View Full Version here: : June Comparison - Antares
Don't you just love democracy...a unanimous decision!
Antares is enmeshed with nebulosity, M4 and IC 4604 are nearby.
Heaven knows how often we have all looked up at it.
Again (as Alex is so good at pointing out) this thread is an opportunity for those of us who are learning, and for those that have a lot of experience, to post there efforts together, here in this thread.
Remember to include all the capture details.
Tip: Take a beanie :)
Oh, and we might have to wait until that bright globe goes out...
Startrek
31-05-2018, 08:47 PM
Hi Peter,
I was using Antares as my alignment star last night and not far away was this big bright disc called the full moon
Indoors tonight at Narrawallee with the uggboots on
Astro rig sits in yard with tarp on waiting for a calmer and darker night
Martin
kosborn
31-05-2018, 09:07 PM
If there was a like button on this forum like there is on FaceTube I would click it. :)
First clear night, lots of rain and we need it.
Concentrating on the star itself, 30 of 10s subs.
Tried 1s, 5s, 10s, 30s, 120s all to get some colour and form.
Great fun but the mozzies are still about...
Benjamin
08-06-2018, 06:05 PM
Oh wow. I really like that Peter! Simple and beautiful
raymo
08-06-2018, 08:06 PM
Here's mine. Taken several yrs ago. Best view 50% screen.
raymo
Benjamin
08-06-2018, 09:16 PM
Beautiful Ray. Was that with an 8” Newt by any chance? Love the colour. Wondering about the diffraction spikes and what they mean? Not a criticism at all because the image just sparkles but wondering when they split a little along one axis what this might mean or whether it’s just the nature of imaging with a reflector?
raymo
08-06-2018, 09:58 PM
Hi Ben, Yes, 8" Newt. All reflectors display diffraction spikes, 1, 2,3, or 4 depending upon how many supports the secondary mirror has. Mine are split because the alignment of all the parts of the optical train hadn't been checked and adjusted for a long time. I only generally only did that annually or
thereabouts. When the secondary mirror support vanes are perfectly
parallel with the scope's tube, and all else is correctly adjusted, the
diffraction spikes will be perfect.
raymo
Benjamin
08-06-2018, 10:25 PM
Thanks for the info Ray. I have the same split spikes in my 8” Newt images so guess there’s yet more work to do there with alignment. The diffaction spikes I find quite a nice feature and when they reflect so much of the star colour it’s really compelling regardless of any kind of symmetry.
Zubenel
09-06-2018, 11:13 AM
I'm thinking my rig will have a moderation of success with this challenge.The question is, will the shortest exposure time stacked multiple times give a better result than a longer time?? time to play :thumbsup:
xelasnave
09-06-2018, 11:54 AM
Nice shots guys.
I got similar weeks ago and feel that this object would benefit from using just a camera and a lens from 50 to 100 in an effort to bring out the dust lanes.
If I get a chance I will use that approach as I would like to get the dust and some of the sourounding interesting stuff.
Alex
Benjamin
12-06-2018, 01:53 AM
Got a 20minute Antares. 5 minutes each of LRGB (30 x 10s) through the 8" Newt. Trimmed to get rid of an annoying reflection... not sure what I can do about that?
Was with a new laptop (well an old one that I hadn’t previously setup for Astro stuff) and lots to tweak were needed - PHD setting, EQMod setting... lots of time solving issues while hoping to image. Anyway got something in the end. No time for flats...
added a version thats more stretched..
Beautiful!
Last night I took my better half outside and showed her Antares for the first time. It was red and sparkling brightly.
