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Oct 6, 2009 |
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Oct 6, 2009 17:07
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Visually the central core should be easy to find, as well as the slightly fainter core of M110 next to it, don't expect to see dust lanes and outer detail though. Look for a big fuzzy blob, obviously it'll be better when the moon isn't getting in the way!
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Oct 6, 2009 19:28
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Nice clear sky here as well, though I didn't get much observing done as I was mostly testing out different free autoguiding applications to find one which is a good match to my setup. It looks like the nice German freeware application 'GuideMaster' provided the best results and most reliable tracking for longer exposures, even managing to guide out my slightly misaligned declination axis. Though it did report a declination backlash of around 5400ms! So I'm going to have to adjust the worm mesh on that axis to reduce that a bit. Budding astrophotographers beware, any chances of doing any actual observing rapidly vanish the minute you are trying to balance two telescopes, two cameras, piles of cable and a whole host of weird and wonderful malfunctions and errors.
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Oct 13, 2009 11:56
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I can't say I've ever heard of Rokinon, and a quick google search has not enlightened me at all. A couple of things that would make me wary of this scope for consideration : *I can't locate an actual astronomy supplier which sells them. *Original price of $400 for a 70mm acromat? New acromats of similer size start at the price normally. *EQ2 mount and alt-az? That's interesting... Take a look at the Skywatcher Great Start range here : http://www.skywatcherusa.com/products/telescopes/entry-level-telescopes/ Similar sized acromats from a well known manufacturer? You can even get the larger aperture 80mm version for the price of the Rokinon plus the choice of equatorial or alt-az mount. Have a hunt around, all the big manufacturers have similar scopes in that price range, Orion, Meade, Celestron all have starter scope ranges. There are a lot of advantages to buying kit from a well supported make, from a reputable specialist. And as Loztblaz says, hunt around used and you could probably do even better. edit, edit and another edit - heres a good read for the beginner http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/telescopes/telescopes-for-beginners/ Jekub fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Oct 14, 2009 |
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Oct 14, 2009 09:33
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Choicecut posted:I am not opposed to stacking images, but would be nice if I didn't have to. I also was assuming anything with autostar could track to infinity and beyond. If you want to do any deep space astrophotography with a digital camera stacking is always going to be required, it's the only way to effectively deal with the signal to noise ratio. Plus you need to take dark and light frames to properly calibrate your images and they all need to be stacked as well. So stacking, get used to it, but don't worry it's really easy, just use Deep Sky Stacker which is free to start with. I know nothing about using an etx for deep space astrophotography, but I imagine you are going to need some kind of wedge to convert that fork mount to an EQ mount or your tracking won't be good enough. Either way, think of it as a challenge whilst you learn the basics and work out if this is something you would like to pursue in more depth. Planetary photography will be great to start off with (you'll need to stack image for that as well, though you actually stack video frames).
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Nov 6, 2009 13:48
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That sounds like the best plan, astrophotography is defined by frustration and expense, and it's best to take smaller steps first. Work out if you like the hobby first, and if you decide to take it further, well you can pick up an equatorial mount and some tube rings and just remount your existing scope. Also remember, with a webcam (or similar purpose designed astro video camera) a dob can be used for planetary photography and is ideal for imaging the ISS.
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Nov 7, 2009 13:28
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Pretty much, larger aperture equals more light gathering, which allows for higher resolution and therefore greater detail in the image presented to the viewer. It is also worth nothing that higher quality optics will also help, by providing greater light transmission, better correction and higher contrast. The difference between my Meade 5000 series eyepieces and a friends Televue radians is clearly noticeable when used in the same telescope.
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Nov 13, 2009 11:25
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Something for any UK based astronomy goons, Astrofest 2010! http://www.astronomynow.com/astrofest/ Enjoy two whole days of astronomy based lectures and the chance to spend way to much money at the dealer stands. I've been several times now and it's always pretty good.
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Nov 17, 2009 18:47
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TomR posted:What kind of motorized head would I need to track the stars and hold my camera with lens, it is about 4 or 5lbs or so all together. Something that locates cool stuff to take pictures of would be good, I'm new to this and really don't know anything about space. This is going to be heavily dependant on some key factors : 1) Budget 2) How far would you like to take this? Will you want to put a telescope on this at some point? First of all you are going to want to get some ideas in mind of the type of thing you want to photograph, with a DSLR and standard lens you are going to be limited to wide angle objects for the most part. Don't expect to be picking up faint deep sky objects. However, areas like Orion, and objects like andromeda (see my photo a few pages back) will be in your range. Basically you're going to need an equatorial mount with motorised right ascension and declination axis, you also say you would like goto on top of that. On the first page I made an overly long post listing the most popular mounts, in various price brackets that people would consider suitable for serious astrophotography, that is deep space, though I also listed the astrotrac for wide angle DSLR photography. But there other option, especially within the EQ range of mounts. But basically it comes down to your budget.
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Nov 20, 2009 10:58
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I couldn't tell you anything about it as a mount, but as a general rule it is not of the type that would normally be used for deep sky astrophotography. It's an alt/az style so in order to track objects is has to move two separate axis, which doesn't make for a perfectly smooth motion. It will work OK for the wide field imaging you will be limited to with a standard lens, and I have found some examples of short exposure (less than 1 minute) deep sky photography and some good lunar and solar images as well. As for the goto, the vast majority of objects in it's data base will be either far to small, or almost invisible to your unmodified (IR filtered) DSLR. However, by adding a small scope at some point in the future you'll be able to do a lot more.
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Nov 23, 2009 12:22
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Telrads are the best, but I always, without fail, forget to turn mine off. Happily they'll run for weeks on a set of batteries so I normal catch it before it runs flat. there are a bunch of good options for telrads as well, right angle mirrors and flip dew shields to name a couple. The other advantage with the telrad as a finder is that the circles it projects accurately represent ½, 2 and 4 degrees, which can be used on charts such as these. Making finding things easy.
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Nov 26, 2009 10:43
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This is the first amateur astronomy thread I've seen on SA make it past two pages! Clear skies forecast for the entire UK, but with a full moon so I guess I'll be imaging that tonight as anything else will be lost in the glow. I might try some close ups with the webcam. It's also chance to test out my new shoestring autoguiding interface, which I'm hoping will reduce some of my backlash issues. Might as well edit here as post a new comment... Beautiful night last night, crisp and clear and temperatures dropping below freezing. I took a bunch of full frame moons shots on the DSLR, then ended up attempting a mosaic using the webcam. I took about 17gb of video data, which is probably going to take me another week to process! Hopefully I didn't miss anything. Jekub fucked around with this message at 12:37 on Dec 1, 2009 |
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Nov 30, 2009 18:55
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Moon stuff (click for big)! So this is a mosaic taken with the webcam on the 250mm reflector. It is composed of 27 individual images. Each one of those images is created from a 1000 frame video using registax. For my first attempt at lunar webcam imaging and mosaics I'm happy with that. I used the panorama tool in Windows live photo album which is an amazing bit of kit. Also I got this while playign with video capture on the DSLR :  One more from the same night, but a different technique. 30 full frame raw images captured with the canon 1000D at prime focus on the 250mm reflector. Stacked in registax and with the saturation pushed way up to bring out the surface variations. 
Jekub fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Dec 4, 2009 |
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Dec 3, 2009 22:44
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