Moon Pic

[PSALM19.1]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd attach this great pic that my daughter snapped through an I-Phone 5 camera...via my 8" Dob and a 32mm EP...looks good enlarged as well..:)

[brian nordstrom]

:D That's a beauty , tell her so as it is worth it , well done ! .
Brian.

[Regulus]

That's a great photo Shaun and WAY BETTER than Brians efforts using the same sophisticated camera gear :-)
Like Brian said tho, please pass on my compliments. She did good.
Trev

[brian nordstrom]

:D ' That's funny?' , but I think you are right old mate :lol: .
Brian.

[PSALM19.1]

Well, I think the two pics are on a par :P ...Brian, do you mind me asking what Scope you were using and power of EP?

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup:no worries Shaun , it was my iStar 127mm f8 refractor and 19mm TV Panoptic giving about 50x , taken with my Nokia 1020's camera hand held over it .
Both shots are very good for what was used , I like your daughters shot better ., btw these both look to be taken on the same day .
Brian.

[OzStarGazer]

They are both good. :)

[PSALM19.1]

No way! Same day :eyepop: ...question too: I am assuming that the size of the moon in your pic is due to the fact that I was using a 32mm EP (despite a larger aperture)? :question:

[brian nordstrom]

:) I would think so , you are at about 38x and I cropped and sized this photo using windows 'Live Photo Gallery' that's all , have a go its quite easy , just open the photo in WLPG , hit the 'Properties' a drop down will appear , hit the resize and resize the photo ( I use about 2000 as my max dimension) , then save it , then open the resized photo in WLPG and hit the 'Crop' icon , about 1/2 way along the top and squares will appear over the photo , just move them to the moons image , streaching , compressing , moving the squares to the crop you want and save , job done .

This took about 3 miniutes , hope you don't mind .
Brian

[PSALM19.1]

:thumbsup: Awesome! Certainly is a great shot...! Amazing thing is that I didn't even edit it or anything, it just looked good straight off the bat. Thanks Brian, great "cropping"! :)

[brian nordstrom]

;) Be sure to show your daughter , you may have a budding astro photographer on your hands :help: , she has a steady hand and good eye .
Give a thought to grabbing a cheap camera/phone mounting attachment , available from Andrews , Bintel and others for about $30 , great tool .
Brian.

[Regulus]

Must be Tasmanian sense of humour :-)

[brian nordstrom]

:rofl:Tasweagins , my favorites.
Show us your photos Trevor :D. Hi tech or No tech
Brian.

[Regulus]

Ok, Ok, Ok, already.
These from a Vixen 80M achro and a Canon eos600D.
One daylight job and one nighttime one.
I was wishing I had an iPhone at the time as u can well imagine :rofl:

[Regulus]

Humble apologies Shaun for stealing your thread but that Nordstrom bloke just won't let go once he's got his teeth in. U can see how he is. :screwy:
:lol:
Trev

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Hmm Trev , still its fun
Brian.
[ QUOTE=Regulus;1104572]Humble apologies Shaun for stealing your thread but that Nordstrom bloke just won't let go once he's got his teeth in. U can see how he is. :screwy:
:lol:
Trev[/QUOTE]

[OzStarGazer]

Haha I like my daytime photo!

NSW humour of course, but it is not bad for having been taken in the middle of the day!! :shrug::P:rofl::eyepop:(PS: Contrary opinions will not be accepted. :( :))

[PSALM19.1]

Ah yes, battle of the Moon pics, I like it :lol:

[OzStarGazer]

See what your daughter got started? :hi::thumbsup:

[PSALM19.1]

Wow, wasn't the occultation of Saturn awesome Monday night! Of course I got my daughter to snap a shot; I know there are many other pics of this event (some stunners as well!) but why not ;)

[chellaxy]

Marvellous pics everyone!
Last night I took the plunge and tried some smartphone astrophotography for the first time, as we had such a beautiful 2/3 phase moon :)

Here are two of my efforts, using my Samsung Galaxy S4 held up to the eyepiece of my 8 inch Dobsonian. First pic is 25mm, second pic is 10mm

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t1.0-9/10413436_1448596288746591_623510804 3011678258_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/1919640_1448596262079927_1761395987 522938026_n.jpg

Cheers,
Chelle

[PSALM19.1]

Good stuff Chelle! :thumbsup: Isn't it great us Dob users aren't excluded from some sort of "Astrophotography"....! :)

[OzStarGazer]

Lovely images!

