Astrophography

[Owain Taggart]

Anyone here do any of this? Didn't see a thread on this. Back in January, my Dad and I bought a Canon 7D and it wasn't long before we started going out to take some pictures. So, I'm presenting my best ones taken to date, and I'll be adding more to this thread as I take more.

20 Sec Exposure:

20 Sec Exposure. Constellation of Orion and its Nebula.

The Pleides:

The Milky Way:

What might look like light pollution coming from a nearby city is actually Zodiacal Light. It's that wedge of light coming from the Zodiac. A bit similar to an Aurora.

What happens when one has too much fun with red lights. It's what you call painting the picture.

In August, some of the planets were aligning. This was taken on a spur of the moment using a flimsy tripod.

Last night we went comet hunting. Comet Hartley has been showing itself lately, though by our account it's fairly dim and doesn't show up well in any of our pictures. But we still got some great shots in general.

Vehicles and Astrophotography don't mix! During one of our attempts, two speeding vehicles interrupted our 30 second exposure with their lights. Oh no! Picture ruined, I thought. Actually, it turned out to be the best shot of the night. Here's the result. You can even see the Andromeda Galaxy in the upper right.

 

[TerokNor]

Beautiful! I like the second one best.

TerokNor

 

[Gryffindorian]

Nice pics. I can never seem to get a picture of the night sky like that with my Nikon digital camera.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Those are great pics. I'd love to take pictures like that, but that kind of camera is a bit out of my price range.

 

[Shaka]

You did a great job ! Especially with Orion and the last one which, as you said, turned out to be very beautiful even if by accident. The perspective with the trees, our own galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy just a mere 2.2 Mly away is wonderful !

 

[farmkid]

Those are great pics. I'd love to take pictures like that, but that kind of camera is a bit out of my price range.

You can do it with a regular point and shoot camera, too. They might not turn out quite as nice but you should still be able to get some decent shots. You just need to use a tripod and set a long exposure time. Every camera I've used has the ability to set exposure times up to at least 15 seconds, although it's not always easy to find the setting. Look through the menus on your camera or the manual to find out how to adjust the exposure times.

 

[ed629]

I get some streaking when I tried that, do you use some kind of mount to keep your pics from streaking? I used a tripod, and a timer so I don't bump the camera when the the exposure starts.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, you need to use a good tripod and a timer or a remote shutter release. 30 seconds for these kind of shots is optimal. Any more than that without any kind of motorized tracking mount and you would start to get streaking or trailing. But to answer your question, no, I'm not using any kind of special mount. Just your regular tripod.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Those are great pics. I'd love to take pictures like that, but that kind of camera is a bit out of my price range.

You can do it with a regular point and shoot camera, too. They might not turn out quite as nice but you should still be able to get some decent shots. You just need to use a tripod and set a long exposure time. Every camera I've used has the ability to set exposure times up to at least 15 seconds, although it's not always easy to find the setting. Look through the menus on your camera or the manual to find out how to adjust the exposure times.

I do have a tripod. I'll give it a try.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Just to show that it can be done, here's a shot I took with my 2.1 megapixel camera with the camera looking through a telescope eyepiece.

 

[Barcode]

The last two for me, although if I have a minor criticism, it's that the greenery looks slightly overexposed. To get actual star trails of course, longer exposure times are needed. How are you finding the 7D generally? I am indecisive about trading up from my existing model for now, preferring to invest in decent glass.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I really like it. It's got great sensitivity and light gathering with low noise. Excellent camera in low lighting conditions too.

I'm not too sure what you mean about the greenery. Do you mean the trees?. I wasn't exactly set up for that, as I explained. The light came in the middle of the exposure.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

Yeah, you need to use a good tripod and a timer or a remote shutter release. 30 seconds for these kind of shots is optimal. Any more than that without any kind of motorized tracking mount and you would start to get streaking or trailing. But to answer your question, no, I'm not using any kind of special mount. Just your regular tripod.

We've got a scout campout coming up in November. I've got a small tripod that I can add to the pack no problem.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Just to show that it can be done, here's a shot I took with my 2.1 megapixel camera with the camera looking through a telescope eyepiece.

Wow, that's pretty sweet.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, it's one of my prized shots, actually. The only thing with a point and shoot camera is brightness can be a problem because there's no real way to control the amount of light that hits the sensor, hence why some of the spots in that image are blown out and lack detail.

 

[Shatnertage]

^^^That moon shot is absolutely incredible. Wow.

 

[Owain Taggart]

A trick to shoot the moon is to not shoot it during a full moon. Wait until one of the phases. Shooting a full moon will only blow out any detail in your picture. If you do have a filter however, you could do it.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I've got new pictures to show off, so I figured it was time for a thread update

This is perhaps one of my favourite shots of all time. It was taken from a local beach overlooking the skyline. You can see the famous Superstack, its smoke frozen in motion, and a beautifully defined crescent moon.

These next two shots I've posted before in another thread, but I figured nobody can have enough aurora.

Here's the ISS passing through Arcturus.

These next 3 pictures are my most recent, taken just a few days ago.

Honest, Officer, it was an accidental aurora exposure! We were just aiming for Venus!

The aurora was already starting to fade as we tried to shoot it in earnest, but the light from what was remaining shining through the trees created a nice moody shot with Venus just about to set.

Dat car ruined our shot! Or not. We had chosen what we thought was a fairly low-traffic area, and as we were taking an exposure, a car came up and lit the scene from behind, which actually ended up being subtle enough to not wash out any details. It instead added depth and became my favourite shot of the bunch.

 

[Roshi]

I already posted it last week but that's the most recent pic that I shot:

when I try to use the telescope eyepiece, I end up with this:

So I recently found a forum that deals exclusively with my digital camera and I've tried a few "tricks"

 

[Owain Taggart]

You might want to invest in an eyepiece adapter for your camera. They're made for this purpose. They take the place of the lense and with the adapter, they screw right onto eyepiece. In this way, you're getting exactly what the camera is seeing as if it were your eye, with the full resolution of what the camera is able to capture. They're great for high-powered views of planetary objects, galaxies and nebulae. What kind of camera are you using?