Saturn shots-through Orion xt4.5 dob telescope

[kowen]

Here are some shots of Saturn (& other astrophotos) at my album site:
http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/Albu...847724&f=0

I will try to come up with a website (again) one day for my photos. The last one I did needed a simpler design, so that is my goal for one in the future.

Saturn is at it's closest (actually around Dec. 31 '03) but if anyone wants to get shots of it now's the time. I did a few snaps of Mars a while back & not long ago Jupiter. These are snapshots, 1 image, no stacking, no serious sBIG cameras, just my G3 & the mentioned telescope eyepieces.

Regards,
Kerry

[Tom W]

Astrophotography is very cool. I don't have a scope, but my friend has a nice Astrophysics which produces excellent images. He's still in the learning stages himself, but he has produced a couple of very sharp images of the celestial variety with his N***n 35 and his 'scope. I may get into it some day, though I'm finding plenty of photogenic stuff right here on the blue planet.

Some nice pics, BTW.

[kowen]

Astrophysics? That is regarded as a nice telescope, considering the waiting list and amount of money they cost. Your friend should get some great results with that. My budget says I'll stay with the inexpensive 'scopes, I do love them regardless.

On an aside, I pointed my Kodak dc215 to the sky one night and noticed the results showed star patterns-that got me searching the internet for astrophotography, then telescopes, and that started my interest in Astronomy. I think it is fascinating, have been doing Earth shots for 30+ years, still do. I don't travel much so the surroundings get to look the same after a while. So astrophotography is a different path, but I am more serious about photography on our planet than the "snapshots" of the planets & moon...thanks for the comments, Tom...

Kerry

[Keith_M42]

Pretty good photos for single shots. The 1st few years I took my astrophotos they were all single shots. It was time well spent because before you can get into stacking and averaging etc you really need to spend the time to learn how to get the best single shots possible. It's hard to get good single shots. But when you get a number of good ones during an evening Stacking and averaging really does help clear up the graininess and noise.

That's a very nice shot of Jupiter and it's moons. I have yet to be able to get the moons very well without Jupitur being way over exposed. Be careful, astrophotography can be addicting! At least it has been for me. I haven't had much time to devote to it, but have accumulated a quite a few shots over the years since the G2 first came out.

Give the Orion Nebula a try. I think you'll be impressed with what comes out of the camera. It's prime time for the Great Orion Nebula just now too.

Here's my astrophotos website

http://www.geocities.com/keithnk_m42

I would love to put some more links on it to other G camera users astrophotos.

Enjoy the night views,

Keith

Here's my web site for astrophotos

[CyberDyneSystems]

Great looking shot Kowen,.. keep up the good work.

I would love to get involved as well,. alas I live in a city covered in smog most fo the year,. so it would be a very silly investment fro me. (of course chasing birds isn't too brilliant either )

I am very imressed with the images both of you are getting... perhaps I will get that oddball 3X teleconverter from Kenko,. fo a $200.00 investment I could maybe do a little astrophotography with it mated to my 500mm for a 1500mm

Do you all know what the "effective" conversion in MM those telescopes you are using are in camera lens mm??

I know there are two stages of magnification involved,. the scope itself then the eyepieces...?

[kowen]

? I'm not sure about the magnifications with both the camera & telescope, but I used a 10mm eyepiece, my xt4.5 is 910mm focal length, so that's 91x. Let's say for Jupiter, I must have used my 2x barlow because I had the camera at the widest angle-7mm. So looking at the uncropped image, it had to be barlowed (2x), giving the image 182x magnification. Since the camera was not zoomed, I'd say it was 182x. Had it been zoomed to 28, my guess is 4x(182x) to give it 728x. I usually go with the 10 unbarlowed but have gone the full 28mm (4x) to give 364x-I think that is right.

In Phil harrington's book Starware, he has the formula for using camera lenses & telescopes & eps to figure all that out, I don't have the book nearby right now.

I think of getting the Scopetronix adapter to help get sharper images in helping to steady my camera. I'd still have to hold the xt4.5, and Scopetronix is not exactly inexpensive, so I've also thought about just getting some type of PVC-hardware store fix to see how steady that might or might not be. I'm not crazy about a 40mm (Scopetronix) ep to shoot through, and my 25 Sirius for the moon (I can zoom a bit if needed) and the 10mm Sirius or the 7mm UO (very tricky) is what I like for planets-but the UO doesn't have threads for an eyecup to hook up the adapter-so that's out-it would be neat if some type of pipe/fitting/etc. from the hardware store could slip over the ep & I could connect the camera. I'm getting in a 10 & a 6.3 Highlight plossl-I think those will be nice. I think the plossls are easier to shoot through thanks to field of view & eye relief.