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: I agree , very detailed photos , you should be proud extremely nice ! .
Brian.

[chellaxy]

Agreed!!! I was so glad to find out that we aren't excluded at all :D Terence Dickinson's Nightwatch book listed Dobs as "not recommended" for astrophotography. Well I beg to differ Mr. Dickinson - although I'm sure he is referring to deep sky objects rather than the moon! My interest as a beginner lies mainly in the moon for the current time, I'm trying to sketch it as I see it for fun :D

Thanks Brian and OzStarGazer, I must admit I was pleasantly shocked by the images I got, I would have been happy with just a "non-fuzzy one" as I don't have the steadiest of hands when holding a phone :D
I can't wait to see what my Canon G12 will do, will be heading out on Sunday night with my friend who is an avid photographer to see the super moon and find some nice reference structures to shoot it against so I'm really keen to see how he goes with his telephoto (or as I call them, "stalker") lenses :)

[OzStarGazer]

No, we aren't excluded! I have seen some stunning images taken through dobs, particularly on this site. I also bought a refractor mainly because I have a DSLR camera and wanted to experiment a bit with prime focus too. (The camera was too heavy for my dob.)
I took some nice images through the dob too though, and was happy particularly considering what we read sometimes about dobs and astrophotography. :P
For special events if they are not right in front of my balcony I always use my dob because it is collapsible and portable (it's a Skywatcher Heritage 5"). I thought it would be more difficult to carry because some people had told me it would be heavy for me... that's why for the Saturn occultation I initially planned to go to a site which is really close, but then I didn't like it and could carry the dob to a better site alright. :)

[chellaxy]

I make my minion (boyfriend) help me carry my Dob to the car if I'm going anywhere that isn't the balcony! I can do it in two trips though if need be :D. It's not so much the weight as the delicate nature, I'd hate to bump it out of alignment or anything!

[brian nordstrom]

:lol: Minion ,, funny :rofl:. great if it works .
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Here is my latest , taken the other night , still light with my 60mm ( 2.4inch) scope , yea Dob and small refractor owners rock . :question:.
Brian.

[Regulus]

Shaun, there may be a multitude of the occultation about but the one you take yourself is always better. Congratulate her for the great photo for me.
Chelle, if you hadn't told me it was an phone camera shot I wouldn't have know. They are very good.
Then again it was a 13Meg Galaxy 4 phone which is even better than my 8Meg Note 2 phone :-) Superior technology that.
Trev

[Suzy]

Way to go Sean's daughter- that moon pic is fabulous!!! And that occultation one is absolutely super!!!!
Sean *cough* *cough* I think you need to set her up with some cool $$$astro grear$$$ - she has talent :D .

From Trev:
Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Very precious memories.

Okay, well I'd love to offer my offering of the Moon taken thru my 10" dob using prime focus and join this little party :party:.
Hubby took it using my dob- I just tell him what I want and how I want it and he does the rest, and I do the processing. Me, I concentrate on visual- no one has been strong enough to get me to the dark side yet :P.
167793

[Suzy]

Chelle, while you have the dob out- you might like to view this event on Saturn the same night. :)

The shadow of the rings on the planet will be on display Sunday 10th August. I've never seen it before myself, so I don't know what to expect, but my astro mentor tell me it's an easy grab in an 8".

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=1107467#post110746 7

[Monstar]

I've taken quite a few moon pics that I'm pretty proud of using my iPhone 4S through the EP of my Heritage 130 but none as good as yours Chelle. I didn't bother with the occultation as I didn't want to miss it by fiddling about.

I've tried Saturn loads of times but normally end up with just an orange splodge, but did manage the one below. It's nothing special I know but as Suzy says it is my own and I'm quite chuffed with it.

[chellaxy]

.... YET :P

And thank you for the tip about Saturn, I'm just about to open Stellarium to get planning for the best time!!! That's a beaut shot!

Brian that's a beauty, yeah small refs and Dob owners rock indeed!

