Pictures through my telescope... [Archive]

Footbag

08-27-2009, 03:28 PM

A while back, I picked up a new hobby. I bought a telescope and a bunch of photography equipment and started channeling my inner scientist. Well, now I'm an amateur astronomer, and it's a great hobby. I'd suggest it to anyone with kids, or just a general interest. I've joined our local astronomy club and have been helping with outreach, and just love watching kids or even adults develop an interest. Plus, it's nice to know what you are looking at when you are outside late smoking a cigar.
That said, I've decided to share some of my results. Enjoy!

The Eagle Nebula
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/EagleNebula.jpg

Andromeda
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/andromeda.jpg

The Veil Nebula
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/BESTVEil.jpg

I have a few more photo's up at the Lackawanna Astronomical Society website gallery (http://lackawannaastronomicalsociety.org/). Adam & Kerry's gallery. I also designed the website. Feel free to check it out or even show up for an event.

markem

08-27-2009, 03:29 PM

nice! what's your setup?

icehog3

08-27-2009, 03:29 PM

Those are very cool Adam! :tu

Blindjimme

08-27-2009, 03:33 PM

Those are beautiful photos Adam. Nicely done. :tu

The Poet

08-27-2009, 03:34 PM

Very nice shots there. Meade catadioptric, mebbe 6-inch?

Footbag

08-27-2009, 03:34 PM

nice! what's your setup?

My main scope is a wedge mounted Celestron CPC-800, but a number of my shots are from a smaller William Optics 66 which is mounted on the CPC. I'm shooting with a Canon Rebel XS camera and I do my processing in Photoshop.

Here's a picture of the scope without all of my camera gear.
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/Telescope.jpg

bigloo

08-27-2009, 03:34 PM

YEah, what is your setup... how long did you unshutter to capture those? You must have nice equipment!

WyGuy

08-27-2009, 03:36 PM

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

The Poet

08-27-2009, 03:36 PM

You must have nice equipment!

:r

Sorry, I got a dirty mind.

akakirby

08-27-2009, 03:38 PM

cool pics!

Footbag

08-27-2009, 03:41 PM

YEah, what is your setup... how long did you unshutter to capture those? You must have nice equipment!

Each of the photo's were multiple exposures of 3 or 5 minutes. Andromeda was 7 shots x 5m, Veil 17 x 3m and I think the Eagle was about 15 x 5m.

The CPC is a great telescope. When I was getting into the hobby, I knew I wanted to do photography and that was the main reason I bought such a nice scope. But photography is very demanding of the equipment. You could buy a very nice scope for a lot less then I payed if you don't care to take photographs.

Skywalker

08-27-2009, 03:43 PM

Wow!!! Very impressive!!!

This is all I ever see:
http://www.vegatransports.com.au/starwars/OTC/xwing_ywing_leaving_yavin.jpg

G G

08-27-2009, 03:48 PM

Nice photos.

HK3-

08-27-2009, 04:23 PM

That is really awesome! :tu We used to have a decent telescope when I was a kid. Great hobby!

MedicCook

08-27-2009, 04:31 PM

Some awesome photos Adam. I spend a lot of time looking up into the stars when I am smoking outside at night.

TheTraveler

08-27-2009, 05:00 PM

Wow, really nice. Those are cool shots. I really enjoyed my two astronomy classes in college. Spending evenings at the school's observatory in was fun.

I'd like to sit back with three fingers of Scotch and a good cigar, just pondering the universe. Hmmmm, that just became my plan for tonight.

Footbag

08-27-2009, 05:10 PM

I'd like to sit back with three fingers of Scotch and a good cigar, just pondering the universe. Hmmmm, that just became my plan for tonight.

Sounds like a good plan!:tu Thanks for the comments guys!

ahc4353

08-27-2009, 06:19 PM

Keep the photos coming!

Thank you!

jjirons69

08-27-2009, 07:18 PM

Footbag

08-27-2009, 07:44 PM

Great job, Adam! Did some photographing myself back around 15 years ago. Used a Canon AE-1 with a shutter release cable. Used lots of high speed film. All the development was done at Walmart or one hour shops. Not the best, but I got some cool pics. Used a homemade barndoor unit.

I also have an 8" Orion Deep Space Explorer that's 12 years old. It's not driven, it's manual. You do get to see some cool stuff, though.

Great job on those photos!!! There's lots of cool stuff out there see. Congrats on the new hobby. It's a good one.

