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Old 03-04-2012, 09:22 AM
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Meru (Michael)
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My (amateur) adventures in Astrophotography

Hellooooo,

So I wanted so share my experiences at astrophotography, in hope that I can show others it's really not as daunting as it may seem, and also to get feedback Sorry if its a bore to read, Skip to my next post which has the details of the images I've taken to date

3 months ago, i had a 8" newt on a Eq5 mount, which I never even learned how to properly polar align and collimate (Yes I know, dont judge me!). I have a vast amount of experience in photography but never through a scope. I wanted to get into astrophotography and guiding, and considered a 'GOTO' upgrade but for $900 - I just cant justify it After doing research I heard about the 'DIY ST-4' hand controller (www.store.shoestringastronomy.com/eq_mod.pdf), so I decided to buy the hand controller and using my experience in electronics, wired up the ST-4 port. Though mind you, all it requires it just soldering wires to the switches, so its nothing advanced if you dont have much experience in electronics

I bought the Orion's Awesome (The name always crack me up) Auto-guiding package. It includes everything you need to get into Autoguiding. It was very simple; Strap the ST80 to the back of your current scope, and plug your SSAG into your laptop/ST-4 Handcontroller and Viola - Autoguiding on a budget For the imaging device i just used my trusty Nikon D80. Its old, extremely poor high-ISO performance - but I wouldnt trade it for the world All i needed was a t-ring and that's it! Though mind you, took me about 2 hours and a (very embarrassing) trip to bintel to work out where on my scope i mount the t-tring Turns out my 1.25" adapter unscrews into two parts, and theres a thread on one of them where you attach the t-ring.

I've spent many late hours trying to perfect this system, and also the steep learning curve in post-processing. Luckily I have good experience in Photoshop so most of my post-editing is done there, and to stack it I find Deepspace Sky Stacker (DSS) very good. And its free! I researched for days about darks, lights, flat fields, experimenting with stacking settings. Only after my first images and all this effort - did i realise, i had no idea if my newt was even collimated! The last time i tried collimating was about 3 years ago (yea, i really am a beginner huh?) and to be honest just pretended I knew what I was doing but in reality i didnt know So I spent a whole day reading up about all the reflections you can see through my Cheshire collimating eyepiece. it took me a while but eventually i got the hang of it and now collimating takes me no more than 5/10min

Since then I've also bought an 80ED, which is so amazing, I think everyone needs to buy one they're that amazing! So what was the result of all this effort and money and late nights? I've attached images of my hard-work. They are by no means as stunning as some of the more dedicated astronomers here, and other beginners probably have taken better images than me. But i'm very happy with how far I've come with all this, its just so rewarding knowing how hard-work pays off. I've attached images of my setup, and in my next post I'll number the images in order of date taken, and a brief description about them.
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Old 03-04-2012, 09:27 AM
Poita (Peter)
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Nice read, can't wait to see the images.
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Old 03-04-2012, 09:46 AM
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Meru (Michael)
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Bearing in mind I live about 30km away from Melbourne city in the SE Suburbs

1. My first ever guided image of the M42. The white balance was wayyy off, but I still thought it was the best image ever! 2x30Sec exposure @ 800 ISO, no darks, 8" Newt

2. After more research on stacking, importance of darks etc, I got this. I changed my mind, this was the best image ever 3x5.5min + 2x2min + 3x15sec, 4 Darks, 1 Flatfield @ISO1000, 8" Newt


3. I decided to give something else a go, and since Eta Carina was rising, I decided to go for it. I still didn't quite have the hang of post-processing so this image isn't very clear, a bit of star drift too. 3x30sec + 1x60sec Lights, 3x30sec Darks, 1 Flatfield @ISO1000, 8" Newt. Total exposure time of 2.5min

4. The big one. I borrowed my first D90 which has considerably less noise and a 12-bit readout. I didn't have a long exposure cable, so all images were limited to 30sec. But i was totally blown away with this, even though I managed to screw up the colour balance 22x30sec Light + 9x30sec Dark images @ ISO3200, 8" Newt

