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ToTheSummit
peregrinus



Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 9,127
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 2 days, 15 hours
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Astrophotography...without a telescope! 1
#15035141 - 09/05/11 09:03 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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I went camping in central Nevada this weekend for Labor Day. The location was very remote and very far from any city lights. At night, after the moon went down, the stars were absolutely brilliant! I sat there for many hours in the middle of the night enjoying some magnificent stargazing. Finally, on my second night, I figured I'd better get out the camera and take a few pics just to see what I could capture. In one image I pointed the camera at the constellations Cassiopeia and Andromeda. My intention was to hopefully capture the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) in the image. Much to my surprise when I got home and pulled up the pics on my computer not only did I get M31, but I was also able to pick out the Triangulum Galaxy (M33) as well as the open clusters of M34, NGC752, NGC869 and NGC884!
Who says you need a telescope for astrophotography!! 

This one has Cassiopeia and the deep-sky objects labelled for you.

And just for kicks here is our Milky Way Galaxy. The light on the horizon was the half moon which had set a little while before.
-------------------- You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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BargainBab
Hey Dere Ho Dere



Registered: 04/04/11
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Loc: Callisto
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: ToTheSummit]
#15035187 - 09/05/11 09:12 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Very nice a month or so ago my area got a great view of the floating cloud of debris at dusk
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DieCommie

Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: ToTheSummit]
#15035329 - 09/05/11 09:38 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Awesome man! Very cool.
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hightimesreader
Half assed question asker



Registered: 07/18/06
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: DieCommie]
#15070651 - 09/12/11 10:19 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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I feel like its hard for my eyes to discern what I see when I look at the sky. I've never learned much about constellations yet either. Howd you realize that was a pic of the milkyway? Looks awesome though. Id love to take photos of stuff I've seen @ night. It'd be great to show people the crazy stars I've seen lately..
HTR
-------------------- I'm hunting for The Following ethnos. For experiments, hunting finds and any other contributions, check out My journal. HTR A new leaf turned over.. I'm too old for this shit.
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Penelope_Tree
Shamanic Panic



Registered: 07/31/09
Posts: 8,535
Loc: magic sugarcastle
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: hightimesreader]
#15071538 - 09/13/11 04:39 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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great shots! I've never been able to pick out any constellations except for the big/little dipper
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SuperD
Cacti junky


Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 6,648
Loc: The bridgesii bridge
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: ToTheSummit]
#15074603 - 09/13/11 06:52 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Absolutely beautiful. Isn't it simply mind boggling how large galaxies are? Consider the fact it's many millions of light years distant..I just find it amazing it can be seen with the naked eye. We're talking huge here. Great photos, thanks for sharing.
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cortex
[ H ] ψ = [ E ] ψ


Registered: 10/08/02
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Loc: Gedankenexperiment
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: ToTheSummit]
#15075494 - 09/13/11 09:23 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Oh man I am so effing jealous. The night sky is one thing I hate about living in the city with its incessant photon pollution.
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Cloud9
I don't feel, and it feels great




Registered: 07/03/03
Posts: 1,554
Loc: between here and there
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: cortex]
#15075557 - 09/13/11 09:35 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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i really dig this deviantart members astro photography, he has one of those badass electronic tripods that spins at the same speed the earth rotates. http://octane2.deviantart.com/

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SuperD
Cacti junky


Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 6,648
Loc: The bridgesii bridge
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: Cloud9]
#15075588 - 09/13/11 09:42 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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An estimated 200-400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. Thanks for the link cloud, I love me some astrophotos.
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   D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
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DieCommie

Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: Cloud9]
#15075593 - 09/13/11 09:43 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Cloud9 said: i really dig this deviantart members astro photography, he has one of those badass electronic tripods that spins at the same speed the earth rotates.
Mine has that, but I cant polar align it well enough to prevent drift.
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ChuangTzu
starvingphysicist



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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: ToTheSummit]
#15076765 - 09/14/11 06:57 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Where were you camping? I was camping just south of Wells a couple weeks ago and the stars were fucking amazing. I didn't think my camera would capture squat so I didn't even try...
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus



Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 9,127
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 2 days, 15 hours
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: ChuangTzu]
#15077076 - 09/14/11 08:34 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
ChuangTzu said: Where were you camping? I was camping just south of Wells a couple weeks ago and the stars were fucking amazing. I didn't think my camera would capture squat so I didn't even try...
Yeah, I was camping out West of Ely off of Highway 50 (also known as "The Loneliest Highway in America"). The stars out there were stunning! And people are often amazed what you can do with even a point-and-shoot camera if you just experiment. All you need is a tripod and the ability to shoot some time exposures. And most cameras these days will at least let you shoot up to about 30 seconds.
The pic above was only about a 15 second exposure, however I had cranked the ISO all the way to its max of 6400 and had the aperture wide open. If none of that makes sense to you then I'm sorry but I don't feel like giving a photography 101 lesson right now.
-------------------- You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus



Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 9,127
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 2 days, 15 hours
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: DieCommie]
#15077124 - 09/14/11 08:49 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
DieCommie said:
Quote:
Cloud9 said: i really dig this deviantart members astro photography, he has one of those badass electronic tripods that spins at the same speed the earth rotates.
Mine has that, but I cant polar align it well enough to prevent drift. 
I've wondered what it would take to get a good tracking tripod and shoot some really long pics with just my camera (as opposed to actually shooting through a telescope). What do you think it would take to get set up with a rig where you could shoot exposures of say an hour or more without any drift? Hell, even if I could give myself about 10-15 minutes without noticeable drift I'm sure I could produce some stunning images!
For example, here is about a 20sec exposure of M31 (The Andromeda Galaxy) through my 70-400 zoom lens. If I could track it and then crank back the ISO to reduce the graininess I can only imagine what would be possible!

EDIT- for those who don't know what the Andromeda Galaxy looks like...CLICK HERE.
-------------------- You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
Edited by ToTheSummit (09/14/11 08:52 AM)
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OrgoneConclusion
Blue Fish Group



Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 45,441
Loc: Under the C
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: ToTheSummit]
#15077724 - 09/14/11 11:35 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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I looked and looked at your photos, but where are the UFOs?
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Cloud9
I don't feel, and it feels great




Registered: 07/03/03
Posts: 1,554
Loc: between here and there
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The pics I posted were 10 hour exposures over five days. I'm not in to the specifics of how its done, but if you check out that guys deviantART he explains everything in detail.
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ToTheSummit
peregrinus



Registered: 08/22/99
Posts: 9,127
Loc: Las Vegas
Last seen: 2 days, 15 hours
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Re: Astrophotography...without a telescope! [Re: Cloud9]
#15079112 - 09/14/11 05:26 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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Yeah, most of the really spectacular astrophotography is done that way. Multiple exposures stacked together, often using different filters to capture different wavelengths in each exposure, and sometimes taking hours per exposure. It can take a few nights just to get all the images before post-processing even starts. That pic above of the Horsehead Nebula is pretty nice. The nearby Orion Nebula is another very photogenic area for astrophotographers. And the Orion Nebula is easily captured with an SLR as a fuzzy pinkish-orange spot in Orions sword.
Obviously you'd never do stuff like those pics above with just a digital SLR, however you can still bring out some spectacular details in the night sky. Stuff like this is pretty beautiful. And heres an example of Orion with the Orion Nebula clearly visible.
-------------------- You invented the wheel....You push the motherfucker!!
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