1st attempts at astrophotography

[LostNSpace]

These were my 1st attempts at taking astrophotos of the stars instead of just photographing the moon. Even though the moon was bright last night i was still surprised at what the camera picked up. I only have the use of a Panasonic DMC-L27 digital camera at the moment and the lense size isnt ideal for taking pics through the scope so i ended up just pointing and shooting using a 15 sec exposure time. I didnt really expect to pick much up but i was quite surprised that i managed to take pics of Orion, and Pleiades (although faint) can be made out quite well once you zoom in a little. Zoom in too much though and you start to get a startrail.

A strange ghostly image appeared on the left of the pic of Plaiedes though, as if the camera moved as the pic was taken, although the 3 brightest stars near this image turned out ok.

As these are my 1st real attempts at photographing the stars they do lack detail compared to pics by many amateur astrophotographers out there but i hope over time things will improve and if i can take pics half as good as some that have been shown in SGL then i will be happy.

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

[lunator]

LNS

Good 1st pics.

If you have a long eye-relief eyepiece and can attach the camera to the eyepeice using a clamp the 15 second exposure time should allow you to see catch some quite faint stars

Cheers

Ian

[LostNSpace]

Thanks Ian, and thanks for moving my post to the correct topic.

Im still trying to find my way around SGL but i have to admit i hadnt scrolled down enough to notice there was an imaging section in SGL before i posted it.

Unfortunately at the moment i am limited to the use of the 10mm, 25mm and 2x Barlow. I will be hopefully purchasing new eyepieces in the near future and a clamp for the camera.

Besides my Panasonic digital camera i do have an old Pentax ME Super 35mm SLR with a 50mm Lens which im eager to try out (Saying it still works). Touchwood, it`ll be ideal until i can afford a much better piece of equipment.

For the next few months it will be all about trial and error with me when photographing the stars. Theres just so much to learn i just have to learn to be a little more patient i guess

[Cloudwatcher]

For some reason your images would not enlarge when I clicked on them. All I got was a page of 'Greek' letters!

Anyway,intrigued by your mention of a 'ghostly image' I downloaded into PS and can now see what you mean. No idea what could have caused that to appear in the frame but to me it looks like the outline of one of those giant heads on Easter Island!

Aside from the head, your first image is rather good as in addition to the Pleides, the Hyades in Taurus also stand out very well. (and your guttering looks O.K. too ) I would be very happy with that as a first attempt.

Can you see what I mean about the 'Head' in the attached? (This is the result of applying Auto Colour & Auto Contrast to the image by the way.)

Cheers

CW

[barkis]

You didn't chuck a lighted match away after lighting a fag or something like that?

Ron.

[Cloudwatcher]

You didn't chuck a lighted match away after lighting a fag or something like that?

Ron.

He he!

Aerobatic Fag Flicking Champion 2007!

CW

[LostNSpace]

I love what you managed to do with the photo CW, the amount of detail it has shown up just adding a little colour and contrast. What program was that done with?

I do agree the one of Pleiades is quite poor, but it still surprised me i picked anything up at all.

Initially i just wanted to see what my camera was capable of. The next test will be to try out my old Pentax ME super to see what results that comes out with. Failing that my next purchase has to be the Canon 350d. It seems to come highly recommended for Astrophotography.

It will take time to learn and improve when it comes to astrophotography and tweaking the pics afterwards, but i will get there one day

[LostNSpace]

CW, ive managed to find what seems a half decent program to help me get the best out of my pics (Photomeister2). Worked on a couple of pics that i had taken last night with similar results to what you came up with.

Going to try the Pentax on the next clear night, just got it working, not that confident it`ll work well but i wont know until i try.

[Cloudwatcher]

I don't think the the Pleides picture is poor. Quite the reverse! You obtained an image of intrest and if you don't like the whole frame as it is then a crop of the right hand side will make a fine first attempt in it's own right as there is quite a bit of information to be brought out.

Like you I also have a Pentax,a P30n in my case. A fine 35mm camera but the world has gone digital these days and although I'm not an 'imager' as such I would not like to return to film for astro work especially as I have never done my own developing and printing and would have no control over that aspect. I think a DSLR would be a better bet.

Cheers

CW

[LostNSpace]

I have been playing around with the images i took on xmas day, the one of pleiades was one of 4 i managed to get with Plaiedes in the shot. After enhancing the pics it gave me a good chance to work out what else i had captured in the photo using Plaiedes as a starting point. With the help of stellarium and using the alt/az i worked my way down to the left from Plaiedes to map the stars in Taurus (Ain & Aldebaran) then diagonally left upto Alnath and across to Mars i think, saying i identified the stars correctly . And of course, above Plaiedes, Perseus.

Once the moon is not as dominant in the sky then i will move out from the house to get a much wider FOV. If i can get a map of the skys as seen through my camera lense it will hopefully make things a lot easier when searching for objects through my scope.

Good point about not having any control over developing the pics when you use a film camera. Depending what i achieve with the film camera it may just end up being a one off using film. Digital certainly has made our lives a lot easier.

The only thing remaining now are clear skies, doesnt look like there will be any of them over the next few days