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I have been taking pictures of the moon with my d60 and 200mm zoom. I have had some decent success doing this, but in turn have sparked an interest in astronomy.  Click here for the full 1292x872 image. I have been looking on telescopes.com at a Meade etx 80 package: http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/refracting-telescopes/meadeetx80attcastrotelescopewithautostar1.cfm It is only 300 bucks, has good reviews and with a few more dollars I can hook my D60 up to it and control with my laptop. Would this be a wise purchase? I like the portability of it since I am just a few miles from AEP Recreation lands here in Ohio. I really don't want to spend much more than 300 as I am just starting out. I would like to take some deep space pics as well as the obligatory moon, saturn and Jupiter shots. Any comments, experiences, purchase suggestions are welcome.
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Nov 4, 2009 19:42
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Loztblaz posted:I really have limited knowledge of astrophotography, but here's a link to a well kept ETX site that includes a section on photography: http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html Hmm never really considered that. Can I get something with good tracking in my price range? 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.  I am going to read through that etx site and get myself more informed. Thanks
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Nov 4, 2009 21:18
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Jekub posted: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. Thanks for the info Jekub. My wife and I have been discussing our purchase of a telescope and are now leaning toward an Orion XT8 Classic. It looks like it will give us a lot of bang for not a lot of money. Plus we are thinking that without tracking we will be forced to actually "learn" the sky. If we really enjoy ourselves we can pick up a really nice scope with good mount in our future and do the astrophotogrophy thing.
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Nov 6, 2009 19:21
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Messed around with the new ETX90 on Sunday. Stuck the wifes casio point and shoot up to the eyepiece just to see what I could get. Turned out halfway decent. Going to capture Jupiter this weekend through it. My Nikon adapters might possibly be here by then, gonna see how well the little scope tracks. I have found a few websites out there where dudes are getting some decent DSO images out of the ETX lineup. If nothing else, this little scope is going to give me good experience while I keep saving for the Losmandy/80mm/Guidescope setup I want. Moon: 
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Oct 20, 2010 17:57
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The ETX90PE is turning out to be a great investment, especially since I snagged it for next to nothing. Jupiter was really clear and impressive through it with a 15mm and 2x barlow and the moon looks freaking awesome. I am leary about connecting my D60 up since the gears are plastic and the camera is pretty heavy. Can anyone recommend a cheap inexpensive webcam to start doing some astrophotography? The Phillips tUocam or whatever seems to be the most recommended, but I can't find any for sale. Here is a pic of Jupiter with a casio exilim poo poo rear end camera stuck up to the eyepiece. Really hard to keep things steady! 
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Oct 29, 2010 15:07
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Wolf on Air posted:stuff Thanks for the info. I have been watching cloudy nights like a hawk, but nothing inexpensive has popped up. I really don't want to dip in my savings much as it will furthur delay my losmandy/apo setup I have my sights set on. Looking at the site with webcam conversions, it seems pretty easy and the webcams he modifies are relatively inexpensive. I may try something like this. Has anyone here ever mounted a dslr on an etx model telescope? I have come across sites where guys are doing it, then others say it stripped the gears or was too heavy to track. I can get a t-adapter for my nikon d60 for 20 bucks, but hate the thought of jacking up the telescope in the process.
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Oct 29, 2010 16:47
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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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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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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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Makes me want to get into astrophotography, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Nice Image baconroll! I have yet to get out with my new Neximage and test it out. Stupid cloud cover in SE Ohio! I am getting ready to buy a new AP rig (probably in the next day or so once I make up my freaking mind) and was wondering what you all thought of it. My goal is to do both planetary and DSO imaging with this configuration: -Celestron CGEM 800 SCT (Planetary Imaging) -Stellarvue 80ED (Piggy Backed for DSO Work) -ADM mini dovetail and 125mm rings for mounting the 80ED on the SCT I think the CGEM is capable of this since the payload will be around 22-25lbs and the mount is rated for 40lb max. I will use the Neximage for Planetary work and I have a Nikon D60 I will use for DSO connected to the Stellarvue. I can also do a finder scope mod to the one included with the 800 and use the Neximage for guiding while doing DSO imaging. I may pick up an SSAG down the road for a better guide camera but would like to start with shorter length images stacked and also give the Neximage a go at guiding. What do you all think?
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Dec 9, 2010 01:39
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Hey Baconroll, do you like that wxAstroCapture software better than the software that came with your Neximage? I am going to have a go at Jupiter tonight and maybe Saturn if I can stay up late enough with mine and the 8". First time imaging with the Neximage, so it should be fun. Were you using a barlow in that pic? Also, I LOL'd that I heart bacon hearts a pic from baconroll.
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Dec 17, 2010 15:12
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Jekub posted:Choicecut, you might want to grab the free CCDcalc app along with the additional reference images. Once you have put in your telescope and camera details you can then quickly see how many popular objects will appear in your field of view. You can also set barlow lengths, which should only really be used in planetary imaging, to work out what gives you the best fit. Ha! Went to install this and I already had it installed at work. I have been installing so much software I forget what has already been installed!