5. My favourite image of all my star clusters, NGC 3766 (The pearl cluster). As you can see, I started understanding how to post-process much better now. 7x30secs Lights + 4x30sec Darks @ ISO2500 with a D90. Total exposure time of 3min30sec, taken with the 80ED

6. IC 2602 (Southern Pleadies). Love the way the 80ED renders the stars, the way they glow. 16x30secs Lights + 4x30sec Darks @ ISO2500 with a D90. Total exposure time of 8min, taken with the 80ED

---------------------------------------------

7. For my whole life I've wanted to see, let alone photograph, a galaxy. For me I considered it the pinnacle of my photography and passions that I have, but never at this age and *especially* not from my backyard.

Ive looked at photos of this galaxy which came with my first astronomy software that was given with my first crappy telescope over 7 years ago. I know its not much to look at, but for me I'll never forget this image.

I also wanted to add that I found the galaxy just by comparing star
sharts to what I could see with my eyes, and roughly working out where
it is relative to other stars. I dont bother properly polar aligning my scope yet, I just wing it Its almost so dim that i couldnt even see it through the 8" . I had to photograph small patches at a time to work out
exactly where it was and within my camera's FOV, took me 1.5 hours just to find it. 90x30secs Lights + 41x30sec Darks @ISO6400 with a D90. Total exposure time of 45min, taken with the 80ED.

8. Retaken with my 8", more detail in the arms though only 40 lights. The moon started to come out and everything became washed out. Have to wait a month now! 40x30secs Lights + 20x30sec Darks @ ISO6400 a Maria's D90. Total exposure time of 20min, taken with the 8" Newt


---------------------------------------------

So I hope you've all enjoyed reading my (lengthy, and i apologise for its length) adventures into astronomy. I wanted to give back after getting so much from this hobby (dare i say passion now? Hell yea!). I hope this has helped out someone who was just as confused as me when i started, and any feedback on where I can improve would be great.

Clear skies!

Meru
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Old 03-04-2012, 09:48 AM
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Meru (Michael)
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Thanks Peter Without your generosity, I wouldn't have seen the ice caps on mars or the cassini divison on saturn. Forever etched into my mind
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Old 03-04-2012, 11:02 AM
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Meru,

That's brilliant progress. very impressive. I like the round stars in the NGC 3766. your orion is really good with some nice details.
Keep at it.
what you've managed with the mount is impressive.
I'm in the Eastern suburbs, a catch up / joint imaging session would be great.
I remember the time I was hunting around for sombrero from my back yard. the first galaxy is always a thrill and I had to wake my family up at 3 am the first time I saw saturn!
look forward to more.
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Old 03-04-2012, 03:12 PM
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Meru (Michael)
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Thanks alistairsam, it's enjoyable being able to capture things you can't see with your own eyes. Lol! I remember when I first photographed the M83, I also ran inside and annoyed everyone Sombrero is my next target, once the moon turns new.

A joint session/catch up would be great! I'll probably get in touch closer to May once we hit new moon, more things to capture. Thanks for your feedback
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Old 03-04-2012, 04:58 PM
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Meru, this is a great an inspirational story. Your pictures are fantastic and I can't wait to see more of them!

Cheers,

Eric
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Old 04-04-2012, 02:58 PM
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Meru (Michael)
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Thanks Eric! I usually end up imaging in batches, few targets in one go, so defintely will upload more as they come Thanks for reading
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Old 04-04-2012, 03:29 PM
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MGTechDVP (Mariusz)
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Meru, I enjoyed reading your article... the images are great.

Can't wait to see more.


Mariusz
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Old 06-04-2012, 04:21 PM
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Meru (Michael)
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Thanks Mariusz, I'm also very impressed by your astronomical collection Out of curiosity, how do your Imaging Source cameras perform? Have you uploaded any sample pics here? I'd love to see, as I'm thinking about getting a dedicated CCD imager.
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Old 06-04-2012, 04:25 PM
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Sorry scrap that, I just found a few. Amazing work! Especially the planets
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