Show us your nebula and planets.

robertxxx · 23-11-2012 11:55pm #1

Can the people with photos of the above and galaxies and stuff please post them here for us lesser mortals to enjoy.

I took a few but they are very, very low quality, but I'm going to post them later, so let us have no shame in what ever you have.

Novaman · 28-11-2012 8:56pm

Hi Robert, here is one to start off, it's my shot of the Orion Nebula..:)

NM

robertxxx · 28-11-2012 10:25pm

Here's mine, Jupiter and it's moons, taken with my compact camera.

http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/qq280/meridianman007/DSC02730.jpg

DubOnHoliday · 28-11-2012 11:08pm

Any shots of the conjunction of the moon and Jupiter? Looks spectacular tonight it must be said!

dr strangelove · 29-11-2012 8:25pm

Here's my pic of Jupiter.
Taken with a modded webcam and a fairly bottom-end telescope.

http://lennyduckworth.com/pictures/jupiter%20baby.jpg

I know it's not much, but i'm terribly proud of it.

ThatDrGuy · 29-11-2012 10:24pm

For what its worth: The strange Sunflower Galaxy

Can't remember how when or why I took this. Think it was yet another "test" photo.

TheAlkaline · 06-12-2012 9:36pm

dr strangelove wrote: »

Here's my pic of Jupiter.
Taken with a modded webcam and a fairly bottom-end telescope.

http://lennyduckworth.com/pictures/jupiter%20baby.jpg

I know it's not much, but i'm terribly proud of it.

What telescope did you use?

Kersh · 06-12-2012 10:49pm

Heres is my first ever Astropic. Not stricly a sticking to the thread title . . but Im well proud of it

Andromeda Galaxy, with a Canon Eos 300D through a Skywatcher 80 ED, on a Meade LXD55 Mount.

11 shots, and 4 darks, each 30 seconds, stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, and slightly modded (by my bro

) in GIMP

dr strangelove · 10-12-2012 11:15am

TheAlkaline wrote: »

What telescope did you use?

Hi, i'm using a Skywatcher Telescope 114/500 - it's been kicking around the house for a few years and gets dragged out every so often.

TheAlkaline · 10-12-2012 4:16pm

dr strangelove wrote: »

Hi, i'm using a Skywatcher Telescope 114/500 - it's been kicking around the house for a few years and gets dragged out every so often.

Oh, really nice

Could you tell me the price of this hardware and where could I buy it?
Looks like a solid piece of equipment for starters.

dr strangelove · 10-12-2012 8:04pm

TheAlkaline wrote: »

Could you tell me the price of this hardware and where could I buy it?
Looks like a solid piece of equipment for starters.

This scope is similar to what i have, but a bit better:
http://www.ktectelescopes.ie/Starter-Telescopes/Skywatcher-Explorer-130P.html

The webcam was modded following these instructions, (using a webcam that my friend lent me):
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/lifecam/lifecam1.html

I'm not very good at astrophotography, i like to dabble, and i got lucky - you don't see the other 784 appallingly bad pics.

As for where to buy? I've heard these guys are pretty good:
http://www.ktectelescopes.ie/

TheAlkaline · 10-12-2012 10:41pm

dr strangelove wrote: »

This scope is similar to what i have, but a bit better:
http://www.ktectelescopes.ie/Starter-Telescopes/Skywatcher-Explorer-130P.html

The webcam was modded following these instructions, (using a webcam that my friend lent me):
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/lifecam/lifecam1.html

I'm not very good at astrophotography, i like to dabble, and i got lucky - you don't see the other 784 appallingly bad pics.

As for where to buy? I've heard these guys are pretty good:
http://www.ktectelescopes.ie/

Pretty cool, but it is bit expensive.

Is this the one you have?
http://www.astroshop.eu/skywatcher-telescope-n-114-500-skyhawk-eq-1/p,5011

dr strangelove · 11-12-2012 2:23pm

Yeah, that looks like the kind of thing i have (except mine is blue)

Kersh · 12-12-2012 2:57pm

The Orion nebula, 1st attempt at it, Canon300D/Skywatcher 80ED/Meade LXD55.

And this one (stacked) has a satellite trail

dbran · 12-12-2012 3:52pm

Hi

So here is my first processing attempt at the Western Veil nebula NGC 6960, a supernova remnant in Cygnus. Image was taken on 9 November 2012 at Sugar Loaf Carpark with an 8' Meade Lx90 SCT unguided using an Atic 16IC CCD camera and a focal reducer.