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Dec 17, 2010 16:39
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Finally got a clear sky to do some imaging. Took a try at M42, also snagged some Pleaides and M31 while I was out, but haven't done anything with those. This is my first DSO ever, so be easy. This is 30 lights and 5 darks stacked in DSS, which resulted in a RED image and then heavily processed in photoshop. Taken with a SV80ED piggy backed on a CGEM 800 and a Nikon d60. ISO was set at 1600, which I think is too high after seeing the results. I think I must be doing something wrong in DSS because a single image looks better than the initial stack even though it brought out a little more detail. You can almost make out the running man. Any help would be great! Stacked:  Single 60 Second exposure:  What DSS shits out: 
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Jan 4, 2011 18:28
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Jekub posted:A cracking start, though I'll be brutal and say the stacked and processed suffers from a bunch of processing problems, colour balance being the obvious problem followed closely by noise. Judging from your un-processed image I would say you have something better hiding in there, and that starts the joys of learning all about processing. Sweet. Thanks a ton Jekub. I was wondering if there was something better than DSS. It actually caused a blue screen on windows 7 during one of the stacks. This is the first blue screen I have seen on windows 7. I am definitely not opposed to dropping some cash on good software so thanks for letting me know about Pixinsight!
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Jan 5, 2011 01:41
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Thanks, I will check that out as well. While waiting for my trial license request to get approved for PixInsight, I gave M42 another try in DSS. It still produced the same red mess that I got in previous attempts. I have no clue where all the red is coming from. I decided to move from M42 and give M31 a try in DSS. This produced an image with RGB nicely lined up. I am getting a lot of noise in my images, so when I get back out for more exposures I plan to turn down ISO on my camera. I still need to learn the proper tweaks in photoshop, but here is my first attempt: Also, wanted to say thanks again for the direction you are giving. Makes life much easier. Edit: looking through my camera settings, I noticed that I had noise reduction turned off. Have to try enabling that next outing and see what it results. Also just had a shiny new Nikon D90 delivered yesterday. Not sure how much better it will be at Astrophotography than the D60, but it definitely feels like a sturdier camera. Choicecut fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Jan 5, 2011 |
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Jan 5, 2011 13:05
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Jekub, first I need to say that you are freaking awesome for directing me to PixInsight. The program is the poo poo! Secondly, you suck because now I have to pony up 225US for a license! Here was what I accomplished in about an hour of work tonight in PixInsight with my M42 images. I am freaking stoked for my first DSO! Plan to restack and process my M31 images tomorrow evening. 
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Jan 6, 2011 06:10
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I was looking at some tutorials for polishing the trapezium on the astropix website. I think I will be able to bring out more detail with PixInsight after going through more tutorials. I really dig the program though, extremely robust. It didn't cause windows7 to blue screen and changes didn't take 10 minutes to apply. Very smooth. I hear you about the clouds mate, I have only had 1 chance to image in the past 4 weeks. Forecast for Sunday looks promising, so I am planning on M81 Bode's Galaxy and possibly the HorseHead Nebula. I feel like a drat kid in a candy store, so many objects I want to image. I wish BBC america would have the same stream that you bloody bloke's get. Brian Cox is hosting that stargazing show, which is one of my favorice physicists!
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Jan 6, 2011 14:13
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Jekub posted:He's talking at Astrofest in London next month which should be good. I'll be trying hard as normal not to spend money I don't technically have, and probably failing. Going to Astrofest would be awesome. Brian Cox is the poo poo man, I would love to hear him speak. I gave my Andromeda images another go last night, turned out a little better. I still have a lot of noise, but pulled out some dust lane detail. Semi happy for my first try. Scope: SV80ED (Piggy Backed on Celestron 8" SCT) Mount: Celestron CGEM Camera: Nikon D60 Exposure: 30x30 seconds, ISO 1600 Stacked/Processed: PixInsight  I think I am going to give this another whirl with lower ISO and see if it helps with noise.
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Jan 7, 2011 14:47
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Nice job Jekub. For being in a light polluted area, that is some awesome detail. Especially in the star forming regions, great color!
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Jan 10, 2011 14:45
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Nice M45. I was using M45 to focus when I was out last time. I took the 6 short exposures I had and stacked them just to see what came out of it. I am actually surprised it picked up some of the dust cloud that M45 is moving through:
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Jan 13, 2011 17:31
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Had big plans for imaging tonight, but my CGEM took a dump earlier today. Was manually controlling the mount to do some imaging of the Sun and it suddenly stopped working. Recycled the power and all I get are "No Response 16/17" errors. Apparently my motors or the motherboard that controls them have taken a poo poo.  Hope warranty turnaround doesn't take too long. I just bought it 3 months ago and this was only my 4th outing! Here is a snap of the Sun and some Sunspots before my mount poo poo itself:  Sun 3-19-2011 by elimisel, on Flickr
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Mar 20, 2011 02:11
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Jekub posted:I had the same issue with my CGEM when I got it, giving the rj12(?) connector on the handset cable an extra squeeze with my crimping tool seems to have cleared it up. At least I have not had the problem again since I did that. I tried hitting it with my crimping tool per a cloudy nights members recommendation. No dice. Tried cleaning all the contacts with vhs head cleaner, moving the power pin connector slightly to try and get a better connection and even tried nudging some of the receptacle pins for the hand controller, still same result. I also tried flashing the firmware just to see if that would help, couldn't even flash the MC. It would get to 3% every time and complain about error programming data block "random number". Got the same result trying to flash the HC too. I am at a loss. Gonna call Celestron when I home today. Really bums me out man!I hear their turn around time is horrible for warranty work. It's really gonna piss me off if it does, this was only my 4th time using the mount. The weather is just about to start getting better too!
