Something i have noticed since Stargazing Live.

[John]

Would you like to borrow my Lightsaber John?.....

I'd give it a go you know - how long are the batteries good for ?

[Catanonia]

All packed up, wasn't going to get any better with the moon way up there.

Got about 4 hours useable focused subs in LRGB so will play with flats tomorrow and see what we have.

Have fun guys, amazing to see such a perfecly clear night in ages.

Cat

[martin_h]

Hummm, must have been something I said....whispy cloud just started to come over...Imaging over, just hope it doesn't get too thick to see Saturn.

[Nexus 6]

Cheers cat. On my way for a gander now.

Alan

[Ant]

How much of an increase in new members has there been since the BBC shows?

There was a marked increase in new members - we were getting somewhere in the region 18 members a day join. As soon as the series started it tripled to around 50 a day and one day we had 75 new members join.

It'd dropped back a little now, but is still running at around 45 a day.

The number of threads and posts increased by around 30%.

The number of members logging on every day now hits over 1100.

I also cringed when astroimaging was described as simple and all you had to do was attach a camera to a scope... IMO that was probably my only issue with the whole thing.

Cheers

Ant

[beamish]

Simple observing really does seem to be a dying form of the hobby.

Much as i love it, i can see the seduction of imaging. I will never completely turn to imaging though. It will always remain a very low cost casual avenue to my observing.

I'd be LOST if i never looked through a scope/bins.

....but this may have a lot to do with the fact that LP is sooo bad in many areas that observing just isn't possible-hence the move to imaging.

[Zakalwe]

Simple observing really does seem to be a dying form of the hobby.

Much as i love it, i can see the seduction of imaging. I will never completely turn to imaging though. It will always remain a very low cost casual avenue to my observing.

I'd be LOST if i never looked through a scope/bins.

Each to their own...one man's meat is another's poison, and all that.

Visual is amzing...I love the sense of wonderment when gazing skywards. I also feel frustrated when I look at Andromeda or the Orion nebula though...I know that there is so much detail and colours that my crappy old "wetware" eyes just cannot process. So imaging adds to the sense of wonderment.

The hours needed sitting in front of a damn PC though, is the thing that is bugging me!

[SeedyF]

I for one think that any interest in our hobby has to be a good thing so lets not rubbish anyone just because they are inspired to leap straight to imaging. I take Paul's point though that many may have had their expectations set too high and the disappointment may ultimately put them off when they struggle to get results.

I have been dabbling with imaging for a few months having had a scope and constantly used it for 5 years. I can honestly say that my first DSO - M42 amazed me. Its my favourite target with the scope but I was staggered how much more I captured with a simple single exposure with low budget kit. That for me supplements the visual side of things and both make me go

[jgs001]

Would you like to borrow my Lightsaber John?.....

Thanks for the offer, but we have two... I can be a goody or a baddie ...

We should encourage anyone coming to this hobby in anyway we can, even if that means we have to adjust expectations a little, or help them achieve any starting point they are after. After all, even a star trails image, involves looking up and seeing the heavens. And, as an added bonus, there's likely to be more people realising exactly how much effect light pollution has and maybe, just maybe... things might start to change.

[turbotim]

I just stepped into astronomy and love it. I never was able to spend to much time with my mother growing up so i sent her a web cam moon video with her favorite music behind it. Then i started to realize i wanted to image more like galaxies and nebula's. Well all i have to say, is i have a lot more respect for the people who post those beautiful dso's on here. What they do is not easy trust me. Even if you have the money for the equipment, its still not easy, I have to actually take a break from learning to image to observe and learn the sky more. It starts with being a good observer first to become a good imager, is what i am realizing. And observing has taught me too relax and have some time to myself, some quite time.

[stevelcfc]

i am one of these newcomers,ive been into it about 2 years now and i want to get int astrophotography, i dont expect to be taking images like damien peach.

all i want to be able to do is show people what i am seeing, who knows it might inspire them to have a look, if it progresses to anything more that is all well and good

there is nothing better observing through a telescope to see things as they appear now IMO

[themos]

You don't need expensive kit to take awesome astro photos. Imagination, planning and patience are the qualities. If in doubt, look at this:

APOD: 2011 January 17 - Night and Day above Almost Planet Sounio

and how it was done

24 hour shot!

[Penfold]

I too was one of those that wanted to dive straight into imaging... I have however reigned back my enthusiasm for it. I also was going to go for the goto/racking scope to get me up and running straight away.

But after reading about a 1,000,000 threads on here I've gone for a non auto dob. Thanks to all on here And hope my skills improve enough to be able to use it.

I will at some date get an astrotrac and use that with my camera equipment to get into imaging.

[pete_l]

Almost every new comer to the hobby wants to be an "astro-imager" even before they have a scope or just bought one. Because of the show and the way it explained imaging the night sky.............many people think it is a simple case of "point and shoot".

Possibly because the programmes made almost no mention of visual observing. All they showed of how to do it on the whole three hours was a quick bish-bash-bosh session with Jonathon Ross, along the lines of "never mind your telescope, here's one I brought - let's just slap the tube on the base and voila, there's Jupiter". Whereas with imaging they took at least, what?, 30 seconds to show people how to it. Even better, the presenter actually explained what he was doing and showed examples with a real camera, that we could see.

[Staffy]

A while ago someone posted a message asking what people's other hobbies were. Many people said photography. It's only natural then that people starting out in astronomy would want to merge their two interests. Another person wrote recently that no matter what gear we have we always want to improve on it. I made an astro imaging camera from the cheapest webcam available, a bit of plastic and some sticky tape and although the results are not worthy of showing anybody it gives one the impetus and enthusiasm to carry on and do better next time, find a camera with more definition and try harder and gain results. What makes us human is our desire to learn and fulfil our goals.

