Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[bruha]

Hi I attach some new sun images (now there was not any sunspots-it is just error artefacts) I try with ISO 100,1600 and exposure sompensation -2 and 2. Exp time was varying from 1/50- 1/400.

Have nice days

 

[bruha]

Still two...

 

[davenn]

Hi I attach some new sun images (now there was not any sunspots-it is just error artefacts) I try with ISO 100,1600 and exposure sompensation -2 and 2. Exp time was varying from 1/50- 1/400.

Good continued attempts
unfortunately there's still lots of dirt/dust marks. And as you say, none of the "spots" are actually sunspots
I think you need to figure out a better attachment of the camera ( or as I suggest below ... a better camera
more suitable for this sort of imaging) to the scope so that you see the full disk of the sun so that you can
avoid this sort of thing ...

I looked through the user manual for you camera and yeah, not really a suitable camera for this sort of activity.
The lack of being able to do any sort of manual control the camera focus etc, is seriously limiting what you can
achieve and it means that trying to get an image with decent focus is pretty much impossible.
I can now see why it has always been a struggle for you in your past images you have posted.

I would highly recommend buying a DSLR camera, one that the lens can be removed and you can then couple
the camera to the scope with a T-ring adaptor ( think I showed you one before?). Then you are going to see
a huge improvement in your astro imaging. I can promise you, the effort and cost will be well worth it !

Doesn't have to be a new camera ( you may not be able to afford that??) Go to second hand shops, or camera
shops and see if they have any trade-ins. A good chance you may pick up a Pentax, Canon or a Nikon quite cheaply... several 100 euro. probably something very respectable for less than 400 euro.

Honestly, it's what you need to do if you really want to advance way beyond the very limited capabilities of
that camera. For daytime family / holiday snaps, it's ideal but for astronomy imaging, not goodcheers
Dave

 

[bruha]

Hi Dave and thank you for evaluation and advices. Ii is true and I will look for this type of DSLR camera(-I now this attachment but I can not buy new one now) . Concerning focus I have two Hyperion eyepieces , 8 and 5 mm
while with 5 one whole sun disc can not fit to view and with 8 one it just fit without any reserve space around-as S6 image). With DSLR camera connected you can zoomed and anti-zoomed ?
Thank you again and have nice day

 

[davenn]

Hi Dave and thank you for evaluation and advices.

You are welcome ... Keep posting and people here will help where we can.

Ii is true and I will look for this type of DSLR camera(-I now this attachment but I can not buy new one now) .

That's OK ... as I said, you may find a good condition second hand one ... keep looking around
Unfortunately I have already given away my 2 spare Pentax cameras, else I could have sent you one of them
to get you up and running ... look out for a Pentax K7 or K5 ... the K5 is the newer model of the 2 of them, it came out in ~ 2011

Concerning focus I have two Hyperion eyepieces , 8 and 5 mm
while with 5 one whole sun disc can not fit to view and with 8 one it just fit without any reserve space around-as S6 image).

you should try out around 20mm ... it would be great for nite-time use as well ... my most commonly used eyepieces for
nite-time astronomy are the 40mm, 20mm, and the 15mm

With DSLR camera connected you can zoomed and anti-zoomed ?

When using a DSLR camera, there is no lens on the camera and no eyepiece in the telescope.
Essentially, the telescope is being used as a BIG telephoto lens.
Focussing is done by using the focusser knob on the telescope. This is why it is so much easier to get focus
Dave

 

[davenn]

A blast from the past, 16 March 2016, LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) and Comet 252P/LINEAR
Canon 6D and 70 - 200mm EF L Lens @200mm
20 x 30 sec exp, ISO 1600, 15 darks, no flats or bias
stacked in DSS edited in Lightroom

 

[bruha]

Hi Dave,
it is beautiful, as I understand, it is stacked from 20 images with 30 sec . exp time each? and without telescope,
just with camera? Anyway Thanks, I will try with 20 and 12 mm (but thes ones are not hyperion, just ordinary small eyepiece -not fit so good to camera objective...I Will see , and here is still one sun image (better fitting again without spots...) Have nice days and evenings..

 

[bruha]

Hi and thank you...
I understand, but DSLR camera really without eyepiece..? I saw on picture this arrangement but with DSLR camera -body attached by T ring to Hyperion eyepiece... thank you again and I will look for these models...:):)

 

[davenn]

it is beautiful, as I understand, it is stacked from 20 images with 30 sec . exp time each? and without telescope,
just with camera?