The image was a final stack of 42 subs of 10sec each, stacked in Deepskystacker and further processed with nebulosity and Gimp. It was quite windy and hence I lost over half of the subs. Unfortunately the power in the laptop ran out as I was taking the colour bits. next time I guess!!

Regards

dbran

[URL="[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bertthebudgie/8174937958/][img]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/8174937958_c7a7957700_b.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bertthebudgie/8174937958/]NGC 6960 -Veil nebula[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bertthebudgie/]bertthebudgie[/url], on Flickr"][/url]

NGC 6960 -Veil nebula by bertthebudgie, on Flickr

dbran · 12-12-2012 4:01pm

Hi

Heres another image i took in Roundwood earlier this year of M34 The Blackeye Galaxy.

16 images stacked in the end 25-30 seconds each.Taken with lx90 8" in altaz with ariving 16ic. Stacked with dss. Conditions were clear but some breeze meant a lot the subs had to be omitted. First image in a long time so I am happy with how it turned out in the end.

Some nice detail on the spiral arms, just needed some more subs to bring it out more.

dbran

[URL="[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bertthebudgie/6933254670/][img]http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5195/6933254670_4a14cf1550_b.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bertthebudgie/6933254670/]m64e[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bertthebudgie/]bertthebudgie[/url], on Flickr"][/url]

m64e by bertthebudgie, on Flickr

Wailin · 14-12-2012 3:07pm

Novaman wrote: »

Hi Robert, here is one to start off, it's my shot of the Orion Nebula..:)

NM

Thats a great shot novaman, great colour and clarity. Would you have the details, equipment used etc?

Novaman · 15-12-2012 10:49am

Hi Wailin, the M42 shot was a stack of 70x2 minute exposures using my Canon 40D on my Celestron CGE mount, stacked against just 10 dark frames, and all unguided

NM

DubOnHoliday · 15-12-2012 4:33pm

Novaman wrote: »

Hi Wailin, the M42 shot was a stack of 70x2 minute exposures using my Canon 40D on my Celestron CGE mount, stacked against just 10 dark frames, and all unguided

NM

Your photo is the now the background on my laptop , super photo.

Tzetze · 15-12-2012 4:37pm

A couple of images from over the last week.

Just 9x 600s subs in this one. (1.5hr)

M81 & M82 10/12/12 by .Tzetze., on Flickr

39x 600s subs here. (6.5hr)

M106 09/12/12 by .Tzetze., on Flickr

Novaman · 15-12-2012 4:53pm

Your photo is the now the background on my laptop , super photo.

NM

ZeRoY · 23-12-2012 10:25pm

Moon Halo from this evening, harder to image than I though!

John mac · 25-12-2012 8:29pm

Jupiter by 1000john, on Flickr

Took this earlier , Juipter and moons

nanook5 · 25-12-2012 8:44pm

Here's Jupiter and The Moon from tonight .
Had to take quickly as clouds were rolling in .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/89901642@N06/8308400712/

ZeRoY · 26-12-2012 12:34am

nanook5 wrote: »

Here's Jupiter and The Moon from tonight .
Had to take quickly as clouds were rolling in .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/89901642@N06/8308400712/

Its a great shot, not easy to take considering one or the other is always going to be over exposed. Well done mate!

nanook5 · 26-12-2012 5:02pm

Thanks

The Scratcher · 26-12-2012 6:41pm

The Moon and Jupiter last night.

Wailin · 01-01-2013 3:36pm

Here's my second attempts at M42 and M45 and my first at M31 from my light polluted back garden. Living in the big smoke sucks for this hobby!

Rubecula · 01-01-2013 4:48pm

great shots Wailin thanks for posting.

ZeRoY · 01-01-2013 6:45pm

Wailin wrote: »

Here's my second attempts at M42 and M45 and my first at M31 from my light polluted back garden. Living in the big smoke sucks for this hobby!

This is getting real good! Im curious for M31, although the framing is not exactly centered you seem to have a goof field of view, what equipment were you using again?

Wailin · 01-01-2013 7:00pm

ZeRoY wrote: »

This is getting real good! Im curious for M31, although the framing is not exactly centered you seem to have a goof field of view, what equipment were you using again?

