As I see it...

[boabsta]

People are bombarded with big full colour glorious pics of the sky and all of the galaxies, nebulas, clusters, planets et al that when a lot of people first look through a telescope they are left dissapointed. Even on the boxes of the cheap skywatcher scopes they sell in the supermarkets are covered in indepth pics of planets giving the impression that this is how you will see them.

My family and freinds also think along the same way so I wanted to show them what it is you actualy see.

Unfortuneatly theyre more of the "have you got a pic" than have a look type.

So I had tried unsuccessfuly for a while to take pics to show them, These were general phone cam to ep and very poor at best.

Enter my new (fanfare please) sw 200PDS on HEQ5pro. This has allowed me to attach my camera directly to the focuser on the scope and get some nice pics.

Now I must stress that these pics are very amateur as these are the first pics Ive done.

As such these are all single exposures and unedited with the exception of some cropping.

Some star trailing is also visible as I'm still new to setting up the mount but I am for the moment chuffed that I get anything at all.

Anyway as I was saying before the waffle these are as I see them and hope they help dispell some illusions for people who are new.

First up is Andromeda, seen in a thousand pics as a swirl of vibrant colour and millions of stars.

DSC_4632 by boabsta, on Flickr

A bit different? This was taken rather early on so it is very bright but I have reliably informed that it does start to look better when it gets darker.

Next is another popular target for visual, M13 (I hope)

DSC_4668a by boabsta, on Flickr

You can make out the propellor and a fair wee bit of detail. Probably the equivilent of a low power ep.

M57, Ring nebula. I have seen this through a 12" dob as well as my 8" and it looks near the same. Higher power ep's will get a better view as again I rekon this pic is equivlient to my 28mm.

DSC_4687a by boabsta, on Flickr

I am still over the moon at even getting a pic here as the cloud was staring to cover the sky.

Double cluster 869/884. The cloud was in for this one and a fair bit of lp but still a fair representaion of what I could see with my eyes.

DSC_4669 by boabsta, on Flickr

Thats it for now as Ive only had a couple of hours with the new scope but I shall add more as and when I get them.

As for all you serious ap guys out there, I know these are poor by your standards but I like them so don't be too critical.

Cheers, Boab.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Id be proud of them, imaging is something i want to get into, also owning a 200p. Are you using a DSLR, and with the star trailng i take it you havent got motors? and its just a single exposure? I havent attempted nything other than lunar/solar yet, but wondered if it was worth attempting without motors etc. Sorry for all the questions.

[cs1cjc]

Lovely pictures, particularly of M57! That is just how I see it.

[boabsta]

Thanks for the comments

Matt I was using tracking but probably wrongly. I quickly set up and aligned but I think 1 of the tripod legs sunk a bit into the ground after I set up.

All the pics were single exposures captured using my Nikon D90. This was T-mounted directly onto the focuser. If you have the 200p I think you will need to attach your DSLR to a barlow first to acheive focus.

All the pics were either 10 or 15 seconds exposure with iso either at 800 or 400 except Andromeda which as 1200.

If you can keep the exposure times down then I think you may get decent results with minimal trailing. I dont know about multiple exposures.

My exposures were probably longer than needed but I wanted to keep the ISO low to try and kurb noise.

Remember tho that these pics are my first attempt as well.

Also if anyone else want to add pics of their own, please do

The more we get will be a better representation of what we see.

Boab

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I have a Sony Alpha, I havent tried polar aligning ever, mainly as Polaris is blocked by my house pretty much, but seeing these pictures i may have to shell out for the RA motor and see what i can do, just not until September now as my MOT is due

[TractionMan]

First pics you've done? Really??? Then that's a damn good start! Hope to see more soon!

[Mr Flibble]

Pics look really nice, and they are a good representation of what DSO's look like to the naked eye . And the darker the skies with the increased contrast they look better again - the ring from a dark site really does seem to shimmer and take on a 3D appearance (at least to my eye it does lol) and star clusters start to really shine and look like jewels on a velvety black cloth.

[Darkstar_1]

Great pics for a first attempt, this is something i am having a crack at come winter though i only have a Nikon D50. I should hopefully manage something.

[PorkyB]

These are superb pictures. It is good to see pictures that show objects as i might see them though my scope rather than the hubble-type pictures which show things as I will never be able to see them (beautiful as they are). It would be good to get a gallery of such pictures together.

I found the Double Cluster for the first time recently and had to check that i really was looking at the right thing. With your picture there is no doubt, that is exactly what it looked like in my scope.

Thanks for sharing Boab

[Paulus17]

Great images Bob

Thats just how i saw M13 and M31 last friday through my 200p.

It would be great to have images to see beforhand so we know what we are realisticly looking for such as these shown.

[coulthamst]

Perhaps someone might produce a book along these lines. It could be a worthwhile purchase for newcomers to astronomy as a guide to what to expect.

[boabsta]

Thanks again for all the positive comments

I look forward to seeing everyone elses pics when you all give it a go.

[Astronut1982]

There is a website where someone has a list of sketches for many of the more popular objects in the night sky. I am in the process of printing them out & laminating them for outside in the field.

You will find it here:-

http://www.deepskywatch.com/

Jeff

[Astro Imp]

Very helpful to give new comers an idea of what they can expect to see at the eyepiece, well done.

You mention in one of your posts that you think one leg of your tripod may have sunk into the ground. What I do when setting up on the lawn is put an old wall tile under each leg to stop this.

[PreludeToADream]

Nice pics - I especially like the one of the Ring Nebula, it's great. I like the subtle colouring you've captured.

[ikorodu]

Lovely images that really mimic what I can actually see at the EP. So far in my 200 dob from my light ploouted garden I have managed to see m13, m31and m57, all of them looked very similar to what you have shown here. I hope to see the double cluster on my next session. No chance tonight it's raining here!

The idea of a book showing what to expect is a good one. Turn Left at Orion is a book along those lines with each object having a sketch of what you should expect to see at the EP as well as a guide to finding the object and some object information. So far I have found it to be a reasonable approximation, but perhaps the authors had less light pollution that I have?

Rob

[Monty]

One of these days I hope to be producing pictures like that.

[Lorne]

Can vouch for the fact that Boabsta was as happy as a dog with 2 tails at our local dark site the other night after those captures!!

[Scott]

great post boabsta. it is a shame that ppl are led to believe they'll see hubble type pics through the ep. personally though i'm more amazed by the fact that i'm seeing light that is older than the dinosaurs (sometimes) than the actual image but its easy to see why so many ppl are disappointed and lose interest. must say i'm pretty impressed that these are only 15 sec exposures. what a great way to keep record of your nights viewing. I hope your family and friends are suitably impressed.

Scott

[boabsta]

I hope your family and friends are suitably impressed.

Scott

Well the missus is a bit more understanding now that she's seen the photo's so thats good.

My freind who first got me into astronomy phoned me yesterday and said " I seen the pics on facebook. Yes I'm jealous. Bye."

Made me smile

[boabsta]

Been a while as the weathers been poor and I was on holiday for last decent clear night but finaly I got out again and got a new pic.

This is M81 and M82 and is pretty much the same as could be seen through the ep. The only real difference is the camera captured colour that I couldnt see with me eye.

Again single exposure of 10s and ISO800

If anyone wants to post pics of what they see please do.

[Beulah]

If I had the kit I would!

This is a very worthy project Boabsta - keep up the good work.