Yep, ok, this could well be the worst photo ever taken of Omega centauri, but I love it all the same.
I bought a telescope 8 months ago, and due to various constraints, (including a back and forth with Andrews Comms--who were great--to fix some problems with the mount/handset), I've only tonight had my first attempt at taking a photograph with it... which was the sole purpose in buying this set up.
It's my first telescope, and I failed miserably in polar aligning it, but at least I finally got something on film... or sensor.
Well, if that is your first, you'll be doin fine quite soon.
A little bit of extraneous movement somewhere causing the comma effect (rather than the coma!). otherwise - good start.
The surface on which I had the tripod had some vibration, which I'd hoped would be minor enough not to have an effect, but I'm supposing that's the cause; if not I'm not sure what else it would be. I took a few photos and that's in all of them, so whatever the cause, it was consistent.
Great first shot. Your tracking looks good. You need to use a remote shutter release or the inbuilt camera delay timer, it makes big difference if everything is really steady.
Hi Lee, It's not a bad first effort, but you need to post your image
acquisition details such as exposure length, ISO, etc, so that people
can help with your learning curve if necessary.
raymo
Great first shot. Your tracking looks good. You need to use a remote shutter release or the inbuilt camera delay timer, it makes big difference if everything is really steady.
Thanks doppler :-) You're right, that could have also contributed. It was only a 10sec exposure though and in the full res you can see some indication of poor alignment (stars are a little elongated). I had tried some 25sec exposures and that got significantly worse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kosh
Hey that's really not a bad image there Lee! Keep it up.
Thanks kosh :-)
Quote:
Originally Posted by raymo
Hi Lee, It's not a bad first effort, but you need to post your image
acquisition details such as exposure length, ISO, etc, so that people
can help with your learning curve if necessary.
raymo
I will preface this with the fact that I know nought about Nikon cameras, and that any advice I give is from my limited knowledge of the Canon brand....
In the camera settings, look for a Mirror Lock option. If it is there, turn it on. What it will do is on the first press of the button/remote trigger, it will raise the mirror. The next press will capture the image at your set time length. Also, don't forget to turn it off, for terrestrial photography!
As Doppler has mentioned, get a remote trigger if you don't already have one, as any contact pressure on the camera will translate to your image.
However, for a first-up, that is great detail! Keep it up.
Good call Shane, I'd forgotten about mirror lockup.
I've checked it out, and the D5100 has an "exposure delay" custom function which will cause the camera to wait for some period of time after bringing up the mirror before it starts exposing.