It's funny how far the technology has come. I take all of the photo's from my laptop hooked up to the camera[actually two]. The CPC does the rest. I can sit in my living room and have the images pop up on the laptop.

When the astronomy club does outreach at state parks, they bring their manual telescope. They asked me to keep my eyes on one and someone told me Saturn moved out of the frame. I tried to help, but I realized I had no idea how to work the scope. No remote control? :D

I can't imagine how tough it must have been to work with film. A lot of the clubmembers images in the gallery of the website I posted above were film. There are some amazing photo's in there.

SIMPLIFIED

08-27-2009, 07:51 PM

Thanks for the pictures very cool:banger

BlackDog

08-27-2009, 08:21 PM

Those are really cool pictures. I love to watch the stars when I'm out in the country away from the city lights. Never viewed them through a telescope though. Thanks for sharing! :tu

skullnrose

08-27-2009, 08:39 PM

Nice work Adam. Love to see these photos, Thanks for sharing !

ChicagoWhiteSox

08-27-2009, 08:44 PM

Great photos! Keep them coming:tu

tzaddi

08-27-2009, 08:51 PM

Very cool and a great way to combine your passions. As the kids like to say… "I am going to subscribe to this one. :)

Truly splendid, thanks for taking the time to do the publishing as well. :yu

larryinlc

08-27-2009, 08:54 PM

This takes good equipment, patience and an incredible amount of know how to capture images like these. I am completely envious. Looking thru your gallery, the moon shot is spectaclular too. Good stuff.

Larry

GoodFella

08-27-2009, 09:04 PM

that is some nice pics. i have been wanting to get it to this, i did not need to see it. Its just more more push to the edge

Footbag

08-28-2009, 06:50 AM

For anyone considering a telescope, the technology has come so far that even many of the base models are automated in a way that they tell you where to point. Great for finding the deeper sky objects that I photograph.

But I should let you know that the photo's I took are very long exposures, so that is not what you see when you look through the eyepiece.

You mostly see either a little fuzz with shape or just a bit of shadows. Planets, on the other hand are amazing. With Saturn you can see it's rings easily and usually at least 3 moons. Jupiter is even more amazing. You can see banding on the planet and many moons as well.

Also, a fun fact... Andromeda is one of our neighboring galaxies and makes a great target for binoculars. It rises earlier and earlier as the year goes on. Now, it rises from the North East and at about midnight about 45 degrees in the sky due east. If you know where Polaris [North Star]is, look right. Polaris will be the base of an arrow pointing directly at Andromeda.

Now the fun part... Andromeda is huge. If you could see it in perfectly dark skies, it would be the size of 5 moons next to each other. I happened to be in very dark skies in New York State, and I saw Andromeda with my naked eyes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and had to Google it as soon as I came home.

That and the fact that it is the International Year of Astronomy were the reasons that pushed me over the edge. Like cigars, it's a slope of it's own.

tuxpuff

08-28-2009, 07:48 AM

Very nice pics...thanks for sharing.

I got into astronomy around the age of 12...purchased a Meade 8800 Newtonion. Luckily I had very dark skys growing up in rural PA...so I would sit back and enjoy the skys all the while puffing away on Swisher Sweets. :) Great times...thanks for jogging my memory.

bowhnter

08-28-2009, 08:44 AM

Those are cool. I used to have a cheap telescope years ago, but could never see anything like that.

rizzle

08-28-2009, 09:30 AM

Awesome stuff.
:tu

chippewastud79

08-28-2009, 09:35 AM

Very cool pictures :tu

Would be nice to see some more when you have time. Even the 'bad' ones.

Steve

08-28-2009, 09:45 AM

Nice shots!
Back in my photog days, I use to really enjoy long exposure night shots. It wasa always thrilling to see what actually showed up on the film. Of course, that was back in the day when we used film, not digital stuff.

Footbag

08-28-2009, 09:53 AM

You want more you got more! Two more of my better shots.... They can be seen in my gallery as well.

The Great Cluster in Hercules - M13
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/M13-TheGreatClusterinHercules.jpg

The Dumbell Nebula
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/TheDumbellNebula.jpg

jjirons69

08-28-2009, 10:00 AM

Very cool and a great way to combine your passions. As the kids like to say… "I am going to subscribe to this one. :)

Truly splendid, thanks for taking the time to do the publishing as well. :yu

Don't let Richard fool you. I've seen some of his nighttime photos.

(He won't be able to stand it and will post them here eventually. ;))

Footbag

08-28-2009, 10:07 AM

Don't let Richard fool you. I've seen some of his nighttime photos.

