Hello

[Karen Bexley]

6 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I'm afraid that's exactly what I was going to say, Karen

What you probably need to do is to take a whole series of identical shots and then do some post-processing on them.  I posted a "how to" on that years ago in the lunar imaging section.  But to start off with, working out how to take a single frame of, say, 1/100th of a second exposure at ISO100 would probably be a good place to start.

James

I must be psychic James 😄  I'm making notes as I go along for things to try from the advice I'm getting.

[Geoff Barnes]

Welcome aboard @Karen Bexley

I'm Southampton born and bred so the New Forest is second home to me. I plan/hope to be back there in the not too distant future.

Everyone on here is just so nice I feel like giving them all virtual hugs through my laptop!  

Edited April 27, 2020 by Geoff Barnes

[JamesF]

4 minutes ago, Karen Bexley said:

I'm making notes as I go along for things to try from the advice I'm getting.

Here's the thread I wrote about processing lunar images:

James

[Dr Strange]

20 hours ago, Karen Bexley said:

Thank you all for the welcome messages. 

That is a very detailed post Dr Strange and plenty to mull over.  I think at this early stage though for me, I don't want to jump in and spend a lot of money on equipment until I decide on a particular area I wish to concentrate on.  I do have good quality binoculars and field scope, and I believe someone has already mentioned that you can get some good sightings of the general sky with that type of equipment (I've just looked back through these posts and it was Ben who mentioned that - thank you Ben).  Probably identifying all the constellations would be a good starting point for me and see where I go from there.

Cheers. Good plan on not screaming and leaping with both feet. Bino's are a great way to start. Especially since you have them already. If you have a lawn chair that reclines, a good way to use them is to prone it out, lay down on it, and brace your elbows against it to help keep them steady and from becoming too heavy.

In addition a low cost Dob would be a good way to dip your toe in. Like I mentioned you can always add things like DSC to it later. If you want to do imaging, even of the moon and planets, a Dob isn't the best choice. In general people have a scope for visual and one for imaging since the requirements for imaging are vastly different than for visual work, though for lunar and planetary they are much closer together than for imaging DSO. 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Dr Strange

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you Dr Strange.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Karen Bexley and welcome to SGL. 

Besides owning three telescopes... (and a WW1 sighting telescope)...
I also own two pairs of binoculars... (images below).

  

(left) Sony 7x50 - (right) Revaltion Astro 20x80 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Philip R

[Karen Bexley]

Impressive binoculars Philip. 

[BinocularSky]

On 27/04/2020 at 07:19, Karen Bexley said:

Thank you Stephan, that is a really useful link.

I have subscribed to the Newsletter 😃

Excellent - I'll have the May issue out in the next couple of days. When this lockdown is over, please feel free to come and join us at Fordingbridge Astronomers when we resume observing sessions in the Forest. And if I can give any advice on observing with binoculars, just ask (it's what I do 🙂).

Edited April 28, 2020 by BinocularSky
typos

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you Steve.

[Karen Bexley]

I've just checked the weather forecast for my area today and it's not looking very good at all.

Rain and strong winds up to 44 mph are expected ☹️  Oh dear, no stargazing tonight then.

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Welcome to SGL, Karen. Even with binoculars or a birding scope, you can see lots of interesting stuff. 

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you Michael.

Since I joined (3 days ago) I've had cloudy skies, and tonight there is rain and strong winds forecast, so not much chance to kick start my new hobby yet ☹️

[JamesF]

Pretty grim here today, too.  When I woke up visibility was probably little more than 100m, it's raining and the wind appears to be picking up.  Tomorrow's looking no better, though Friday may be a bit more promising.

James

[iapa]

Hi Karen,

 

Welcome to the forum, and the endless chain of costly equipment that makes this worthwhile - well, my bank manager thinks so with the interest he's charging me. 

A wee while back the was a post which pulled to gather to start tutorials, which may help.

covers a lot of the angles.

A tripod, DSLR and a lens. 

An intervalometer - if there's not one build into the camera. Sorted.

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by iapa

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you iapa.

I'll have a look through when I get chance.

[Vixen4eva]

Its nice to see more women getting interested in the hobby. I`m sure you`ll be hooked just like the rest of us. One thing is for certain your bank balance is going to suffer.

Clear skies

Alan

[Karen Bexley]

9 hours ago, Vixen4eva said:

Its nice to see more women getting interested in the hobby. I`m sure you`ll be hooked just like the rest of us. One thing is for certain your bank balance is going to suffer.

Clear skies

Alan

Thanks Alan.

I guess I'll have to make intelligent choices of equipment before I buy, and not buy on a whim.  After all, I must keep my Bank Manager sweet 😉

[carastro]

I am no great shakes on the intricacies of DSLR cameras but I don't think auto is going to "cut it" for things like the Moon, it is far too bright and the camera will struggle to autofocus in the dark.

I am an Astro-imager and have learnt my craft slowly over the years with a lot of help and advice, but just to say when I took an image of the Moon with the DSLR some years ago, I recall using AV and taking 10 images and stacking them together in Registax (free stacking software), Autostakkert works as well.

Astrophotography is quite a different artform to day time photography, and you need to take multiple images to improve the image, this is because we are looking through the Earth's atmosphere which is moving around all the time.  Sometimes it is clearer than others and the sum of all the images produces a cleaner/ sharper result. 

Carole 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by carastro

[Karen Bexley]

Thanks Carole.

I know exactly what you mean.  A few weeks ago I took a photo of the Moon on auto and it was blurry and washed out.  I then tried a couple of different manual settings, which were slightly better but I didn't get much detail.  To be honest I gave up after that, but I'm more determined now to try harder and experiment with a few more camera settings.  I've never tried the stacking technique, so that's uncharted territory for me

If I eventually get some shots I'm fairly happy with I'll post them on here (but don't hold your breath, I've got a long way to go yet.)

[Rob]

Hi Karen, Welcome to SGL. Hope you enjoy your stay here

Best Wishes Rob

[Karen Bexley]

Thanks Rob.

[Jonny_H]

Hi Karen,

I too have decided to take my long-time interest of the night sky to the next level resulting from the current lockdown and have recently purchased a set-up.  I cannot wait for it to arrive

Anyhow - welcome and hope you enjoy your stay here.  Most of my research has been on this forum.  A wealth of knowledge and very friendly.

Regards,

Jon 

[Karen Bexley]

Hi Jon, thank you for the welcome.

I couldn't agree more about the friendly and knowledgeable members on this Forum.

Good luck with your new set-up when it arrives.  You'll have to tell us how you get on with it.

 

[ApophisAstros]

Hi karen , Welcome to SGL . Have you joined an Astronomy Society locally as i would recommend this before getting any kit? When i joined my one i had no kit and no knowledge of any, got lots of advice and experience some of the kit available to borrow from the society as they let members borrow scopes. After a while when funds allowed i purchased a Skywatcher 120 telescope with a DSLR camera changed for Astronomical use and an EQ6-r and managed to get fairly good images for a beginner , you already have a great sky for it. Once more funds came on board then i accumulated lots more and would count myself as a slightly better than average imager. 

Roger

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you for the welcome Roger.

I haven't considered joining a local Astronomy Society, preferring to do it on my own for now.

It may be something I'll think about in the future, I don't know yet 🤔