# Astrophotography



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

Possibly out on a limb here and may be posting these to myself!  

*Mars and Pleiades*

Taken 02/09/05 @ 02:00
Praktica BMS, 50mm lens @ F1.8, 20 second exposure (a little too long, some trailing evident)







Post processing: Gradient applied to remove uneven field and colour, levels adjusted, black point set (15,25,45 RGB), minimum filter applied to remove the worst of the star bloating, cropped and finally de-speckled and sharpened.


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

Date 02/09/05 @ 02:00
Praktica BMS, 50mm lens @ F2.8, Exp 20/1, iso 400

First attempt at NGC 7000 (North American Nebula)

Similar post processing as above and cropped near the very top. The green image is due to Tesco's lab apparently not being able to print night photographs anymore!  

From this:-





To this:-


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

Taken a while ago now and posted before but still my 2nd favourite AstroPic!


Can't remember the date, camera settings or post processing for this one (sorry!)

*Polaris (The Pole Star) and surrounding stars in true colour.*


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

My Favourite so far:-

*Mobile telephone transmitter mast pointing into the Milky Way!*






(Yes there really are that many stars out there! :thumbup: )


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

*Three views of Andromeda Galaxy* (Same image just cropped)


----------



## SlySniper (Oct 1, 2005)

> posting these to myself!


 
LoL, seems so, But, I'll help you out!  Too bad its JUST morning here, so, I'll have to wait some time.

But, what exporsure do you reccommend?


----------



## LaFoto (Oct 1, 2005)

A) I would not even mind if you gave only yourself a platform for your astrophotography here, Chris.

B) I know there are others on TPF who share your hobby, so there WILL be more in the course of time and

C) I really enjoy each and every of these photos, even though I won't ever be one to contribute. But I'll come and look. So keep sharing, please.


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

For Mars at its highest I'd try about 15 seconds.  20 seconds was a little too long ad produced some trailing.


The closer the photograph to the pole star, the longer exposure you can use.


----------



## SlySniper (Oct 1, 2005)

Also, did you have any lights near you?


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

There are a few street light near my home but I also have a "Dark Spot" out in the country that takes me about 15 mins to drive to, but it's completely dark and produces about 10 times as many stars to the naked eye and very little light pollution.


If light pollution is a problem then try taking several, shorter exposures ans "stack" them together.  10, 6 second exposures stacked, will produce a similar image to a single 60 second exposure but with much less pollution and no trailing.


----------



## jadin (Oct 1, 2005)

You're only using a 50mm lens?? I always thought you needed some good ZOOOM for space shots. You know, like a telescope attached to a camera type thing!! :sillysmi:


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 1, 2005)

50mm lens is fine for astro stuff. A 28 mm (or wider) is also very useful.  A long tele lens is OK but should be mounted on a motor driven equatorial mount to track the Earths rotation otherwise trailing of the stars will occur.( A nice effect if that is what you're aiming for!)


Cameras can be mounted to the eyepeice focuser of a telescope and that would be more suited to Deep Sky or Planetary Imaging which these days is more often done with dedicated CCD cameras! (or even good web cams!)


----------



## SlySniper (Oct 1, 2005)

Well, I tried to do it tonight but it is a star-less night out here, also, there are some clouds.  I'll try tomrrow tho.:thumbup:


----------



## pursuer (Oct 2, 2005)

Ok, I just discovered this theme. Here is some of my better stuff. Prepare to be spamed.


----------



## SlySniper (Oct 2, 2005)

Wow, those are AMAZING _persuer._

Did you take those with just a Normal Camera or did you, like, mount it on a telescope?


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 2, 2005)

Awsome mate! Spam away!  :thumbup: 


I love that Globular Cluster and I'm so envious of that photo of M42 (Orion Nebula):mrgreen: 

Can't wait till i get my new Telescope!


----------



## bluesaphyer (Oct 2, 2005)

I'm not sure if I posted this before or not.  Taken with a 350D attached to a Meade ETX90 telescope, 1 sec. exposure.

Julie


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Oct 2, 2005)

Straight from the eyepeice!   Is it still inverted and flipped?

Very nice photo and not over exposed!:thumbup:  Some great detail in there!


----------



## pursuer (Feb 18, 2006)

My favorite star:





Edit: I replaced the original image with one that dosn't suck lol.


----------



## PlasticSpanner (Mar 6, 2006)

Do you have a date when this was taken Pursuer?