Yes, that is correct, just camera and good telephoto lens

and here is still one sun image (better fitting again without spots...)

A lot better, it would still be good to find and remove those dust etc blobs from mirror, eyepieces ..

I understand, but DSLR camera really without eyepiece..?

Yes
It's the way 99% of people do their astrophotography

I saw on picture this arrangement but with DSLR camera -body attached by T ring to Hyperion eyepiece

Yes, that can be done, it's called eyepiece projection ... a it gives a bit more magnification
but at the cost of some sharpness, as there is more glass ( lenses) in the optical train
for the light to pass through

Have nice days and evenings..

you too Dave

 

[bruha]

Hi Dave and thank you for answer, I understand and will try it at first oportunity :) (unfortunately this week should be cloudy and rainy here :(

 

[Andy Resnick]

The great cluster in Hercules (M13): a 1:1 crop and a 6:1 zoom (3x dither followed by 2x enlargement). Total integration time = 2 hrs @ ISO 2000, 800/5.6 lens.

The colors aren't right, but it's a lot easier to control now that I am using the correct RAW setting in DSS.

 

[davenn]

The great cluster in Hercules (M13)

lookin good

The colors aren't right,

not too bad
I love globular clusters with all those very old yellow starsDave

 

[bruha]

Hello,
it is very impressive photo!? :) Please which telecope you use (and what is magnification?)
Have nice day :)

 

[bruha]

Hi
I attach ome sun images by NIKON body (unfortunately I can not attach directly without eyepiecde because of not suitable focus lenght) so this is with Hyperion 8 mm. Except Image S4 it is with made with SONY compact afternoon Hi

 

[DennisN]

now there was not any sunspots-it is just error artefacts

unfortunately there's still lots of dirt/dust marks

Hi @bruha and @davenn, I just wanted to share something I've learned recently. Since I've been modifying various optics equipment and since I've touched the lenses I searched for appropriate methods for cleaning lenses. I read on a photography forum that a good basic tool is a small blower like this one to blow off dust from lenses. I personally happen to have an airbrush (and a compressor) which I can use with a low pressure setting for blowing off dust from the lenses, so I'm good.

For more serious cleaning there are special lens cleaning fluids, and I read a post on a photography forum on how to make your own fluid which is much cheaper: mix 2/3 isopropanol with 1/3 distilled water. Use two cloths (e.g. microfiber cloths), one for applying the fluid on the lens, and the other one to clean the lens when it is dry again. I did my own lens cleaning fluid this way, and I've tried it and it worked very well for me. I am not sure if this method is suitable for cleaning image sensors, though (it might be).

Here's an article on cleaning lenses and filters:
How to Clean Your Lens and Filters (BHPhotoVideo)

This was the isopropanol (IPA) I used:

 

[bruha]

Hi DennisN,
and thank you very much for your advices-I suppose it will be very useful for me.
Just for interest I send two recent images -noon sun and evening sun. Anyway now I bought Bresser ful HD mini camera for eyepiece so I hope made some improvement. Lot of success and have nice day

 

[Andy Resnick]

Last night was the first clear sky in weeks; good images of Jupiter

and the moon- Rupes Recta is an escarpment about 250m high:

and Plato's shadow showing the crater edge topography.

The Jupiter image is a composite of stacked planet pasted onto a longer exposure for the moons. The lunar images have been zoomed in 3x.

 

[bruha]

Hi , your images are very impressive.. Jupiter is quite nice -can I ask how much stacked images it is composited from and in which time period? And moon images are made just with camera (without telescope)?
have nice day

 

[Andy Resnick]

Hi , your images are very impressive.. Jupiter is quite nice -can I ask how much stacked images it is composited from and in which time period? And moon images are made just with camera (without telescope)?
have nice day

Thanks!

All the images are JPGs and were acquired with my 400/2.8 lens with 2x tele (so the lens acts like an 800/5.6 lens); I acquired about a dozen frames of Jupiter for stacking, each image had an exposure of (IIRC) 1/50s, ISO 64. The moon images are single frames.

 

[bruha]

Hi thak you for answer (so Jupiter is magnified cca 143 x..?) . Can I still ask were you from? (I am from Prague..)

 

[Andy Resnick]

Hi thak you for answer (so Jupiter is magnified cca 143 x..?) . Can I still ask were you from? (I am from Prague..)

