First submission; M51 and M57

[kitsuna (Adam)]

Hey all, I was looking into astrophotography recently, and came to the conclusion that at this point, I'm not going to be able to afford to get into it properly.

As a result, I've been exploring alternatives, including the Global Rent a Scope system. Hereafter referred to as GRAS.

The following two images represent the first 2 proper astro-images I've ever taken... or at least, I clicked a button and an automated telescope in new mexico took the pictures.

These I took using the free trial of the G3 scope in the last 2 days. A 150mm Takahashi refractor using an SBIG CCD camera.

no processing has been done on either image (though I may tinker in future). They are as they arrived in my email inbox after taking them.

I just thought some people curios about the GRAS system could take a look at what the base level system can do.

Obviously if you subscribe, you get more scopes, more control, and therefore (in theory) better results.

While the results are noisy and primitive compared to the images seen elsewhere on this forum, I would present the following facts:

1. Setup time was about 20 seconds to log in and take the picture.

2. I did it at the comfort of my desk at work while I was munching on a burger on my lunch break.

3. The imaging progress screen looked like a ICBM launch control system which impressed my co workers.

Anyway; I submit for your viewing pleasure;

M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy (with Supernova!)

M57 - Ring Nebula.

Enjoy!

[Ross G]

Hi Adam,

Great shots.

A good start to astro photography.

This should inspire you to get that Minolta 5D out and start shooting.



Thanks.

Ross.

[kitsuna (Adam)]

heh, maybe for some happy snaps.

I don't have a motorised mount for astrophotography at the moment...

or a scope for that matter. It's currently getting fixed.

We shall see how it goes.

[Ross G]

What lenses do you have for the Minolta 5D?

[kitsuna (Adam)]

I have;

an old Minolta 50mm AF lens

a Tokina 70 - 210 lens

an Exakt 75-300 lens

2 of the standard issue 18 - 70 lens

a 2x teleconverter

and a loreo stereoscopic 3D lens

[Stu Ward]

Nice images.
Being a cynic, how do you know these are actually your images and not just some that have been pulled out of a library ?
I'm sure that a paying customer gets real time on the scope. But a triallist might get a simulation ???

Stu

[kitsuna (Adam)]

Originally Posted by Stu Ward

Nice images.
Being a cynic, how do you know these are actually your images and not just some that have been pulled out of a library ?
I'm sure that a paying customer gets real time on the scope. But a triallist might get a simulation ???

Stu

No stu, that's the exact same thing I thought.

Thing is though, I'm certain it's legit. When I first tried to take a picture, it failed because the moon was in the way. Had to abort the mission.

I also had a look at M51 pictures taken using the same GRAS telescope by another IIS user a little while back (they were also using free time). The differences between mine and theirs were noticeable (especially the satellite trail).

It'd also have to be clever enough to fake "cloud" images for bad or intermittent weather.

Also consider that M51 has got the supernova in it. if they were using stock images, it'd have to be recent stock images.

To carefully orchestrate a series of "fake" images to fool newbies would actually be more work than just using the scope itself.

Besides, it wouldn't be good for business if they used stock images and got caught out.

[Ross G]

Hi Adam,

As you do not have a telescope mount, put the Minolta on a camera tripod with the 18-70 lens at 18mm.
Focus manually and take a number of 30sec exposures of a dense part of the sky like near the Southern Cross or Scorpius. Use 1600asa if your sky is dark enough. The chip in the Minolta 5D has very low noise - use the In Camera Noise Reduction.
Stack them with DeepSkyStacker. You will be surprised at the results.

Better than nothing.


Good luck.


Ross.

[kitsuna (Adam)]

Thanks for the tip ross, I'll give that a go.

Might even post it here if the results are decent enough.

Now all I have to do is wait for the weather to play nice.

I'll also hang out and see if I can get a decent mount and guidescope setup via IIS in the future. What I get will depend on what happens with my Megrez. it's currently back with the dealer to be fixed/replaced. There's a possibility I might swap it for an FLT110 (with a bit of extra cash paid of course). If that happens, I'll have to re-think what sort of mount I'll need.

All down the track for now. Tripod+DSLR and GRAS is about all I can do right now.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

I will agree with this as a good starter, and the lowest F stop you can achieve.

Originally Posted by Ross G

Hi Adam,

As you do not have a telescope mount, put the Minolta on a camera tripod with the 18-70 lens at 18mm.
Focus manually and take a number of 30sec exposures of a dense part of the sky like near the Southern Cross or Scorpius. Use 1600asa if your sky is dark enough. The chip in the Minolta 5D has very low noise - use the In Camera Noise Reduction.
Stack them with DeepSkyStacker. You will be surprised at the results.

Better than nothing.


Good luck.


Ross.

[kitsuna (Adam)]

Originally Posted by mswhin63

I will agree with this as a good starter, and the lowest F stop you can achieve.

The 5D has a wide range of F stop options. 1.7 up to about... 22 I think.

To be honest, I bought this camera a few years ago on the advice of a photographer friend who owned one at the time. He knew that the seller was flogging the final example they had of this camera absolutely dirt cheap compared to retail prices due to the Konica merger with Sony. It was a bargain price, but I never much liked it because I found the response time was quite slow which made it difficult for action shots (which is what I was interested in at the time. This was waaay before I got interested in astronomy and astrophotography again). The accessories I got (about 3/4 of the lenses, a remote shutter control that can be used to do long exposures) from that same friend for nothing, when he upgraded his camera.

Funny thing is, now that I've come to read up on it, and read the manual, I'm finding that it's actually a pretty special camera for the era I bought it in.

Just goes to show what happens when you RTFM.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by kitsuna

3. The imaging progress screen looked like a ICBM launch control system which impressed my co workers.

Should've also had playing the appropriate military sounding music (like the beginning of the theme for the 6 Million Dollar Man)

Nice piccies. BTW