[johnnychaos]

I think it's a good thing. my pics are very basic, more a record of what I've seen, but it's helped hold my interest over the last few years, were as just observing might not have. They have also in turn sparked the interest in others to get their own scope.

Although I agree there is nothing like looking at it your self. I don't see a problem with novices coming to this with a view to imaging straight off.

[Pete_inthehills]

taking photos will be the next step I take because I just need to share what I'm seeing. I dragged the wife and daughter out in to the cold just after new year to show them the moon and Jupiter. But I can't do that to all my friends. But with a photo I can say "Look, just look at that! can you see the shadows of the crators on the moon, stop what you are doing and look up for a while. Its amazing."

But I still like to sit there and just look.

pete

inthehills

[LukeSkywatcher]

I remember when Star Wars came out in the cinema. Every shop in the land was sold out of Light Sabers over night. Before the movie....no one wanted one.

[callisto]

Simple observing really does seem to be a dying form of the hobby.

Much as i love it, i can see the seduction of imaging. I will never completely turn to imaging though. It will always remain a very low cost casual avenue to my observing.

I'd be LOST if i never looked through a scope/bins.

For me, looking with my eye's only is what it's all about,

But hey, like I said, that's just me

[PortableAstronomer]

I have quite a bit of telescope & CCD equipment, but no eyepieces at the moment.

Never at any time in the last 20 years of owning a scope have I ever gone wow at looking through an eyepiece. Last time I looked through an eyepiece I thought 'oh its that faint grey smudge' and went straight back to imaging.

Most ppl are bathed in light pollution and I am no exception. Imaging gives us access to the skies from the suburban locations using small scopes, esp through narrowband filters. UHC and OIIIs can be good for observing too but you'll need larger & less portable scopes that won't fit into the bedroom closet.

Visual astronomy might be fine if you own your own house & garden in a rural / dark location , but most newcomers and especially younger people don't have that luxury.

[Digz]

A while ago someone posted a message asking what people's other hobbies were. Many people said photography. It's only natural then that people starting out in astronomy would want to merge their two interests.

This is true, in part, for me. I've been a keen photographer for several years now and always had an interest in astronomy but not had the time to indulge the passion due to my studies.

Now my studies have finished I have got into astronomy in a serious way. For me I do like to observe, however at present I am trying to push my photography skills (and kit) to the limit to see what I can achieve astroimaging wise.

I can see where people get disillusioned thinking they will be able to observe the same level of detail as they see in magazines and on websites, but we just need to hope that we can nurture them and show them that all is not lost.

For me I just love the notion and discovery of what is revealed when the sun sets.

[Veracocha]

I have come away from photography after becoming dissilusioned with my results. Despite having produced a lot of high quality nature shots I never quite satisfied that my work was worth the effort I was putting in. So, instead of trapesing around the country trying to capture the ultimate shot of let's say a Bittern I realise I get more pleasure in just viewing the birds. I get more enjoyment from my bins than I did the Camera.

I am highly impressed with some of the images posted within this forum and I salute the effort that's put in but here's one newcomer that knows that all the beauty is there above us for the viewing and I ain't about to go through the grief of searching for the ultimate shot again.

[Herishi]

Being a photographer interested in stars I wanted to do imaging, I haven't even received my scope yet. I have taken a few images I am fairly pleased with them :-) the moon has come out especially nice the one thing I have found really hard is using CSS and the likes for stacking my photos. I suppose it is a little easier when my camera lens comes in at about 1200mm f6.3

[smudgeball]

I fully admit that I have gone full circle on this.

A few years back I had (still have in loft) a "rubbish" quality reflector and I did just that....outside put up scope, attach camera, click, click......

What a waste of time (for me).

I admit the stargazing program gave me the bug again and I initially thought about imaging. But having read a wealth of info (mostly on this forum) I've come to realise that for me it will be better just to learn about what's up there.

Hence my "new" scope choice.

Cheers

Neil

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

When I started in astronomy, photography was still "wet", and getting half decent shot a huge achievement, so when I got a camera attached to my telescope, I knew full well what I was in for. I remember hand-correcting the tracking of my GP-C8 for 15 or 30 min, my eyes glued to the reticle eyepiece. Modern astro-photography has come a long way, and some of the makers of the BBC series will have thought astro-photography so much easier than it was years back, that they overstated the actual ease. It is much easier to get that half decent shot, but consequently the bar has been raised by those with dedication. Shots like those that used to come from professional observatories are being produced from backyard observatories all over the world.

I have seen a similar trend in my main imaging line: planetary photography. Web cams and the like have revolutionized the state of the art, and on nights of mediocre seeing I am producing shots that are better than some of the best "wet" shots. That does not make them top shots, but WAY better than what I used to do, and hence deeply satisfying. Besides, the pictures show details very hard to spot through the eyepiece. It enhances and complements the viewing experience.

At the same time, I do retain the love of observing, and this is why I am working down the Messier list, and why I have got myself a pair of 15x70 bins. It does away with any time pressure, just looking for new things, teasing out the detail visually, or just meandering down the Milky Way.

So to new aspiring imagers: Try simple stuff first. Piggy back and wide field for deep sky, and webcam stuff for planetary. The investment has never been smaller, and with a small effort you can get neat images to show your friends (hopefully including us!). If you can just enjoy the fact that something is YOUR best shot to date, you will not be frustrated. Just don't think you will do Hubble-like stuff any time soon.

Oh, and DO take time to look at things through the scope as well, its fun.