My Deepest Astrophoto So Far

[Nighthound]

This is The Heart Nebula taken with my Takahashi Sky 90 and 20D. This is a very large nebula, this is almost a full fame at 407 mm FL. At just over 3 hours and 20 minutes of exposure time some of the fainter details are starting to appear. Ideally I'd like to get between 4 and 5 hours this year if the weather permits.

Enjoy.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/heartfinl.jpg

NH

[swimjax]

WOW....very nice.

[Nighthound]

Thanks!

NH

[jm4ever]

Absolutely unreal. Looks as good as something Hubble would have taken. Beautiful.

[Mr. E]

Amazing! It is absolutely beautiful!

[Nighthound]

Thanks jm and Erik, much appreciated.

NH

[canonloader]

Beautiful shot Steve. How do you get the 20D shutter to stay open that long? Use a toothpick? :lol:

I'd think the battery would die first.

[Nighthound]

Beautiful shot Steve. How do you get the 20D shutter to stay open that long? Use a toothpick? :lol:

I'd think the battery would die first.

Thanks Mitch, I use a shutter release cable but my exposures are only between 3 and 5 minutes. I combine multiple exposures in a special software program to give me the total time as in this case, 3 hrs, 20 min. In below feezing temps I go through over 3 batteries between sun down and sun up. That's with consecutive shooting and regular LCD previewing.

NH

[EricL]

Hey Hound, can you give me some more info on your set-up? Maybe some links on the specific gear? Great shot!! Thanks.

[Nighthound]

Hey Hound, can you give me some more info on your set-up? Maybe some links on the specific gear? Great shot!! Thanks.

Here are some shots of my latest set up. I use these 2 scopes individually as well. Check out Oceanside Photo and Telescope(OPT) online. Great place to purchase and they have a very knowledeable staff.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/Astro%20Equipment/vix90a.jpg

Scopes:
Vixen R200SS Newtonian
Takahashi Sky 90 II APO Refractor

Mount:
Losmandy G-11 w/Gemini (GoTo)

I power the mount with a Marine deep cycle battery. I also power the dew control straps(not shown) that wrap the tubes to keep the optics above dew point.Hope this helps.

NH

[EricL]

That is way cool! Thanks Hound! Another thing to add to "my list"!

[Lyzic]

that is way too cool

[melly]

Wow! This photo is amazing. You got me on my knees!

[Celestron]

Great shot Steve ! I haven't seen this one of yours before :o ! Glad you posted it .

[Ivan]

This is just amazing. thumbs up!

Is there a detailed step by step on how to take such images.
This is using image stacking, correct?
I don't have a telescope or a finder/tracker.

[CelticRavenVA]

Dude! Wow!!!

[karinne]

I don't have a telescope or a finder/tracker.

Me neither but watching this guys' pics is making want to go and buy one :lol:

LOVE all your shots!

A little how-to like suggested above would be nice. Unless you don't want to divulge your secrets :p ;)

[IanC_UK]

that is absolutely stunning, and the scope isnt as big as i thought it would be either :) very nice setup hope you manage to get the shots you need to get your 5 hours of images ! look forward to seeing that one :)

[3Turner]

Steve, this is another great shot....you never cease to amaze. Now I wanted to know....how far out of the city are you to minimize light pollution?

[Adrena1in]

...watching this guys' pics is making want to go and buy one :lol:

Same here, and I have already bought a telescope, tripod + mount, motor drive and camera adapter. All only about £120, so I'm starting on a budget, but hey, it's a start. No doubt in a few months I'll be spending ten times that on the real gear!!

You're an inspiration NightHound. Are you in the right hemispere to see the Ring Nebula and/or Crab Nebula? Two more of my favourites.

[Flo]

Man.......just stunning.........lol.I have yet to take a simple Pic of the moon yet:confused:

[S Taylor]

Amazing image! I was an 'astronomer wanna-be' in my teens, always behind a telescope late in the evenings. You are making me wanna revisit my youth and start over again! Beautiful shot.

[Nighthound]

Thanks everyone.

Many of the deep sky objects that I shoot are very large. The Heart Nebula is one of those that I can barely fit into a single frame with the Sky 90(407mm FL) and there is actually more that is out of frame. The main heart shape is what I'm after with this one. There are some objects that are so expansive that I have to shoot them in pieces and stitch the bunch together in PS. I could use my 100-400L but that would mean shooting without the light pollution filter whic I don't like to do when shooting specific objects. For the smaller objects my Vixen Newtonian is a better choice to get the object scale up. For me it's, WIDEFIELD:100-400L / MEDIUM FIELD: Sky 90 / HIGH MAG: Vixen R200SS. I need a super wide field lens (10-50 range and fast) and when I upgrade my mount a 2000mm range scope.