Good one Ben :thumbsup:
Benjamin
12-06-2018, 09:05 AM
Thanks Peter. A young student of mine saw the image and told me all about seeing Mars - it’s rival :-) Reminds you just how a simple star (albeit wonderfully red) can be such a talking point. SkySafari says this about it:
Antares takes its name because of its distinctly red color, which compares to that of Mars. The Greek name Antares means "Rival of Mars", the god of war. The Romans called the star Cor Scorpionis, meaning Heart of the Scorpion. However, they had been anticipated in this by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Sumerians, who for at least two millennia had also known the star as the Heart of the Scorpion. According to ancient Arab tradition, Antares is the warrior-poet Antar's star. Many of the old Egyptian temples are oriented so that the light of Antares plays a role in the ceremonies performed there. Antares was also known as Satevis in ancient Persia and was one of the four "royal stars" of the Persians around 3000 BC. It was also known as Jyeshtha in ancient India.
xelasnave
12-06-2018, 03:51 PM
I took this ages ago like a couple of months☺
Its what we are after or am I barking up the wrong tree☺
I am not sure what I used but I am sure it was the nikon ...its all a blur..I gotta get back to a general diary ... at my age you think a bit slack and dont do thinks that remind you of work...a diary for my eas a pile of worms dripping with people and problems.
But I have tried a few things unsucessfully ..I have one in the oven using the 80mm but it will be bloated because of fog☺
Anyways here is my image..heck I hope it my image...wouldnt it be terrible to upload something you have downloaded to have a good look at...it looks so much better than the recent stuff:shrug:. Sleep depravation is catching up I can feel it...I feel confused...maybe I am having a stroke...maybe so happy to be outta Sydney.
Alex
Hay ALex.
Just by chance, my best friend was looking over the shoulder as your image came up. She said 'Wow, look at that, amazing!'
So there you go. Never said that about anything I have done...
Technically a bit green, but that didn't matter at all.
Benjamin
12-06-2018, 04:33 PM
Love it Alex. Not waded into the wide field imaging and your images are bloody inspiring
xelasnave
12-06-2018, 05:26 PM
Wow thanks.
I have trees and grass all aroung and even the house is green and maybe I get a lot of green light maybe..I go for detail which seems under my current technique seems to bring out detail...it helps that I dont notice☺
30 minutes until my stack thru the 80mm it will be interesting to see if it works better than the cheap nikon lens $200 v $2000
I tried the canon on it but so disappointing and after the eaier image recently posted featuring the photo I managed with it ..well reasonable expectations were not met. Got the Eagle started as well.
Alex
xelasnave
12-06-2018, 05:29 PM
Thank you Ben.
They blow me away most times because of their ease of capture to result...as I said above its great bang for your buck.
You must try it just do 30 seconds and a big stack see what you get.
Thanks again.
Alex
kosborn
12-06-2018, 06:42 PM
Very nice Alex. I thought that was the challenge too. I still don't have a way to piggy back my camera to telescope or mount so would need to do a mosaic to get any wide coverage. I tried it the other night but my software wouldn't do it for me. I need to try old school!
Kevin
xelasnave
12-06-2018, 07:40 PM
Thank you Kevin...Re camera mount you could use a piece of beveled wood probably just a little piece of flat pine with a hole in it and put that direct to the mount or strap it on the ota with straps or cord...stability is easily achieved for short focal length.
Alex
raymo
12-06-2018, 09:01 PM
Your best effort so far Alex, great stuff.
raymo
Mickoid
17-06-2018, 11:57 AM
This is my take of the area around Antares from a light polluted outer Melbourne suburb just the other night. It was a window of opportunity between cloudy nights and I was actually testing out this Sigma 35mm f1.4 prime lens.
I'm not overly impressed with it's quality for Astro work due to some chronic astigmatism issues which meant a severe crop was necessary to remove the worst areas. It's a nice portrait lens because it's central area is really the only usable part of the image and at f1.4 the surrounding areas are so out of focus that it's of no concern.
Even stopping down to f4, as was the case with this shot, didn't help much. This is the result of a combination of 15 x 90sec UVIR and 8 x 150sec CLS filtered shots at 800 iso with the modded Canon 550 mounted on a Sightron Nano Tracker.
Incredibly good Mick.
Also stunning :thumbsup:
raymo
17-06-2018, 01:04 PM
Looks good Michael, pity the CLS mutes the colour.
By the way, I have fitted a 5x24 finder to my nano tracker, looks like it will work well. Just waiting for an 8x50 to arrive; the 5x24 is junk.
raymo
xelasnave
24-06-2018, 11:03 PM
another.
Thru 80mm I think 30 seconds 130 frames. No idea about colour.:D
alex
Good shootin Alex!
Best image of that area I've ever seen :thumbsup::thumbsup:
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