Trevor - thank you! Phone cameras have come a long way indeed - I still remember my first phone with a camera - a whopping 2Mp and I thought I was so tech savvy with that thing. I was indeed impressed with those fuzzy/noisy photos haha.

Johnny - that Saturn image is fab, it never ceases to amaze me how much it looks like a cartoon version of itself through the scope! I find that Saturn moves tremendously fast to our eyes through the scope, so getting a static image of it is impressive!

Do any of the lunar/loony photographers here have any of their pics on the wall at home? These would all look impressive blown up a bit and popped in a frame and a great personal touch to our homes! Not to mention "oh-so-casually" being able to claim credit for the photo when asked about it! :P

[Suzy]

Johnny that is a super photo of Saturn with your phone!
I've had several attempts at taking pics hand held with a point & zoom camera and fail everytime. :sadeyes:

Chelle wrote-


Now isn't that interesting ...:question:
I've got some really cool pics we've taken including a nice one of the Venus transit, but the only pics on my wall are from other photographers. I must rectify that! :ashamed: Thank you Chelle .

[Monstar]

Thanks Chelle and Suzy, you don't want to know how many before and after shots I've taken to get that.

What I found made a difference was putting the tube on a sturdy EQ mount. I think I was getting loads of vibration when the phone was touching the EP on the Dob base.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup:+1 on that Suzy , she has a natural talent for sure ( hope you are showing her these comments Sean :D ) yes a natural talent for sure ,, cough $$$ cough $$$ :question: .
Hope she continues in this , look forward to seeing many more , and thank you.
Brian.

[chellaxy]

I'm definitely going to put mine up, adding to the wall as I go! I bet personal astrophotography would make really beautiful gifts for friends/family who are interested in the skies too!

Here are four of the shots I took last night; sadly it was too cloudy to get a decent one of the low Perigree moon hanging over the city, the best I got was a peeking through the clouds one. But you can get an idea of how big it looks next to the city when it's low! There is also one of Saturn (grainy as quite windy and so much light pollution)

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10603550_1449991371940416_430750113 4360757824_n.jpg

https://scontent-a-hkg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/10612715_1449991431940410_503946302 0330229791_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t1.0-9/10570336_1449991495273737_907124428 0236676518_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/p843x403/10537179_1449991421940411_279977936 681352217_n.jpg

Did anyone get any decent shots of the rising moon looking big? Or was it cloudy everywhere? Would love to see!

[PSALM19.1]

Well, here's a shot of Jupiter my daughter took in January...when you start taking shots of planets with an I-phone it gets less impressive (than the Moon) I guess, but not bad for a 15 year old...:)

By the way, has anyone ever tried to snap a shot of a DSO with a phone? Now that would be impressive!

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup:That's a very fine Jupiter shot Shaun give her my congratulations , its not easy taking planetary photos with a hand held phone over the eyepiece .

Here is my Saturn shot taken a year or so ago using my (now sold) Takahashi M210 and HTC One phone hand held over a 3mm TV Radian giving 806x :eyepop: hard to do for sure .

Brian.

[GOTO]

Well done Shaun :)
Geoff

[PSALM19.1]

Great Saturn pic Brian! :thumbsup: And through a 3mm EP...! I guess you had tracking on that scope? We used a 6mm Orion Edge-On Planetary in a 2xBarlow...it moves pretty fast at that mag! I remember that night was particularly good seeing; the photo is of course much fuzzier than in real life, but it came out quite good really. Imagine if I was using a TV EP...:question:

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: Yes Shaun , it was mounted on my (now sold) extremely good Ioptron IEQ45 mount , it was tracking flawlessly that night , keeping Saturn in the field , dead centre , for 1/2 an hour at a time a very nice set up .

Brian.

[james_n]

Nice photos everyone. :)
OSG, did you use a neutrality density filter for the daytime photo? It must be very bright during the day!

[OzStarGazer]

I think I used a polarizing filter. Polarizing filters are usually used to reduce glare during the day, and ND filters to reduce glare at night. :)

[james_n]

Ok, thanks. Uh, it gets expensive once you get started... :P Different filters for different situations... At any rate it looks great (lots of clearly visible craters). :)

[OzStarGazer]

Thanks. Yes, it is an expensive hobby. People don't only collect filters and other accessories. Most of us also collect telescopes... :astron:

[Monstar]

I'm still getting to grips with telescope No.1 !!!