Adrena1in, Congrats on th new set up. Sounds like a good rig to get started with. Looking forward to seing your shots.

NH

[S Taylor]

So, you've peaked my curiousity..... how close up on the moon can you get with your longest setup? Got any Saturn pics? I wanna see one! :D

Nice stuff man.

EDIT: Nevermind on the moon shots, I found some. I was so impressed with your shots, I had to find all your posts and admire your work. Please keep 'em coming. (would love to see a shot of Saturn though!)

[JuZ]

Very cool, I love astrophotography

[Vulcan58]

Great photo. How do you manage to do it without the images leaving a 'trail' with the earths orbit, or do you have your tripod motorised to in synch with the rotation??

Just a thought.

[Nighthound]

Thanks all.

ST, my longest FL now is only around 800mm. I previously was shooting at around 2000mm when shooting Lunar close ups.

Vulcan, you got it, my scopes are on a mount that moves at the same rate as the Earth's rotation which allows long exposures without movement.

NH

[CelticRavenVA]

Nighthound,
I want to come play and learn how to do this!!!!

[S Taylor]

ST, my longest FL now is only around 800mm. I previously was shooting at around 2000mm when shooting Lunar close ups.


NH

Ah, I see. So no planet photographs lying around? :cry:

Anyway, looking forward to your future posts. Thanks!
Scott

[Nighthound]

Ah, I see. So no planet photographs lying around? :cry:

Anyway, looking forward to your future posts. Thanks!
Scott

I've got a couple just not that great, I'll post them.

NH

[camera]

quite incredible . Superb.

[DVS_WiNdz]

wow.. simply amazing, so many great shots.. how much does one of those telescope cost?

[whaase]

Wow is all I can say.. the universe is just amazing, and so are those shots!

[Ballen Photo]

My Deepest Astrophoto So Far
Steve, When I saw the title of your post, I said to myself; I have GOT to see this. :shock:
As usual, There was no disappointment here. Very nice! ;)
-Bruce

[davidcrebelxt]

One word: SWEET!

[jbone]

So how far away is this one??? BTW I must say out of all the photos I have seen here yours amaze me the most.

[Tyler-CPWN]

NICE JOB!!!

[sm1rf]

Inspiring for me, deflating for the wallet :)

That pic is out of this world, boom boom!

[Cobra351]

:shock: IMPRESSIVE!! Your work is awesome, keep up the great job!

[crazyskillz07]

Your my idol....

[muscleflex]

any explanation to the red color around? it looks really nice.

[digidiva]

Steve, I don't know what to say. I just spent some (a lot!) of time going through your astro-posts and they are truly out-friggin-standing!!! I am just completely green with envy. Jaw-droppingly good.

[ninoe]

NH,

how do you set up your tripod to follow the sky as it moves w/o getting trails? again wow on your work!:)

[Nighthound]

Thanks very much veryone. I'm very glad you're enjoying the images. They're a lot of work(the good kind) but it's always rewarding to see the results.

Muscleflex, the red nebulosity is H-alpha light being emitted from the gas(mainly hydrogen) and dust that is excited by the heat of nearby stars. It's much like a neon light in that regard, the electric energy excites the gas inside the glass tube and it glows.''

Jbone, this one's about 7,500 light years out.

ninoe, I don't use a standard tripod. My telescope mount(on tripod) has motor drives that are controlled by a small computer called the Gemini system. After my alignment process the mount then is able to move at precisely the rate that the Earth is rotating which allows me to image any object that is moving from East to West across the night sky. The alignent process is crucial to accuraste tracking and usually takes between 45 minutes and 90 minutes depending on how high my focal length is that night.

NH

[kenyc]

Incredible!

KAC

[oiva]

i envy you, thats a great pic

[jdizzle]

Awesome Nighthound! The Takahashi stuff is 2nd to none IMO.

[Totemhawk]

That is an amazing capture!

[Nighthound]

Thanks all.

jdizzle, I couldn't agree more. I've owned my share of scopes and none of them compared to the build and optical quality of a TAK. Now I need to upgrade my mount to a TAK EM-200 and I'll be set for life. I checked out your site, excellent site and work. I see you're in NC, ever been to Ocracoke Island?

