guys and girls I really want to thank all those astroimagers that have been producing all those fantastic images lately. The planetary images have been out of this world, but the deep sky stuff has been absolutely amazing.
I cannot say enough about the quality of everything that i have seen. I have looked at most of the images on the site and the larger links - it is breathtaking.
For those who haven't waded about the photons on offer in the imaging section please go there and wade amongst the photons - it is intoxicating.
i have viewed a lot of stuff, but i wanted to tip my hat to them all.
We do live in a great time at the moment, thanks to the photon catchers
I'll 2nd that
I'm amazed at the planetary images , Mars Jupiter the resolution that people can get from ground based scopes is stunning
And the deep sky stuff WOW
Excellent OP David and I totally agree.
The images have been excellent for some time and it amazes me the quality... Who needs Hubble.. Actually a while back I was showing a friend a Hubble capture of Saturn and an amature multi stack, to show how good an image using stacking, and after me explaining for a while my friend said "so which one is the Hubble".. I mean there was a difference of course but to have him say that says something about how good it is these days.. Was on a phone but the stack was really very good.
Alex
They annoy the HECK out of me and I use them as an inspiration to keep trying and improving ( and spending more money ).
Yep, many stunners amongst them all, there are some very clever folks out there doing some amazing stuff. Well done guys and gals ....
yep they make me so jealous hahaha there is some brilliant work getting around that's for sure the time and effort that goes into these pics are mind blowing they all teach me something new every day if my pics look half as good as some of these peeps I will be one happy gal
Keep up the good work everyone
I have not ventured into the art / science of Photon Catching but am grateful to the Guys and Gals who produce the wonderful images on IIS. With these images I have encouraged a number of work colleagues along to Urban Observers.
And a big THANK YOU for the planetary images - especially of Mars. They give a great reference for comparing what I think / imagine I am seeing visually to the Real Thing.
You're not wrong David. The distinction between pros and amateur astro-imagers has become very blurred in recent times. Taking multi-billion dollar space telescopes out of the equation, amateurs have been consistently producing results as good as professional observatories. Technology (Moore's law esp) has also been a great leveller of the playing field over the past 10-15 years. And amateurs have the advantage of sheer numbers and no institution or funding body telling them what to do with their telescopes.
Even though I’m just a visual observer I enjoy looking at the pics being posted. Like Michael mentioned I too love the planetary pics being an area of interest for me.
Others may have seen in the latest issue of Oz Sky & Telescope a comparison of a shot of Pleiades taken in 1995 by the 60” at Mt Wilson Observatory and compared it with a recent amateur shot made with an 8”. Worlds apart to say the least.
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