If I do the hardware thing & it works I'll keep you guys posted. Something tells me I'll have to spring for Scopetronix-get it over with. Not only is astrophotography addictive, even with the inexpensive stuff, it add$ up...:O. If I have to get the Scptrnx adapter, I'd like to get just the ep ring & the tube-I have the 58mm lensmate so hopefully I could get the 58mm step ring, tube & ep ring.

Thanks for the comments, and Keith-those are great shots. I'm a Celestron person, I have a C102f/10 on the CG5 & a small C60 f/15-it is great, the C102 is a bit big) ( I weigh in at 102-and an over 40 woman-don't want to lug a beast around...) but during my lunch hour today I was looking at the Meade lx200 8 inch with the gps & lpr for astrophotgraphy-very impressive, pretty nice. I like the fork mount, that Meade blue is pretty, but that is not in my budget for now.
My dream is to have an observatory in the field behind my house (in the country), but big enough for a few family & friends to go into & have some nice telescopes to be able to use-not anything claustrophobic. I think of doing this also as a public type thing-something for the community-something different. It would be nice (and great to be heated in the winter...brrr!).

One more thing, Keith, your M42 is great-you notice how digital usually gives burned out highlights? Your shot has nice gradations in your highlights-very nice, the best I've seen of Orion with a digital camera, since everyone else's is too bright at the highlight. Very well done! I've definitely bookmarked your site. I also like your Wausau lights-nice tone.

Cyberdyne, you could probably do astrophotography with just a 50mm lens, depending on your skies. I don't know how good the 3x Kenko would be with your 500mm lens-hopefully the lens is top of the line, as you would be losing resolution a bit, I think. I'd experiment with the camera on a tripod for some timed exposures. At least with digital, you won't have to use long exposures (a few minutes) like you would for film, so you might not have to track your camera. I need to try that more-point just the camera to the night sky...

Best regards,
Kerry

PS: Tom, do you think about getting a scope? At least you get to look through one of the best...

Best regards,
Kerry

[dtrayers]

Kerry, PM me if you are still interested in a Scoptronix...

I have the Digi-T adapter for a G3/G5 to a MaxView40 eyepiece that I'd be willing to part with... I sold the G3 but the buyer didn't have any interest in using it with a scope.

[Keith_M42]

Hi Kerry,
I think your hope to build an observatory some day and have it for yourself and others is a Great idea! Money, time and ability to do it is always an issue, but I love your intention. Hope it happens for you some day. Here's a web site for one of the oldest and largest astronomy club associations I know of. http://www.astroleague.org You might find there are some clubs in the area. If so, you may have an opportunity to connect your camera to some great scopes. If you have a camera and eyepiece combo, most club members will happily let you slip it into their eyepiece holder and click away. We love showing off our scopes and seeing the interest and enjoyment of others using them. Unfortunately your hope to have a warmer place for you and your scope won't work . The warm air currents would really mess up the views, and your nice pictures of the moon and Jupiter and Saturn would turn into "boiling" and impossibly blurry blobs. However there is a fix! It's getting to the point that scopes and cameras can be hooked up remotely, and you can do and see it all from the warmth of your home! (we won't talk about price of such a set up, but it's nice to dream
My first hookup of EP to camera was with strategicly cut and split pvc pipe and hose clamps. It did work, and although a bit clumsy at least I could aford that much. My picture of Mars in 2001 was done that way. As far as getting a scope for the more serious enthusiast, here's a site where eyepieces, scopes, and other astro viewing and photo stuff can be bought and sold http://www.astrofieds.com . You'll find that you can buy an 8" computerized "GoTo" scope for somewhere around $900-$1500, depending on the accessories that come with it. I think there's a Celestron with a piggyback camera mount there now for example. The 8" size is a good size. Small enough that I think you could handle the component pieces, but yet big enough to be able to get and see some really great stuff.
Well, as you can probably see I'm an astro-enthusiast, and could go on and on, so maybe better quit here. Enjoy.

Keith

PS. I've been bitten by the digi-astro bug hard enough that I'm starting to figure my vacations to where I can set up my scope in good clear sky areas during dark phases of the moon. You mentioned Phil Harrington, and he has a web site with "Dark Sky" public areas. Many of them in national and state parks. http://www.darksky.org/darksky/darksky_map.html