Thanks Zeroy, the scope is an 80mm ED refractor, 600mm focal length so it has a nice wide field of view. The other shots may have been cropped, can't remember, so they are not at the full field of view in the pics. Detail of M31 is fairly poor in fairness, its definitely one I want to work at.

brav · 01-01-2013 7:23pm

Wailin wrote: »

Thanks Zeroy, the scope is an 80mm ED refractor, 600mm focal length so it has a nice wide field of view. The other shots may have been cropped, can't remember, so they are not at the full field of view in the pics. Detail of M31 is fairly poor in fairness, its definitely one I want to work at.

They look really good, the Orion looks much better than the one from a few days ago. Great shots

Wailin · 01-01-2013 7:30pm

brav wrote: »

They look really good, the Orion looks much better than the one from a few days ago. Great shots

Thanks Brav, that video link you put up was a great help regarding processing, especially the levels and curves part.

keane2097 · 09-01-2013 11:58am

Super thread so far.

Any chance people could put what scope they used in all their posts, would be really helpful?

DubOnHoliday · 09-01-2013 1:04pm

maybe a template for posting the technical details should be adopted for posts.

keane2097 · 09-01-2013 1:36pm

DubOnHoliday wrote: »

maybe a template for posting the technical details should be adopted for posts.

Yeah would be a great idea IMO.

Tzetze · 09-01-2013 2:07pm

I thought I'd post up some of my first ever attempts. These were taken a few years ago now (09) with a monochrome Meade deep sky imager II through a 10" Newtonian on a CG5 mount. A setup that is much too unstable for long exposure work, but I hope to do some detailed lunar mosaics with the same setup in the near future.

IIRC, M42 and M13 were single exposure shots without any processing. M101 and M51 were small stacks (<20) of pretty short exposures (no more than 20s) with minimal (half-arsed) processing attempts. No calibration files (darks, flats, etc) were used. I think this is the correct chronological order.

Iancar29 · 10-01-2013 2:23pm

My 2nd go at M42 ! , im getting there!

... I think now the light pollution is my main problem left now .

40 30" second lights at ISO 400
D7000 500mm F4 .
Celestron CG-5 mount.

Stacked with DSS and clean up in CS6.

Thanks to others here that eventually helped me to get to this point with tips and things to get!

If anyone wants to have a go at re-editing my original , pm me , im sure my tweaking of random sliders could be done better ha

Wailin · 10-01-2013 11:32pm

Great to see a new astrophotography forum up and running. Here is another few pics, processing still doing my head in. I like the pleiades one though compared to my earlier efforts, I think I used the lasso too much on M42 and M36 is just horrible with egg shaped stars but what the heck! Just wondering what white balance setting do other people use on their cameras? Was told to use tungsten but tends to give a horrible blue hue to the photo. My main issues so far are polar alignment and light pollution (oh and ****ty weather).

M42 details: 6 subs @ 50sec ISO 800, no darks flats or offsets.

7 sisters details: 50 subs @ 40sec ISO 800, 30 darks and 20 offsets.

M36 details: Can't remember!

PS. Anyone tell me why my pics don't open automatically when posted like one's above?

ZeRoY · 11-01-2013 12:45am

Fantastic result on a 500mm Lens Ian!

Iancar29 wrote: »

My 2nd go at M42 ! , im getting there! ... I think now the light pollution is my main problem left now .

You would have to check if LP filter can be obtained for D7000 i guess, or a srew on for the Lens?

ZeRoY · 11-01-2013 12:47am

Wailin wrote: »

]Just wondering what white balance setting do other people use on their cameras? Was told to use tungsten but tends to give a horrible blue hue to the photo.

Was using Auto (Canon 1100D) but switched to Daylight now following some docs/tuto I found I think however the best results are obtained with custom WB - remember to select the WB option in DSS!

Tzetze · 11-01-2013 12:09pm

Wailin wrote: »

Just wondering what white balance setting do other people use on their cameras? Was told to use tungsten but tends to give a horrible blue hue to the photo.

Go with daylight white balance and under RAW/Fits DPP settings in DSS, select the 'use camera white balance' option. If you are using one of the less expensive light pollution filters that have no balance correction, you may need to set a custom white balance in your camera.

My main issues so far are polar alignment and light pollution (oh and ****ty weather).

How long are you able to push out your subs before you notice trailing? With a polar alignment routine you can expect no more than a minute or so. Drift aligning will give you much more precise alignment and can get you to 90 or 120s or so before periodic error starts to become a problem. Although you have a very nice mount and it may perform better than that with drift alignment. To get even longer you'd need one of the few guiding system options.

