Astronomy & Astrophotography

[Murtasma]

Since my lil son takes up 95% of my time I haven't had time to rekindle my passion for photography. In almost 2 years now, the only photography I do is taking pictures of him sometimes and lots of video now. I've been looking for a hobby to get started in that fits into my new lifestyle (1 - 2 hours at night). I've always been interested in the cosmos so I decided to take up astronomy for the time being (definitely going back to photography when he gets a little older maybe another year and 1/2).

Astronomy I feel is perfect for me because I can study the skies while he sleeps. He's also fascinated by the moon he always says moon when he sees and and gets upset when it's not up because he's expecting it. I got a great deal on a used Orion 6'' reflector on an EQ mount and with the few clear nights we've had since I bought it I've spent some time looking at the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and the Orion nebula. We have a really good astro club just down the street from me that I'll be joining here soon that has access to a big 24'' Reflector. I tried some afocal photography of the moon with my DSLR but was not impressed the images do not do justice what the eyepiece in the scope will show you.

I sware you could just reach in and touch the moon it's so ultra sharp and the ability to see the tiniest of craters really amazes me. I'll be buying a TMount, Adapter and a Telrad with my next pay check for sure.

Is anyone else out there interested in Astronomy, Telescopes and Astrophotography?

[KurtM]

I've been into astronomy since the mid 80's, and know what? Almost EVERY newcomer finds astrophotography an inexorable draw for some weird reason and it's the first thing they gotta do -- practically everybody goes through it. Some stick with it and become very passionate, accomplished, etc. Others, like me, decide it's such a fussy pursuit that it impedes fun and relaxation more than augments it. But almost everybody has to try it. (As with microscopy, I stubbornly adhere to my anachronistic ways and SKETCH my observations ..... yez, with pencil and paper, gasp.)

It's technically demanding, but with today's digital equipment it's nothing. I mean, it's lightyears better than back in film days, that was really insane. Still, it can be a money pit big time, because there's always something you gotta upgrade; you always want a bigger, more solid mount, a smoother drive, a better guider, etc., etc., etc.

I recommend you hurry to your local club and start hanging out with the guys and gals first off, and get on the 'puter and go to Telescope Reviews | Cloudy Nights and check out the Astrophotography and Sketching section of the forums. There are some incredibly knowledgeable and talented people there, and the absolute best of the best in world of astrophotography have been known to hang out there too. In the Forum, scroll down till you get to Astrophotography and Sketching, there's a section for beginners, a section for DSLR, section for CCD, etc:

Telescope Reviews: Viewing list of forums



Above: My homemade 16" f/5 telescope on homemade equatorial tracking platform (about 7' tall), my workhorse, and one of some 30-odd scopes I own. See The Sawdust Factory Home Page for more.

[metallion58]

Nice set up, Kurt!
Me and my 10 inches Newtonian are officially jealous!

[Murtasma]

Wow really nice telescope I'd love to build a custom one some day. How did you go about making the mirror did you purchase a blank then polish it or did you just purchase a premade mirror?

[KurtM]

I've been "in the business" long enough to have snagged a few particularly prized optics, and the 16" is one of them. This mirror was made by Steve Dodds shortly before he started Nova Optics. As for me, I build THE BEST telescope structures. Really, just ask me.

I thought perhaps some folks might find a brief rundown on photography vis-a-vis astronomy and telescopes interesting, so here ya go. Basically, it comes in 4 flavors:

Star trail.
Piggyback.
Prime focus.
Eyepiece projection.

Star trail: The Earth rotates upon its axes every 24 hours, and if one mounts a camera on a tripod and takes long exposures of the night sky, trailed stars are the result. Star trail photographs can be useful as documentary imagery as well as artistic.

Piggyback: Simply mounting a camera onto a telescope that's on an equatorial mount with clock drive, takes advantage of sidereal tracking to eliminate trailing, and get pinpoint stars.

Prime focus: More or less using the telescope as a great big lens. The camera goes in the focuser, where an eyepiece goes otherwise. Pretty much all the seriously neato images of whirling galaxies and colorful nebulae are taken at prime focus. Amateurs most often use telescopes from 4" to 24" for the pics you see in mags and on the net. Dedicated CCD cameras are most often used here.

Eyepiece projection is where you place a camera in lieu of an eyeball to record what the telescope "sees", usually high-magnification images of something really bright, like the Moon, or properly filtered Sun.

When I was shopping for my first DSLR back in September (2011), astrophotography concerns are what made me settle on Canon as the brand of choice. There are certain mods routinely made to, and specialized software made for, Canon EOS cameras.

[drr0b]

How about this then :P!

A crop I made of something I had to do for work...



Focal length: 13,000 mm
F: f/ 211
Exposure: 4360 s
Camera: Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys

This is a photo of the centre of the Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light years away

I've pointed out a black hole eating another star... it was brighter than a million Suns for a few weeks, then faded out