what you will see and what you wont

[leenewtoastro]

been reading alot about imaging and dso's (the real fancy detail such as the horses head)

so are somethings unobservable instantly and have to be imaged over time?

by which i mean i'm not expecting to take 1 pic with a dslr or a 2 sec webcam grab and get those shots but actually be able to see them

in the ep?

mods please move if you feel its appropriate in imaging.

kinda screws with your normal thinking. if you can see it you can take a photo of it! ???

[brantuk]

Some things are invisible because they transmit light in wavelengths that are not perceptible by the human eye. These wavelengths however can be picked up by dlsr's and ccd cameras with the correct filters and correct type of telescope.

Also some stuff is so distant or faint that the only way of gathering the light is by long exposures of that area of the sky - they don't give off enough light to stimulate the receptors in the eye

[dmahon]

If you want to know what things look like to the eye not the camera, look in the sketches section rather than the regular imaging forums. And remember that many of the sketches are done by people who have larger telescopes than you or I, so what you see won't even be as good.

[leenewtoastro]

champion replys

[Talitha]

To answer your question " if you can see it you can take a photo of it! ???" i'd say yes. If you can see it naked-eye or through the eyepiece, you can most definitely take a picture of it.

Sketches are a good way to determine what can/cannot be seen visually. But even so, there are a lot of varients like scope size and experience. Another very important one is your location. For example, people with telescopes often struggle to see M51, but from my rural home i have no problem detecting it using 11x70 binoculars.

[leenewtoastro]

yeah i guess its the other way Tali. i.e what you can't see doesn't mean its not there

[Talitha]

Exactly.