Images then & now

[Ric]

Hi all, I have been comparing film images from books published in the mid 70's with images posted by members. It is a fascinating exercise and really puts into perspective how fast and far technology has moved in 30 years.

The film images are still very good but are taken by major observatories, but they are now easily surpassed by amateur astronomers using digital camera technology and modest sized scopes.

It will be fascinating to see where we will be in another 30 years and at what level imaging will be at then. These are certainly exciting times that we live in.

cheers

[OneOfOne]

I am currently reading Burnham which has a number of images taken in the seventies. Even some of the shots taken by the 200 inch look pretty mediocre compared to what can be done today with something 1/20 of the size, that's 10 inches for those who are not good at math! Maybe in 50 years amateur shots will include planets going around their host stars, or show acretion disks around the stars in the trapezium...

[Omaroo]

Speaking of which..... 200 inch mirror is 400.204 times the size of a 10 inch in area, not 20. :P


;)

[Ric]

I was reading "Astronomy for the Southern Hemisphere" published in 1976 and a lot of the images are taken from Mt Stromlo and Siding Spring.
The galaxy images and the Magellenic clouds are excellent for film, but there is one of M42 which is horribly over exposed and burnt out all the way to the end of the nebulosity.

cheers

[jjjnettie]

Yes, the comparisons between them are remarkable. Even the most humble of todays shots would have astounded them.

[ballaratdragons]

Forget about the 70's and ground-based scopes for a minute, here are some images taken during the 80's from Voyager 2 which we all thought were outstanding.

Now compare them with what we can do now with a 10" - 12" scope from here on polluted Earth!!!

1. A picture of Saturn taken by Voyager 2 in July 1981.
2. A picture of Uranus taken by Voyager 2 in Jan. 1986.

[Ric]

That is so true Ken, they are great pictures from Voyager but as you say, there are a lot of members who are equalling or bettering those images.
I dont think we will have to wait another thirty years for technology to advance, probably only another ten will do to see any major changes.


cheers

[Kal]

The last decade certainly has been great to us in terms of advances in technology benefiting us, and with the continuing development particularly in imaging chips things are still looking very bright for us in the coming years.

[Ric]

And just think what the big observatories will be doing by then. There are certainly fascinating times ahead.

cheers