My first (rubbish) attempt at imaging Orion

[milkyjoe]

Thanks for your kind comments Rob and Billy. I'll definitely keep at it. The skies are clear here at the moment, lovely blue sky, the sun is shining, but it's mighty chilly. It should be a good night tonight.

[garethmob]

thas a fantastic pic milkyjoe better than my first one

a credit to you!!

what size scope/ lens you using? and did you take any dark frames at all?

[milkyjoe]

Thank you.

I'm just using my Sky-Watcher Startravel 102 refractor on a very basic EQ1 mount and aluminium tripod with a Canon 1000d dSLR attached to the end of the focuser (with extension tube-you need this to achieve focus!), and I did not take any dark frames. I was just messing about in the back garden before the clouds covered the sky!

I would be interested to see your pic, if you have one?

Richard.

thas a fantastic pic milkyjoe better than my first one

a credit to you!!

what size scope/ lens you using? and did you take any dark frames at all?

[ollypenrice]

I think it is great that you posted because we all learn from each other and we all know how hard it is!

Olly

[garethmob]

i think this is it (iv taken so many frames and at present im on my backup laptop as im away from home (left my macbook pro with my pics on there )

that was my first

but i took that with a 50mm camera lens but no timer

and no darks

try taking one or 2 darks for your picture it really cuts out noise they usally are the same time as the lights but with the lens cap on but it must be taken outside dont bring it into the warmth till after u taken them

i really like the look on that scope though....... mmmmm should i buy one.......

[Adz]

I really wouldn't be too self critical

My best attempt:

[milkyjoe]

Wow!

That's amazing Adz, you can really see the different colours pretty clearly defined. What did you use to take that, scope/camera/exposure times etc.?

[milkyjoe]

I think it is great that you posted because we all learn from each other and we all know how hard it is!

Olly

That's mainly why I posted it as I've only ever see the 'best' pics people post.

Rick.

[milkyjoe]

i think this is it (iv taken so many frames and at present im on my backup laptop as im away from home (left my macbook pro with my pics on there )

that was my first

but i took that with a 50mm camera lens but no timer

and no darks

try taking one or 2 darks for your picture it really cuts out noise they usally are the same time as the lights but with the lens cap on but it must be taken outside dont bring it into the warmth till after u taken them

i really like the look on that scope though....... mmmmm should i buy one.......

What star is that then? (i'm not up-to-speed with my constellations yet :-\)

I take 'darks' at the same exposure time do I, and what do I do with them once I've taken them?

Here's my scope in the flesh...

[garethmob]

i took a nice out of focus shot of orion last week dont have it on this laptop though (when i was focusing with viewfinder i moved the lens accidently away from ∞ to 6 and didnt releise till id taken 20 mins of lights and another 20 of darks tha id messed up )

i did take this 2 nights ago of capella

it was a 135mm lens 10 second shots and i took 10 of them unguided on a bogstanded camera tripod

theres a bit of blur n star trails but its whats poss dont give up!! even bad pics i take me really happy

[garethmob]

its supposed to be capella the first pic (so is the second where my yard is late in evening capella is nicely placed) i assume you got a windows pc (or a intel mac like me)

i use a program called DSS (deep space stacker) majority of people on here use it

theres a really good tutorial

Astronomy Shed UK Astronomy Forum • View topic - Superb Processing Tutorial

it dosent use darks but on the left hand side near the top click darks select the darks bit and load the dark frames into it follow the rest of the tutorial (the registoring and stacking) n u usally come up with rather amazing pics even before you do photoshop

[milkyjoe]

its supposed to be capella the first pic (so is the second where my yard is late in evening capella is nicely placed) i assume you got a windows pc (or a intel mac like me)

i use a program called DSS (deep space stacker) majority of people on here use it

theres a really good tutorial

Astronomy Shed UK Astronomy Forum • View topic - Superb Processing Tutorial

it dosent use darks but on the left hand side near the top click darks select the darks bit and load the dark frames into it follow the rest of the tutorial (the registoring and stacking) n u usally come up with rather amazing pics even before you do photoshop

I have a Windows 7 laptop.