I like to track the sunspots as they travel across the sun!  Nice prominence to the right too!:thumbup:


----------



## pursuer (Mar 9, 2006)

Thanks Chris, that one was taken on Feb16 of this year.


----------



## nomav6 (Mar 15, 2006)

been away from the forum for about a year now, went out and took some shots of the star's last night and thought I would come back to the forum and see if anyone had any tips, and look what I find lol, got to come back to the forum more often I guess, and I'll post some pics of some of my shots, then ask for tips


----------



## JamesD (Apr 1, 2006)

How do you take sun photos?! I've wanted to do that forever, but could never figure it out.  I always just get a superbright bleh.


----------



## dmyshkin (Apr 2, 2006)

Gear:
Meade 10" S/N
Meade equitorial mount
Sigma 500mm ED telephoto
10.5 mm fisheye
Nikon D70, D100
Losmandy GM-8 mount
Borg system for autoguiding
70mm piggyback guider
SAC 7b astronomical webcam guider
various laptops and other junk


----------



## JamesD (Apr 2, 2006)

Excuse me while I drool on your optics.... 

I have wanted one of those for YEARS! Like... since I knew what a telescope was.


----------



## dmyshkin (Apr 2, 2006)

It was cheap - the Meade rig was only 1600$ total but doesn't work all that well, the scope is too big for the mount (wobble) and guiding and setup makes for some real fun in 10 degree weather in the winter.

The rig we use most is the Sigma 500mm ($3800) and the Losmandy GM-8 ($1500-$2500 plus $500-$1000 for all necessary accessories), Borg ($1K including adapters), SAC ($200) and is a breeze to use and autoguide but isn't exactly cheap.


----------



## Fate (Apr 2, 2006)

lol pursuer just opened a can of cosmic whoop ass 

Seems like an amazing field in photography


----------



## Fate (Apr 2, 2006)

lol as did dmyshkin


----------



## dmyshkin (Apr 3, 2006)

If you really want to get your a$$ kicked by an amateur astrophotographer, visit http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/Einstein.html

Should be able to get similar results this late spring/early summer with our newly upgraded rig. Will post soon.

-D


----------



## pursuer (Apr 3, 2006)

Great images, I look forward to seeing more. That is a serious list of equipment, great stuff :thumbup:


----------



## PlasticSpanner (May 12, 2006)

dmyshkin said:
			
		

> Gear:
> Meade 10" S/N
> Meade equitorial mount
> Sigma 500mm ED telephoto
> ...


 
And a pickup truck to move everything! 

Nice photos and setup! :thumbup: (Makes my 6 inches look kinda small!  )


----------



## Oldfireguy (May 12, 2006)

Neat stuff!


----------



## Kevin D Burns (May 24, 2006)

Minolta Z1 full digital zoom -2EV. After seeing the mead images I am now thinking about getting into that. Thanks.


----------



## ruifo (Aug 21, 2014)

Via Lactea by ruimc77, on Flickr


----------



## jonathaneme (Sep 1, 2014)

i have a hard time adjusting these to make the milkyway pop, without having so much noise. ive tried to remove all the grain i can.



hwy 120 milkyway by JonathanEme, on Flickr


----------



## ruifo (Sep 16, 2014)

The Milky Way by ruimc77, on Flickr


----------



## ruifo (Oct 17, 2014)

Haitian Sky by ruimc77, on Flickr


----------



## ruifo (Feb 16, 2015)

Andromeda Galaxy Star Trek by ruimc77, on Flickr


----------



## ruifo (May 7, 2015)

Lua by ruimc77, on Flickr


----------



## Dikkie (Oct 12, 2015)

Nebula by Dirk Desmet, on Flickr

First attempt for the Milky Way.
Iso 1600; EV+3.
10mm on nikon d7000 crop camera (so 15mm normally)
f4, shutter 20 secs

Around 30 km from Brussels


----------



## Lord Commander (Feb 9, 2018)

First attempt without a tripod. Fujifilm X-T2 with XF 16mm F1,4


----------



## Lord Commander (Mar 24, 2018)




----------



## dxqcanada (Apr 30, 2018)

Hmm, is that noise in the background ?





moon by Dennis, on Flickr


----------



## Lord Commander (May 8, 2018)




----------



## pez (Aug 13, 2018)

I set up Saturday night to try for some early Perseids, but didn't get much. However there may be one faint one towards the end here, and apparently several SATELLITES, including a stereo pair @ 2:05


----------

