Why do you prefer Observational Astronomy over Astrophotography?

[Jandy100]

I'm a relative newbie to the hobby, and know from various threads Astrophotography can be very very expensive indeed. I have a modest 120mm refractor / EQ5 and until such time funds allow I am more than happy just unlocking the clutches and just wandering around the nightsky observing. I don't even polar align at present.

I can really understand why Astrophotography is so appealling. I guess it must be a personal thing but, to me there is something really very special about seeing objects with my own eyes. When I observe, whether it is something I have seen before or something for the first time even if it is just a fuzzy blob, I gain more understanding of many things such as how many stars and galaxies there are in the universe, how old & how big the universe actually is. Observing stimulates my thinking, gives me understanding & perspective of where our little rock we live on is in the universe.

[Quatermass]

In the ideal world I would have my astrophotography setup a skywatcher 200p on an eq5 mount with the single ra motor drive and a second hand canon 350d from flea bay AND a great big 10inch dob so I could just observe with that and carry on imaging with the other. But knowing what Im like a webcam would soon find its way onto the dob ;-)

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[magic612]

Has anyone else just chosen the observational route? And I'd be interested to know if you started off dabbling in astrophotography but decided to just concentrate on observing.

Clear skies.

I bought my second "real" telescope to account for both good observational astronomy and the possibility of doing piggyback and/or thru-the-scope astrophotography (it was a Celestron C8). This was 15 years ago, long before digital cameras and such. I spent a LOT of money (much that I didn't really have) on film and film developing only to discover that - as all the books said - astrophotography is hard, and takes a lot of time and money to get a few decent shots.

I still have the SLR I bought for the purpose, but sold the scope a couple years ago. I've been doing observational-only astronomy for quite a few years now, and even with the advent of the great digital products out there, I don't feel the draw to do it again.

Others take very fine astrophotos, and I am content to look at theirs. And I will continue to look through my telescopes eyepieces every clear night that I get the opportunity.

[David Smith]

I am purely a visual observer, for three reasons:-

1. Cost - I know photography can be done on a budget but realistically there is a minimum amount of kit you need to stand a chance of getting reasonable results.

2. Purpose - If I want to see astronomical objects on my PC screen I just google what I want to see - much easier than spending hours capturing and then more time processing.

3. Time - sure this would change if I was motivated to attempt it in the first place but I rarely get chance to get the scope out for a look let alone capture hours of data on a CCD.

I can understand the desire to capture what you see at night as there is some fantastic work done but it is not for me. Perhaps if I win the lottery and can afford enough kit and time (no more work ) to do it properly I will have a crack!

David

[Bodkin]

I am a visual observer only. It provides a wonderfuly meditative experience to be able to see the universe with your own eyes.

I have been tempted by astrophotography at times, but there are some things I know should not trifled with. The risk of spending all my nights and most of my spare cash in the quest for beautiful photos is too great. Luckily there are so many amazing photographs on SGL that I can get a vicarious fix.

[JohnC]

I dabble with both, however when i am imaging i miss visual and visa versa.

Never seem truly content.

Slowly moving towards more visual due to time contraints.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I am solely a visual observers. I like to find DSOs by star hopping and this way I think I know the sky pretty well.

Like others I also have an interest in photography and run a photo website with friends. Whereas I enjoy the concept of astro imaging I think I would need an observatory and better weather before I venture into this area.

However, I might venture into video astronomy because this is not so time consuming and you can get an instant playback of some faint DSOs. At SGL6 I was observing with John (jahmanson) and next to us was Philj who showed us live images of the Whale and Hockey Stick galaxies - brilliant.

Mark

[cyborg421]

For me it's the "being out there" feeling. It may be -5 degrees but it doesn't seem to matter. It's what you experience with your own senses. I find astrophotography is a bit like looking at someone elses holiday photos.

I appreciate what some astrophotographers do but you'll never beat Hubble and you'll spend a lot of money/time getting anywhere close.

Each to his own though.

Simon

[Charon]

At the moment AP is too expensive for me.

[swamp thing]

I find astrophotography is a bit like looking at someone elses holiday photos.

:DLol!

[Rusty Strings]

I'll say I'm visual only, but the video camera I bought recently could indicate otherwise. That said, I only use it to improve the view of DSO's once I've found them visually. My main problem with astro-photography is the processing time required to get good images and I'm more than happy to look at everybody else's.

[ollypenrice]

In imaging there is no comparison whatever, for me or for the imagers I know, between looking at someone else's image and creating your own. Surely no visual observer woud say, Why stay out in the cold when you can read someone else's log?

It is all about getting your Hands On, be it visual or photoraphic. If you don't do that you are just a spectator, like these 'football enthusiasts' for whom football involves sprawling on the sofa with a pizza and a dozen tins of Special Brew and bawling their sporting wisdom at the inept professionals who are failing to meet the dizzy standards of the beery bawlers.

Olly

[MjrTom]

It's funny in a way but in my case my hobbies have centred around my cameras.

I started shooting more and more wildlife and macro images which led me onto buying long lenses and macro lenses.

From there I tried to image some landscape stuff which eventually lead onto me shooting more nightscapes.

I had always had a passing interest in the night sky and felt that wanted to record what I could see after the sun has gone down.

I eventually decided that I wanted to pursue this field so I purchased an Astrotrac mount to use with my current photography kit concentrating on really widefield stuff.

After a period of a year of shooting various targets it reignited a passion inside of me to pursue this further and eventually purchased the Equinox 80mm as a method of increasing the focal length of the optics I had at my disposal.

Shortly after this my wife fell pregnant with our first child and my time available for widefield imaging was being eaten up nest building at home.

Due to this I found that I would sneak out for a while with the ED80 to do some visual observing of the moon, planets and brighter DSO.

After some time I actually preferred the time spent at the eyepiece that I decided to jump in feet first and start to build up a collection of eyepieces and eventually a few months ago picking up a long tube refractormore suited to what I wanted to observe.

Like they say, the rest is history

I must admit I am a bit of a fan of anything optics related be it lenses, binoculars or now telescopes.

So to summarise I was a part time imager that converted back to visual astronomy.

I really enjoy planetary and lunar due to the dynamic nature of these objects, be it the belts of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn or even the ever changing illumination of our nearest celestial object; the moon.

I do enjoy DSO as well but limited by space at home I tend to use other people's scopes for that purpose

[ismangil]

There is yet another class which can be called remote astrophotography...

I tried both free (telescope.org) and paid (lightbuckets.com). As expected the processing I quite hard, I haven't gone past stacking with default settings :-)

So is this cheating, by not using your own scope?