Hubble deep field images..

[Worzsel]

Just wondering (as a nosey non imager) if it is possible to take pictures similar to the Hubble ones from earth. I know the ultra deep field image took 100hrs+ so that would obviously not be possible but could you achieve an image with lots of galaxies in from an earth based amateur rig ?

I love the pictures I see on here sometime that have sneaky galaxies in the background so if anyones got any of them they would like to share i'd be very much obliged

[blinky]

Yeah, have a look for images of Makarian's Chain

[Worzsel]

Thanks Blinky, I had a look and enjoyed your image

I'm off to do some googling!

[ollypenrice]

Most amateurs spending a long time on an image go wide rather than deep, building up mosaics. The atmosphere imposes its limits, alas.

Olly

[dph1nm]

I know the ultra deep field image took 100hrs+ so that would obviously not be possible but could you achieve an image with lots of galaxies in from an earth based amateur rig ?

There is no reason why you cannot image for 100's of hours from the ground - you just add up lots of shorter exposures (this is how the Ultra Deep field was made anyway - it is not one long continuous exposure). However. the image quality from ground-based scopes is much worse than from space (due to the atmosphere), so you would just end up with lots of featureless blobs (and you would have to image even longer just to see the same objects).

NigelM