The Mad Scientist in me ....

[ZeroID (Brent)]

...made me do it.
Ok, so I've like many I have just gotten back into Astronomy with my 114mm El Cheapo Chinese Newt. I'm also a long time Photographer of motor sports and things so naturally I want to take pics. I own a Konica Minolta 7D DSLR which is very adaptable settings wise and I know it well.

So tonight after a week or so of wet we get a clear as night sky, even in my light polluted sky it has been washed sparkling clean. My 10x50 binocs find a soft fuzzy spot just up by the Crux. I have already cooled the scope out on the deck so that is lined up on what Stellarium has told me is Nebula NGC 3766. I grab the Sony and the tripod with a 70-200 zoom on. Set it for 1600 ISO, 10 secs at f5.6 with a 10 second start delay ( to clear any vibrations ) and point in the general direction of my intended victim.

It is a single frame in fine mode but guess what ? I got a pic out of it. Fuzzy it may be but I can now see that a series of shorter exposures stacked up might actually give me a real pic ! This was only taken in jpeg, next time I'll go RAW and see what can be done. But it just shows you, you don't have to have huge resources to actually capture something you can learn from. I spent about an hour comparinga nd identifying the various blobs of light I got. Got to find a dark site and give it a real go !!

The little fuzzy spot that the three diagonally lined up stars point to is the Neb. (just in case you didn't notice.)
I've identified most of the stars visible in this shot and the bigger original but now the incentive is to improve the technique and the images.

Goldarned clouds ....


http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/l...766-2-6-10.jpg

[multiweb (Marc)]

Well if that's your first shot it's terrific. Keep up the good work.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

mmm, nice stars

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Ta,..
Going to pick up a T2 connector for the Sony and have a go through either or both of the scopes. I also shot Saturn but it's over exposed to heck and drifted in the 15 seconds exposure time I used. If skies go clear again I'll try at 1 sec, 2 sec etc and maybe bring the ISO down a bit.. I was trying to beat the spreading cloud cover last night but I lost. Also try some 2 sec exposures and stack them with registaxx for star feilds. Got several more lenses I need to try out for f stop and clarity yet.
So many things to play with and not enough clear skies !!

[bmitchell82 (Brendan)]

hehehe fred, when i saw you said nice stars i was like mmmm is this the same fred now i know!

Good start mate, keep at it

[ZeroID (Brent)]

The weather was beautifully clear again last night, the TV was a load of rubbish so we went for a wee drive into the Waitakeres, west of Auckland. This is a bush clad hilly water catchment area with very low population. 30 minutes drive took us up to the top to a small carpark on the side of the road with a hill to the east and a clear view to te west out over the Tasman Sea. No lights !! But Heaps of stars !! Amazing !!
I took the binos and the camera and tripod but this was a recce so didn't have the scopes. I will next time !!

Spent about 20 mins enjoying the amazing view, took some more pix till the memory card was full then trundled home with bigger plans next time. There are several locations that could be used as well with easy access.

Just so lucky to have a good viewing site within half an hour of home. Didn't realise just how much was lost from my backyard. I'll setup my gear to be a s portable as posssible for future vists. and have a thermos and some red light so I can spend some time up there.

Giving me ideas to make an 8" Collapsible Dob that will fit in the wagon to really see something. Just wish mirrors were not quite so dear over here.