Are These Photos What You See Through Your 'Scope?

[wallis23]

Forgive me for being dumb, but i'm still very new to all of this. I just wondered, these photos, are they what you see through your EPs? Surely the detail isn't this good through the EP? Is the magnification the same though? Thanks for your understanding.

P.S. Same goes for DSOs.

[blinky]

Not really When imaging a planet you take lots of shots and 'stack' them together, eventually producing the images you see posted here. With a good enough scope and plenty of magnification you can see quite a bit of the details posted here but it is usually a lot more subtle when looking through the EP. Also when you are looking through an EP you are looking for a moment of good seeing when the air turbulence dies down for a second or 2, then you can make out the detail a bit more.

[wallis23]

Not really When imaging a planet you take lots of shots and 'stack' them together, eventually producing the images you see posted here. With a good enough scope and plenty of magnification you can see quite a bit of the details posted here but it is usually a lot more subtle when looking through the EP. Also when you are looking through an EP you are looking for a moment of good seeing when the air turbulence dies down for a second or 2, then you can make out the detail a bit more.

I thought so. Thanks for clearing it up.

[Kai]

Dso's are usually a dissapointment through the eyepiece,You will not see colour or the fine detail you see in the images posted on the Forum.

Saying that its still very impressive to see some of the showcase Galaxies,Nebula's and Clusters ,they give you a real sense of the vastness of Space.

[radioactive]

The way I explain it away is this

the human eye/brain work together very well as a point n shoot type camera but we cannot manage to do long exposures in our eye to brains functions.

A small way around this is using what we call averted eye method where upon we look at an object through the eyepiece then we look away from it then we look back at it again then move our sight away from the EP then back onto the object again and so on. Now what happens here with a little training yourself to use this method is each time you view the object your eye/brain subtly picks up something different from the last image it had on the object thus building up a kind mosaic in your mind because each view you saw was just that little bit presented bit like watching a film each frame will very slightly differ and at the end of your averted eye session you should have a feeling of having a good view of your object in question, this view however is so so difficult to try and explain to some one else as its an image only you have in your head So onto the long expo cameras these of course can permanently record the images long exposure mean more fine detail recorded and many such exposures means these can then be stacked together using various software programs that will with a compitant operator (not me!) will bring out even more detail and colours that has been captured

Its a little more to it than what I have written here but essentially its about correct I hope this view I have on things help you understand a little more

[wallis23]

A small way around this is using what we call averted eye method where upon we look at an object through the eyepiece then we look away from it then we look back at it again then move our sight away from the EP then back onto the object again and so on. Now what happens here with a little training yourself to use this method is each time you view the object your eye/brain subtly picks up something different from the last image it had on the object thus building up a kind mosaic in your mind

Wow, i'll have to try that. Does that apply to Solar System objects aswell? Thanks for your reply, it's really cleared things up.

Thanks to everyone else who's replied aswell.

[Andrew*]

Not really. Averted vision really shows its value with faint objects, because your peripheral vision is more sensitive than your central vision.

I'm not quite sure what "the trick" is to seeing detail on the planets (which are bright), but I think you have to really persist, rather than immediately concluding that there's no detail to be seen. Wait for the seeing to steady and just keep on looking and concentrating until the details pop out at you.

Andrew

[Sam]

It's all about the ability of human eye to pick up contrast. By moving the eye's FOV to and fro, slight differences in contrast are detected - this goes for both bright and very faint objects. Andrew, you are correct with respect to peripheral vision but it is also enhanced through movement. I've found this method particularly useful in detecting detail on Mars (and for a whole lot of earth bound activities).

[Andrew*]

Didn't know that LB, thanks.

I stand corrected!

Andrew

[Tim]

I dunno about for the others, but here is my viewpoint.

I am new to this caper btw, having had my telescope about 3 months or so.

When I look at Saturn for instance (see attached photo), the image I see is actually a lot clearer and sharper than in the picture. But Saturn seems very bright and if I add a pale yellow filter, then I can see some detail of the banding you can see in the larger part of the main planet. Also the Cassini division is more easy to see clearly.

But the image is really small compared to the pic size. Magnifying it makes the edges a little more fuzzy.

Here is my best saturn Photo to date;

Mars. Well now. I have real problems with Mars. Through the eyepiece I see the disc, slightly off round, very clear and sharp. Also some detail in the form of dark areas.

I have to point out that I never really let my eyes dark adapt, because I take more photos and videos than just observing, so maybe I would see more detail. But my photos of mars suck. They are really bad and blurry for some reason. Cant figure that out yet, and am gonna have another go tonight.

Those are the only two planets I have seen so far. The moon looks BETTER through the EP than the photos imho. So all in all I would say that the images I am trying to get on disc are the images I see through the EP, with colour included.

Cheers

TJ

[beamish]

I find myself agreeing with TJ, the view in EP is better than the image (magnified). Though thru the EP it is fleeting depending on atmos but really exciting , resolution of the human eye is going to be far better than a webcam.

If I remember my human biology, the retina is divided into cones and rods. Cones to the centre (colour sensitive) and rods around the core(peripheral vision).The rods are not colour sensitive but are specifically designed to pick up changes in movement(fight or flight re danger) and changes in movement are better detected with monochrome and hence contrast improved. By moving FOV back and forth these slight changes become more apparent as the brain is specifically "looking out for it". So you're both right ( I think )

Karlo