I'm really starting to swing towards an SCT for No.2 probably a CPC 9.25

[OzStarGazer]

That's a fantastic scope. I would go for it too if I had a garden. Do you intend to buy it soon?

I am happy with what I have too though, both with the SW we both have and the refractor I bought to get a bit closer to the moon and for better astrophotography. I am just wondering if I should get the Celestron Neximage 5 and if it would really improve what I can do/have done with my compact camera (prime focus is fine, but the images are small!).
Does anybody know if I could get better images than these for example with the Celestron Neximage 5 and the Celestron AstroMaster 90AZ? Obviously due to the limitations of my equipment the higher the magnification the worse they are at the moment... :( Would the Neximage 5 improve close-ups? PS: They are all the same region at different magnifications.

[james_n]

I don't know the Neximage 5, but I googled it and it is very expensive! Your images are very good, I love the close-ups too, so I personally would stick with what you have.

[OzStarGazer]

Thanks! Yes, I know the Neximage 5 is expensive...

Of course my images can also be a bit sharper, but sometimes I don't like too sharp images if they don't look natural. With the Neximage the sharpness level seems to be more natural.
Anyway, this would be the 3rd image a bit sharper for example (+ a new photo).
Anyway, the next time I will attach the camera with a camera bracket a try a video, then stack the images. These were SINGLE shots.

[james_n]

:thumbsup:

I always wanted to go to the moon when I was a child and now I feel I am getting closer! :)

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: well said James .
Brian.

[brian nordstrom]

:D Yes , you won't regret getting a C9.25 , I absolutely love mine awesome telescope in every way great views of the moon and good for deep sky as well , and oh yes quite easy to mount if you only buy the OTA on its own , mine rides easily on its HEQ5 .
Brian.

[Monstar]

It will be at least a few months and I'll probably change my mind countless times before then.

[Monstar]

Brian, I think it would be too heavy for my mounts (do you have an estimate of weight?) so I would get it on the dual fork alt/az goto.

At the moment I am fancying this over a Dob as my garden is not huge, it might even fit on my balcony which is concrete.

EDIT: OTA IS 58lb, so would defo need new mount and tripod.

[brian nordstrom]

:shrug: Johnny , 58lb for a C9.25 , I think you are thinking. C11 -C14 territory ? , that's. 25kg my C9.25 would be lucky to be 10kg all up , its the carbon fiber but the alloy tube one would only be a kg max over that , have a re-evalution , how did you come to 50+lb? .

edit , what mount do you have now? .

Brian.

[Monstar]

I was looking on Ozscopes, it shows CPC 9.25 OTA as 58lb and the C9.25 (what's the difference in the tubes?) as 73lb, that must be the wole scope?

I'm rubbing my eyes now not sure what I've seen!

I have an EQ2 and EQ5, no motors or goto on either.

[brian nordstrom]

The alloy C9.25 OTA is only 20 lb's or 9.07kg , this from Celestron's web site .
Your EQ5 will carry one for visual easily , well balanced of course , they sold these as a unit with the EQ5 .

Here is mine on its HEQ5 , sexy ain't she ? with optics to match its an excellent Luna telescope .

Brian.

[Monstar]

I was thinking of maybe at a later date putting an 8" newt on the EQ5, do you think she would hold it? I've already got a 5.1" so upgrading to a 6" doesn't seem much of jump.

I want the SCT to be on an alt/az goto for quick set up, tracking and of course the actual goto function (spent a couple of hours hunting the Dumbell (m27)last night).

But now I've started to think of maybe a 10" SW flex with goto, AGAIN!

[Monstar]

Brian, I was correct about the weight, see this review:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/41-626-0-0-1-0.html

I was talking about the CPC, not the C9.25.

I went up to Mt Cootha last night where the Brisbane Astronomical Society was having a viewing. I had a look through a CPC9.25 and even though it was cloudy it was giving superb views. But the thing is absolutely bloody enormous. I've also been thinking (these are all just dreams until a new job presents itself) about a 10" Dob and had a look through a solid tube one of those too. Again really nice views but I think overall I was more impressed with the SCT.

[cmcdo218]

:lol2: what camera was used?

[Wavytone]

Hey that's excellent for an iPhone, well done !