I assume that pic with the light polluted skies is not the same one as the one you took 2 nights ago, is it?!

I use SharpCap, but that is mainly for my webcam imaging (well, not that I can do that with an f/5 scope), but I will be sure to check out DSS.

Thanks.

[garethmob]

no unfortunatly i didnt have a timer for the first pic if you like when i get home on sunday i'll send u the before after pic you can if ud like av a play around with them i dont mind u might even be able to get more detail out of it

[milkyjoe]

Sure.

[garethmob]

the art of astrophotography is practice id love a 100d iv got the older 300d

in a single night i usally point my camera at about 3 different places take as many pictures as i can usally going through 3 camera batterys (the batterys dont like the cold ) and then i go into the warmth and spend next few hrs just processing messing and everything

[milkyjoe]

I picked up the camera body on fleabay for under £250. The "Live View" function definitely helps when focusing on stars.

;-)

[garethmob]

i learnt that with live view (tried it in my local pcworld in ponty)

im thinking of convertin my eq2 for just camera with all the polarscope an finders and everything to make it eaiser i think i picked my camera up on ebay for £100 with a 2gig card 3 batterys but no lens my lens were about £20 for the 58mm and 135 + m42 screw adapter all manual!

[Adz]

Wow!

That's amazing Adz, you can really see the different colours pretty clearly defined. What did you use to take that, scope/camera/exposure times etc.?

Hey thanks, I was like you and actually surprised I got anything

Prime focus through my f5 newtonian, canon 350d with remote shutter, ISO a horrible 1600, shutter speed 2 secs.

Good luck for tonight, I can't wait for it to be clear again!

[Lurker]

At least you're brave enough to post the image you took, I was trying the same thing a couple of nights ago and decided "nope, not going to post that!"

It's also good to see the responses you've received being so positive and encouraging - maybe I will post some of mine after the next attempt...

Post it mate, I'll be interested in viewing your pictures.

[Dogconker]

I'd be happy to get that sort of image, but at present I can't seem to get my DSLR camera (Nikon D40) to focus through the telescope, don't suppose anyone knows how I can address this?

[milkyjoe]

What scope do you have 'dogconker?'

[Dogconker]

Its a Skywatcher EXPLORER-200PDS (EQ5) 200mm (8") f/5. I've tried the camera on it but have to wind the focusser all the way in and it just doesn't quite go far enough, If i extend the length of the focusser with the spacer I have ( the one that came with it) I have to winf it all the way out but again it just doesn't quite go far enough.

[milkyjoe]

I had the same problem with my 4" refractor, but I was told I needed an extension tube so that I could achieve focus... and it worked a treat! ;-)

FLO sell them, have a look here... Adaptors - Two-inch Focus Extension tubes

[Dogconker]

Thanks for that, I have a 2" but I think I need something shorter, I'll have to take a look and see what they have.

[Dara]

Post it mate, I'll be interested in viewing your pictures.

Well, you asked for it!

It was a clear night 3 days ago, wasn't going to go outside but happened to notice there were no clouds so it was "I'll just have 5 minutes"!

First thought was to try to some wide field shots, but that was scuppered as the quick release plate for my camera body hasn't arrived yet (grrrr, customs!). What I should have done is just sit the camera on the car roof pointing straight up and fire it with the remote release.

Instead I thought I would try with a 70-200mm. Nope, the tripod collar for that one has gone walkabout so that's not happening either.

So finally it was with a 600mm, which I wasn't too hopeful about as with no tracking mount stopping light trails isn't really going to happen.

I decided to try a series of shots from 10 seconds gradually getting faster so I could see how the star trails would affect it.

This one is the first one I took with a 10 second exposure -