Not sure what the magnification is; the view through an 800mm lens is, IIRC, 20X. But then I posted a 1:1 crop which I think provides another magnification factor of 9X (posting an image that is 800 pixels wide instead of 7300 pixels). I suppose that results in an end-to-end magnification of 180X, but I'm not sure that's how it all works.

All my astro images are acquired in (currently) rainy, cloudy, Cleveland Ohio (USA).

 

[bruha]

Hi and thank you for answer-
I wish you better weather. ( I was trying last night to capture Rupes Recta on the moon , but now is here full moon therefore its overlighted .. ). I attach my attempt of Jupiter with cam. Breesser full HD cca 1900 x 1200pix. (it needs to be zoomed, and color is not natural of course) but here was similar problem-Jupiter is nowadays close to the moon -so overlighted as well. Have nice times

 

[bruha]

Hi I attach still two sun images taken by some cam.

 

[Andy Resnick]

A rare clear night this past Tuesday, I tried out astrophotography with my 105/1.4 lens on the constellations Hercules and Lyra.

scaled down to 800x600 they don't look like much, but at 1:1 they are quite colorful. Here's 1:1 crops of M53 and M57:

Using a (relatively) short focal length isn't advised for detailed high-magnification views :)

Using a shorter focal length makes polar alignment less critical- individual 30s exposure times are trivial- but the diffuse sky background is more prominent as the field of view increases. This trade-off (longer exposures and lower ISO vs. brighter background) is also important when imaging meteors.

 

[bruha]

Hi, its again very impresive, 3 image is detail of 1 image with M53? (I think I can recognize it in the almost middle of 1 image). And what is on 4 image (as detail of 2 image)?
I attach result of Jupiter image stacking (10 images) by Registax (as I noticed color is not natural). Lot of success and have nice nights.

 

[davenn]

I attach result of Jupiter image stacking

awesome effort !

Are you using any editing software to tidy up the stacked image ?
If you have lightroom, GIMP or similar, you would be able to get rid of most of that green hue

Dave

 

[bruha]

Hi Dave and thank you for advise.. I will try it. (green hue is due to camera software adjusting-I use camera Bresser HD)

 

[davenn]

(green hue is due to camera software adjusting-I use camera Bresser HD)

OK ... with a little editing you should be able to get rid of that :)

 

[bruha]

Hi, I send my attempt with GIMP (I supposed that by the help of "magic wand" highlight strips will be possible but it recognize another some colours area ...)
Have nice days (nowadays is terribly hot in Prague till the late night)

 

[bruha]

Hi, here is another attempt by GIMP- I hope little better.

 

[davenn]

Hi, here is another attempt by GIMP- I hope little better.

looking better

the usual trick to do simple colour balancing is to do a "white balance" on an image
Hopefully you still have your original image ? and saved edited images with a different filename ?

Never overwrite an original image

 

[bruha]

Hi, and thank you for advise.. I attach "white balance" Jupiter and Moon image processed by similar way..
Have nice day...

 

[davenn]

Sunspots/active region of the new solar cycle, cycle #25

Its is high latitude and reverse magnetic polarity
( the active region towards the lower limb)

It's been quite some time since we last saw an active region of the new cyclecheers
Dave

 

[bruha]

Hi Dave , its very interesting...it is mean that sunspot region is in lower part and little left on images?
Today I make observation with solar filter and did not see any sunspots -do you think it could depend as well on Earth location? (i.e. Prague versus Sydney for example)? So lot of succes and have nice days

 

[davenn]

.it is mean that sunspot region is in lower part and little left on images?

Yes

Today I make observation with solar filter and did not see any sunspots -do you think it could depend as well on Earth location?

No, We all see the same sun

This is a reasonably small region, visible spots are not always there. They were, in that active region, a
couple of days ago. This morning ( Thursday) I notice there is nothing visible

So lot of succes and have nice days

And to you too


Dave

 

[bruha]

Hi and thanks for answer- it is clear. (although I think taking rigorously while day "sun moving" we see always see litlle diferent part . Do you have some experience with observing sun through H-alpha filter? -I am thinking about it. Hi and have nice day :)

 

[davenn]

Do you have some experience with observing sun through H-alpha filter? -I am thinking about it.

