Astrophotography

russ_watters

Thanks, guys.

Baywax, all CCD chips are single color, but those on normal cameras have a matrix of color filters on them and software to generate the color. I take separate exposures with separate color filters, then mix them with software to generate the color photo. This maximizes the resolution and color depth of the camera/photos.

Kronos5253

Awesome shot russ! Almost a straight on view of the rings, which is kinda sad :( (everyone loves the rings! haha) but it really brings out the detail in the planet having them "out of the way".

But GREAT SHOT!

One of these days I'll learn how to take pictures like this...

baywax

Very cool russ. Is Saturn a challenge to photograph? I just wondered because Jupiter seems like a sure bet to shoot since its so bright these days. Can you get a good shot of Jupiter and its many moons? Has anything unusual been going with Jupiter after Shoemaker-Levi?

russ_watters

All planets are a challenge to photograph because the resolution is limited primarily by how steady the atmosphere is - especially where I live. The atmosphere was perhaps the best I've ever seen it that night and it gets close to that maybe 10 nights a year. I take about ten thousand photos at a time via video (my camera is like an expensive webcam) and combine them with software designed to filter out atmospheric distortion to flesh-out the details. It takes some practice and some effort. My website has a tutorial showing what that process looks like: http://www.russsscope.net/staxtutorial.htm Jupiter isn't out right now, it is almost directly behind the sun. You may be looking at Venus in the evening if you think you see Jupiter. Jupiter is bigger than Saturn so photos of it will naturally be higher resolution, but for the past few years, it has stayed lower in the sky for those in the northern hemisphere, making it tough to get good detail due to the atmosphere. When it comes around again this summer, I'll post my results. No, it left scarring that dissipated in a few months. Amateurs did get a few photos, but that was before the explosion in amateur astrophotography (due to good, cheap cameras), so there weren't many.

baywax

Thank you russ.

Venus...? that is so bright for Venus. Is it closer than usual? Maybe I'm seeing the International Space Station. Except it doesn't move. I'll have to check this out. I'm at the 49th parallel and this planet sets after the sun by about 3 hours. (Obviously not an astronomer eh?!)

Nabeshin

Well Venus is the brightest object in the night sky, save the moon.

baywax

No way! So I've been pointing out Venus and calling in Jupiter!!!? I really thought Jupiter was brightest because of its' number of moons. What's up with Venus? Is this because its closer than Jupiter?

russ_watters

Yes, Venus is about as big as earth, is pretty close right now, and is white. All that makes it very bright.

bobmerhebi

Hello guys.

I would just like to share with you my images & webstie.

Direct link to my images: http://picasaweb.google.com/BOBMerhebi

Website: www.astrobob.tk

I will be glad to read you comments or suggestions.

Thank you,
BOB

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PalashD

I just saw all the 16 pages full of these awesome pics and I am gonna do it again !
They are just great!

I hope I can get a good camera some day and take such great pics!

3dfan

astrophotography is my hobby, i like to collect photos of space objects and thaks for useful links, I am kinda newbie at it

quddusaliquddus

Hi all :D. I wanted to know - is it very expensive to take photos of planets in general? What would be the minimum cost (approx) required for a noob?

Telmerk,the Magician

Hi all,

Does anybody knows how to attach a CANON EOS 1000D onto a MEADE APO 152/1370 telescope? The telescope has a 2'' focuser drawtube. Many thanks, TtM

bobmerhebi

Hey there,

No its NOT necessarily. I have been an amateur astrophotographer for about more than a year now. I got my first digi cam; a Canon G9, although its expensive but you can find other than this that you can use. My first astrophoto was using my Canon EOS 750QD which is around 10 years old & still new with me. I took photos of the Partial Solar Eclipse back in 2006 & then got the digi files from the studio & processed them on my pc.

You can aslo purchase a fully mechanical cam (that doesn't use a battery for the bulb setting, of course if you know how to use such cams althoug I don't recommend a beginner to start with those) for a very cheap price.

make sure to check out my work on my flickr account: www.astrobobalbum.tk & my website: www.astrobob.tk

if you need any help, plz dont hesitate to ask me. :)

hope I answered you

bobmerhebi

How to ? Easy. You just need to search for a cam-telescope adapter. its called by some a telescope adapter & others call it a cam adapter.

you get either a kit or the parts individually. I personally recommend the kit. It consists or the adpater + a T-ring that fits you cam from one end & the telescope from another. You can get the T-ring of your choice when ordering. As you will need different T-Rings for Different Eyepiece sized (i.e.; 1.25" or a 2").

I hope i also answered you

you can stay updated on my website that I included in the previous post, as I will sometime soon add my equipment pictures to it.

Cheers :)

russ_watters

People (like me) start out in astrophotography with a decent webcam and telescope. For a few hundred dollars, you can take pretty good pictures of the moon and planets.

russ_watters

We had some rare good weather last week and I captured my first good deep space photo in a while. This is an edge-on spiral galaxy. It is about 5 hours total exposure.

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