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Mar 21, 2011 14:22
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Wolf on Air posted:This is unfortunately a big part of why people still buy the EQ6 series - even though they are from the exact same manufacturer (Synta) they are rock solid (also stepper motors are awesome). Oh man, I ended up purchasing PixInsight. The difference in that app compared to DSS is like night and day man.
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Mar 21, 2011 15:24
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Just got of the horn with Celestron. CGEM is going in for warranty repair, could be more than 30 days before I get it back. Really bums me out.
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Mar 21, 2011 21:46
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Nice freaking job on caldwell 7 man, I am able to pick out SN2004dj! What were you using to image that?
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Mar 22, 2011 16:44
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lemonslol posted:Hey astronomy goons, I was looking into buying a telescope after reading some Carl Sagan and watching The Cosmos. Some guy on Craigslist is selling a Vintage Jason model 313 refractor telescope 60mm . for 30 dollars. Is that worth it will I be able to see cool stuff like the guy has a couple posts above me? 30 bucks is a cheap way to start out, but keep in mind that no matter what scope you get, galaxies and nebula will look nothing like what you see in pictures. Most of the time they look like smudges. Like Bolkovr said, it will be best to view the moon and planets with that scope. A lot of my friends come over expecting my 8" SCT to let them fly through galaxies and wormholes apparently, because every time I show them something, the say, "Is that it?". To which I reply, "What do you mean is that it!?" 
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Apr 7, 2011 17:20
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Arrrrg! You guys are killing me. Celestron has had my mount since the 28th of March. I emailed them 2 days ago to see how it's going and their response was, "We have received your mount".... Sigh....
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Apr 11, 2011 00:42
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Loztblaz posted:I haven't used one in an area with high light pollution personally, but I've heard people that I observe with singing the praises of narrowband light pollution filters (specifically the Orion Ultrablock) for city observing. They're really only useful for observing nebulae, but if that's something you want to enhance you might want to look into them. I had an ETX90PE for awhile as a step up from my 20x80's. It was a great scope for viewing the planets. Orion nebula, Andromeda Galaxy and a few globs made it into view a couple times with pretty good visuals. On a side note, after a little over a month of waiting, my CGEM finally made it back from warranty repair today. Invoice says they replaced the main board and hand controller. Now if I can just get some clear freaking skies!
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May 3, 2011 00:51
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Ehud posted:I just made my first amateur observing purchase on Amazon: I have the 20x80 Skymasters. Best single purchase for astronomy I ever made. I use them more than my CGEM800. I suppose that will change once I get an observatory built and the weather stops being a cock sucking douche bag here in Ohio. Every time I have the opportunity to get some imaging in, the sky says, "I like clouds and rain". You will get a lot of good use out of those!
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Jul 8, 2011 17:30
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Unless you're a 4 ft midget, a 60" (5 ft) tripod won't be enough for you when you want to get underneath the binoculars to look overhead. Look for something at least 7ft tall. They are recommended because you can see a lot of stuff and learn the sky without spending a lot of money. I can see 4 moons of Jupiter and slight coloration, good views of the moon, Andromeda, etc. with the 20x80's and they only cost me 100 bucks. I use a cheap 10 dollar tripod and a 5 dollar plastic wal-mart chair, works great. It is a way to make sure you really enjoy the hobby before dropping a shitload of money. I have over 3k in my big rig, but still take the 20x80's out just for fun and portability.
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Jul 15, 2011 13:36
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Xenpo posted:For beginning to learn the Stars, on a budget, what's better, something like the Celestron 15x70/20x80 Binoculars or something like this? I would say the Skymasters over that scope, but that's just my opinion. The nocs will give you stereo view, but you can swap eye pieces on the little refractor. Each have their place.
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Jul 15, 2011 20:44
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I see Jekub is still posting images here (nice job on Coccoon nebula!), so I will try to keep the image thing going. Here is one I got over the weekend. M71 globular with Comet Garradd in the corner. M71 and Comet Garradd by elimisel, on Flickr 16 minutes of 30 second subs through my SV80ED/Nikon D90, all piggy backed on my CGEM800. I am also working on m33 and m81/82 data, hopefully will have them posted up soon.
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Aug 30, 2011 04:50
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