(He won't be able to stand it and will post them here eventually. ;))

I'd like to see them. I'm amazed at what can be pulled of with a little or a lot of effort.

RGD.

08-28-2009, 10:53 AM

DonniePaul

08-28-2009, 11:38 AM

Great Photos!

Thanks for sharing:tu

Footbag

08-28-2009, 11:53 AM

Always been fascinated with space photography! Thanks so much for sharing. Questions - you stated that you have several exposures. What determines your exposure times and the amount of? Also is there a correction in the scope between exposures - or is the distance between points A and B so great that none are required.

Ron

Good questions... The exposure length is determined by the brightness of the object. That said, light pollution can play a big factor in determining exposure length. The more light pollution, the shorter the exposures have to be otherwise the image gets overexposed. It's really a battle finding the sweet spot, but you can use the histogram on the camera to give you an idea.

As for correction, the scope itself tracks the object with its built in motor. This tracking is good enough for visual observing or short exposure photo's, but not for long exposure photography. For long exposures, I use another telescope mounted on my primary scope. This scope has a second camera which locks onto a star and sends corrections to the mount as the scope moves.

Only five years ago, this process was completely manual meaning you had to watch the same star through your telescope while making the corrections yourself. I've said it a few times already, but the technology is amazing.

cherrybomb

08-28-2009, 01:05 PM

nice work!

MedicCook

08-28-2009, 01:06 PM

Thanks for the new photos. Keep them coming.

ucla695

08-28-2009, 08:39 PM

Simple incredible. Thanks for sharing!! :tu

The Poet

09-25-2009, 04:42 PM

Bumb.

Tarks

09-25-2009, 07:08 PM

Very cool pictures.

Starscream

09-25-2009, 07:18 PM

Wow!!! Very impressive!!!

This is all I ever see:
http://www.vegatransports.com.au/starwars/OTC/xwing_ywing_leaving_yavin.jpg

Me too.:D
Except this version has been photoshopped by ILM. The original wasn't near as clean looking. Crazy kids and their damn computers.

hotreds

09-25-2009, 08:10 PM

Very nice, indeed. Best I can do:

http://rlv.zcache.com/man_in_the_moon_poster-p228114449994498430t5wm_400.jpg

Footbag

09-26-2009, 10:26 AM

One more from last night...

The Cocoon Nebula
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/Cocoon-2.jpg

potlimit

09-26-2009, 01:22 PM

Great pics Adam... especially Andromeda.

Just got finished re-reading a book entitled "Big Bang" by Simon Singh. He's an outstanding writer and makes scientific writing extremely digestable for the rest of us. Anyhow, a good portion of it has to do with the scientists scouring the earth for the choicest spots (least amount of 'noise') to take their photos from... often risking their lives.

Keep the photos coming

Footbag

10-27-2009, 03:04 PM

My most recent shot...

M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/M33.jpg

Blueface

10-27-2009, 03:25 PM

Cool stuff.
Amazing what is out there for us to wonder about life in other worlds.

The Poet

10-27-2009, 04:13 PM

We as a society have perhaps been spoiled by the images from Hubble. It is great of you to remind us what we can experience from our own backyard. Thank you, and please give us more when you can.

Cigary

10-27-2009, 04:22 PM

Great pictures and something I know I could get into. Imagine having a great cigar, the universe at your beck and call and just relaxing,,,,,nice!

MedicCook

10-27-2009, 06:06 PM

My most recent shot...

M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/M33.jpg

Awesome picture Adam.

Footbag

10-28-2009, 01:04 PM

Thanks guys! I'm sure more will be coming, but the weather hasn't been so kind. I'm processing a few right now, but I don't think they'll make the final cut.

Footbag

11-18-2009, 09:44 PM

Took a few more pictures last night...

M42 - The Orion Nebula
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/Orion.jpg

NGC 7635 - The Bubble Nebula
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/bubble.jpg

NGC 7380 - The Wizard Nebula
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll175/Footbag01/wizard2.jpg

MedicCook

11-18-2009, 10:05 PM

Awesome Adam. Did you try to get any pictures of the meteor shower the other day?

Footbag

11-18-2009, 10:15 PM

Awesome Adam. Did you try to get any pictures of the meteor shower the other day?

My wife and I went to our clubs observatory and watched the shower from darker skies. It was beautiful out, but my camera was hooked up to my scope shooting the above pictures so I didn't get any meteor pics. I did see 5 meteors and my wife saw 13.