PS. Anyone tell me why my pics don't open automatically when posted like one's above?

If you use an image hosting site such as Flickr or Pix.ie you can get links to your pics that you can copy and paste into your posts (it's under the 'Share' button in Flickr). In the photography forum, they use a dimension limit of 800 pixels on the longest edge - something we might want to use here too. Flickr, and im sure the other hosting sites also, will provide links for different sizes of you pic.

Iancar29 · 11-01-2013 1:09pm

ZeRoY wrote: »

Fantastic result on a 500mm Lens Ian!

You would have to check if LP filter can be obtained for D7000 i guess, or a srew on for the Lens?

Cheers!

....

Theres a slot for a filter in at the front of the lens yes and i think we have a UV one in it atm , so i'll have a look about see what other types can be bought for it.

keane2097 · 11-01-2013 1:10pm

Wailin wrote: »

PS. Anyone tell me why my pics don't open automatically when posted like one's above?

You need to put the links in image tags like so. Quote my post to see what I mean.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/368783/235814.jpg

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/368783/235815.jpg

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/368783/235816.jpg

Wailin · 11-01-2013 1:12pm

I've only been taking pics from my backyard at the moment so drift alignment is out for me because I don't really have a clear view East or West. I downloaded the latest firmware for the synscan control which has a new polar alignment option and this has improved my feeble attempts I was getting originally. Max time I am getting is 60s but more often its 30-50s, which I suppose is the best I can do anyway due to light pollution.

I definitely want to do autoguiding though, especially for dark sites, and have been reading up lots about it. Would you recommend a decent system thats not too expensive Tzetze? Any thoughts on stand alone systems such as this

/www.firstlighto http ptics.com/guide-cameras/skywatcher-synguider-autoguider.html or the following http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Orion_Magnificent_Mini_AutoGuider_Package.html? They seem simple enough and not too pricey, just wondering how well they actually work, can't seem to find too much about them.

Wailin · 11-01-2013 1:16pm

keane2097 wrote: »

You need to put the links in image tags like so. Quote my post to see what I mean.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/368783/235814.jpg

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/368783/235815.jpg

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/368783/235816.jpg

Thanks Keane, look how much they've blown up.....now they look even worse:D

Tzetze · 11-01-2013 2:01pm

I don't know anything about the autoguiders tbh. They are popular though and seem like a simple solution in that they remove the need for using guiding software. From what I've seen others use, the QHY5 Guider + ST 80 is a very successful and widely used setup.

One thing to bear in mind about guiding is that it doesn't remove the need to accurately align. You want your guider to have to make as few corrections as possible. Drift aligning is still desirable, but you may get away with a good polar alignment.

Tzetze · 11-01-2013 2:04pm

Wailin wrote: »

Thanks Keane, look how much they've blown up.....now they look even worse:D

The stars look good in the centre of the FOV. It's spherical abberation that's causing the stretched stars at the edges. A field flattener will sort that out.

keane2097 · 11-01-2013 2:09pm

Maybe you should just post links

ThatDrGuy · 11-01-2013 2:57pm

I have a starshoot autoguider and ST 80 set up. Auto guiders dont auto guide - they use PHD like webcams. The difference is: the guide port is on the camera, you dont have to use a seperate serial / usb output cable. Well, supposedly though my on camera the guide port stops working below 10 degrees so I have to use a serial cable anyway. As Tzeetze said you need a very good polar align before you can use autoguiding. PHD initally calibrates itself assuming a stationary star. If that star moves at all - bye bye guiding.

Nerro · 11-01-2013 3:05pm

Tzetze wrote: »

I don't know anything about the autoguiders tbh. They are popular though and seem like a simple solution in that they remove the need for using guiding software. From what I've seen others use, the QHY5 Guider + ST 80 is a very successful and widely used setup.

One thing to bear in mind about guiding is that it doesn't remove the need to accurately align. You want your guider to have to make as few corrections as possible. Drift aligning is still desirable, but you may get away with a good polar alignment.

Yes you have to have good polar allignament.I have LVI Smartguider and ST80 combo and was taking 3min exposures no bother.Done a 6min one out of curiosity and still got perfect round stars without any need of drift alligement.
I have to say that i used 80mm scope on NEQ6 mount and the target was right above my head tho....didnt tried shooting near enough the horizon due to light pollution etc but it would be interesting to know how it would perform.

Show us your nebula and planets.

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