Itching to do some imaging!

[keef_uk]

Hello,

So think I'm about sorted to start doing some basic imaging but got a question!! First is how do I know where and what to shoot?

Bear with me that may sound daft but Ive been told that galaxies and nebulae etc.. dont actually show up to the naked eye and hence why we need and arts package to stack and enhance and bring out the end result. So as far as I know at the moment you point the scope and camera in the general direction and shoot away - and still then wont know what you got until you get home and process them!!!

This cant be the case, so can someone please enlighten me?

Cheers

Keith

[moondog]

Keith

I suggest you start out imaging the same way most of us started - on the Moon.

Galaxies, nebulae, and Globular Clusters are usually very difficult to see through a small scope. At best a small grey smudge !

A galaxy such as M31 Andromeda is relatively easy to find as it's pretty bright (Late Summer target)

Nebulae such as M42 Orion are similarly pretty bright (Winter target)

Globular clusters such as M13 and M15 are reasonably easy as well.

Start with the easier DSO (Deep Sky Objects) targets - my first was M13.

Finding some of the fainter DSO objects without a Go To mount means learning the sky and going by 'signposts' of nearby stars etc. For DSO's you will need a driven mount though since you will need exposures of at least 30 secs and upwards for even the brightest DSO's. As you are aware you will also need to stack a series of shots to produce an acceptable DSO image.

I think for my first DSO (M13) I did 6 shots of 60 secs @ 800 ISO with my Canon 350D on an HEQ5 driven mount.

At the time I stacked the images with the free program 'Registax'

You'll enjoy the learning process - though many times it will be 'two steps forward and three steps back' !

MD

[Stormwatch]

If you've got them in the eyepiece, then most of them WILL show up to the naked eye. Maybe just as a little fuzzy blob, but they'll be there. The classic book "Turn Left at Orion" will give you a good idea about this.

Using a DSLR will turn the fuzzy blob into a whole lot more (so I'm told, I'm working on this imaging carry on myself!)

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

I'd echo Moondogs advice and say that you should start with the moon. I used to be a photographer and thought the astrophotographer lark would be relatively simple, and in theory it sort of is. But in practice it turned out to be a whole lot harder than I thought, and I can see that it is going to take a lot of practice to refine my equipment and techniques to get any good at it. It took me a couple of months and a new Meade LPI before I got my first mosaic image of the moon, and deep sky stuff is currentlt beyond me until I get a cooled CCD camera. I originally tried with my Nikon D50, but mirror-slap, light pollution, focussing problems, tracking errors and so forth put me right off that.

With the coming winter I'm going to try again with my new laptop, new scope and more experience, and plan to start on the relatively bright stuff like M42 and M13. Dont be surprised if your progress is as slow as mine, it's an incredibly tricky process to master. Looks worth it, but definitely tricky.