NH

[troutfisher]

Awesome-congratulations and thanks for sharing the experience and lnowledge

[ninoe]

ninoe, I don't use a standard tripod. My telescope mount(on tripod) has motor drives that are controlled by a small computer called the Gemini system. After my alignment process the mount then is able to move at precisely the rate that the Earth is rotating which allows me to image any object that is moving from East to West across the night sky. The alignent process is crucial to accuraste tracking and usually takes between 45 minutes and 90 minutes depending on how high my focal length is that night.

NH

thanks for the reply NH, really appreciate it, hope there's a DIY thing to do this. thanks again:)

[alkady]

Here are some shots of my latest set up. I use these 2 scopes individually as well. Check out Oceanside Photo and Telescope(OPT) online. Great place to purchase and they have a very knowledeable staff.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/Astro%20Equipment/vix90a.jpg

Scopes:
Vixen R200SS Newtonian
Takahashi Sky 90 II APO Refractor

Mount:
Losmandy G-11 w/Gemini (GoTo)

I power the mount with a Marine deep cycle battery. I also power the dew control straps(not shown) that wrap the tubes to keep the optics above dew point.Hope this helps.

NH WOW that some bad hat harry :) seriously Nice piece of equipt would love to see some more of your space/planets pics i love outaspace :)

[MetalRain]

looks like a heart... very nice!

astrophotography blows my mind :(

[alkady]

looks like a heart... very nice!

astrophotography blows my mind :(
ME TOO ME TOO makes us realise how uninportant we are in the whole grand scheme of things :D :S

[Nighthound]

Thanks MetalRain and Angie.

NH

[SuperBet]

WOW! I'm checking all your photos. They are simply great!

[GlennSter]

steve..you are my newest favorite photog.

I love astronomy when I was a kid and your photos just brings back wonderful memories....

[Alex Paul]

Great work Steve.... With two extremely good imaging scopes. You need a dolly for the G-11. I hurt just thinking about hauling that moose out to the yard :D... Nice collection of hardware :)

[Nighthound]

Thanks SuperBet, GlennSter and alex.

GlennSter, I checked out your gallery, you're quite the talented portrait photographer, excellent stuff.

Alex, It's not bad at all when you take the mount off the tripod. I rarely shoot at home anymore, too much light. I load everything up and travel a short distance to one of two dark sites. I need an observatory in a big way, just don't want to build one where I am now.

NH

[Alex Paul]

I understand brother... I have good skies here in Nassau as I am on the the quiet side of the Island... The out islands have no detectable ambient light which when given the chance to go I always take my little Orion 80ED with a Panoramic mount just for enjoying the views the clear skies have to offer...I find my self leaving the heavy artillery in the house and most times just use the grab and go gear unless imaging is the plan. I have a Discovery Dob I like too when a decent size, deep sky light bucket is the order of the night. Almost a grab and go :D My brother Stephen uses a G-11 and is just as sick as we are. He is also into imaging, and does very well with it as well.. He lives in Shirley Massachusetts and has the same ambient light issues you are talking about... It is maddening when all other things considered you have a stellar night for vieiwng and imaging with the even more important role dark skies play, and it is limited to average viewing (only)because of the light pollution... Of course I bust his chops for the sport of it due to the conditions I have here ;)... I think the G-11 is a handfull but as far as I'm concerned GEM's don't get any finer, so I understand the motivation to deal with it. I opted for the inferior 8 but find it easier on the back and still does a respectable job with my C9.25 which does put it at its stability limit. Once again brother very sweet gear and excellent work... Are you imaging with the Vixen Newt as well... I see you have a starlight focuser on it. I have often thought about getting an RS200SS based on it's reputation, imaging results and speed... If I remember correctly it is an f4.5? Are you using a 20Da, a self converted or a stock 20D? With the colors you are getting I am assuming you have the sensor filter removed... You are clearly getting wonderful Hydrogen Alpha results. Well as you can tell I'm impressed all the way around;) A pleasure to see your work.... You are motivating me to get back out and get active again... Take care

[Nighthound]

Thanks Alex. You've got a nice collection of scopes and the G-8 is a great platform. I almost got a C9.25 but it's limited diameter back made me decide to go with the LX200R(since sold). There's a lot to be said about a good Grab n' Go set up. When I get an observatory I'd like to have a big light bucket to keep me busy while waiting for long exposures. My 20D is unmodified but has very good red response.

I'll bet you could take a short boat ride to some really remote islands with some scary dark skies. I'd love to spend a week or two under skies like that, wow.

NH