Yes, have been doing Ha solar imaging and observing for a couple of years
See this thread that I have dedicated to that ...
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/solar-imaging-and-techniques.925656/
A solar Ha system is quite expensive my system cost

AU$2950 just for the scope/filter system,
I use the same tracking mount as I do for the night time scopes.
My images start at around post #66 on page 3 of that thread.
The images in the first couple of pages are with the mylar style filter for capturing sunspots​

cheers
Dave

 

[davenn]

A couple of quick pix of this morning's partial Lunar eclipse, just before sunrise from Sydney, Australia.
The moon was getting low to the western horizon. Trying to photo through a thick layer of atmosphere wasn't exactly conducive to good quality images

Canon 6D, 100-400mm L lens @400mm and x2 teleconverter. ​

Dave

 

[bruha]

Hi Dave , it is quite interesting, (we can observe it this night as well but from oposite side ). Anyway nowadays is good condition for Saturn observing but late cca 0.30 hod. so I plan to try make some images if will be clear. Hi

 

[metastable]

~3am, looking southwest about a week ago, about 150miles north of San Francisco, CA USA along Interstate-5, 14mm dslr lens, 2.8f, 2000iso, 10sec, full frame raw

^Andromeda galaxy is visible close the center of the frame on this one, just to the right of the Milky Way

 

[davenn]

~3am, looking southwest about a week ago, about 150miles north of San Francisco, CA USA along Interstate-5, 14mm dslr lens, 2.8f, 2000iso, 10sec, full frame raw

Thankyou for sharing

Dave

 

[pinball1970]

~3am, looking southwest about a week ago, about 150miles north of San Francisco, CA USA along Interstate-5, 14mm dslr lens, 2.8f, 2000iso, 10sec, full frame raw
View attachment 246760

View attachment 246761

^Andromeda galaxy is visible close the center of the frame on this one, just to the right of the Milky Way

Wow, amazing image.

 

[DennisN]

Houston, we've got a full moon, so I took some photos last night with my mobile phone attached to my small miniscope.

ISO 50, 1/200 s exposure, f/1.8, 40 stacked photos with Registax.

A bright Moon and clouds, ISO 50, 1 s exposure, f/1.8

My miniscope and a bright Moon in the sky:

 

[metastable]

Thankyou for sharing

Wow, amazing image.

bonus (nikon d800 w/ nikon 14-24mm lens @ 14mm, 2.8f, 2000iso, 10sec, raw capture, looking south along I-5 ~150miles north of san francisco, california):

 

[pinball1970]

Houston, we've got a full moon, so I took some photos last night with my mobile phone attached to my small miniscope.

ISO 50, 1/200 s exposure, f/1.8, 40 stacked photos with Registax.
View attachment 246784

A bright Moon and clouds, ISO 50, 1 s exposure, f/1.8
View attachment 246785

My miniscope and a bright Moon in the sky:
View attachment 246786

The top image has a slightly brown hue to it, a little bit of dust pollution in the atmosphere?

 

[DennisN]

The top image has a slightly brown hue to it, a little bit of dust pollution in the atmosphere?

Houston, we've got a brown full Moon!

I think it is due to the fast exposure and low ISO (image sensor sensitivity), which makes it darker. And the hue probably also got changed in the photo above, since I increased the constrast in the photo editor.

Here is one of the original photos with ISO 50, 1/200 s exposure:

Comparison with another photo with ISO 50, 1/100 s exposure:

And another photo with ISO 50, 1/30 s exposure:
(and here it gets so bright that fewer details are visible)

 

[pinball1970]

Houston, we've got a brown full Moon!

I think it is due to the fast exposure and low ISO (image sensor sensitivity), which makes it darker. And the hue probably also got changed in the photo above, since I increased the constrast in the photo editor.

Here is one of the original photos with ISO 50, 1/200 s exposure:
View attachment 246817

Comparison with another photo with ISO 50, 1/100 s exposure:
View attachment 246818

And another photo with ISO 50, 1/30 s exposure:
(and here it gets so bright that fewer details are visible)
View attachment 246819

Interesting, the bottom image is a blue moon compared to the one above so more exposure? I rarely take notice of all the kit and technology I am too busy looking at the great images.

 

[davenn]

Interesting, the bottom image is a blue moon compared to the one above so more exposure?

You see blue in there ??

edit
Ohhh, I assume you mean his earlier post, the one with the tripod in it ?

 

[pinball1970]

You see blue in there ??

edit
Ohhh, I assume you mean his earlier post, the one with the tripod in it ?

Sorry yes #543

 

[metastable]

Interesting, the bottom image is a blue moon compared to the one above so more exposure?

I think each image can be as blue or yellow as one decides based on the camera/raw processing color temperature setting...