First light, Furry Friends, The Milkyway and a bright ISS pass-over.

[Lumen Miner (Mitchell)]

Thanks Ron. Correction, Satellite not ISS.



Hi all!!

First I would like to thank everyone, whom assisted my choice of DSLR. I ended up getting a 350D, with tamron lense for a very resonable price. It is pleasant using the view finder, I find it easy to spot even dim stars and focus. I have briefly used a live-view before, so I know how good it is. I still like the feeling of being "in the dark" so to speak.

I got out last night, to aquire some first light on the camera.

I apologise for the composition, yet I was trying to capture the ISS (I'm not even sure that is what it was, wasn't a plane though, way too high), my star gazing buddies and a glimce of the milky way (also not sure if that is what the glowing area is.).

This exposure was 30 sec, as I don't have a remote yet. I had some (still do) star trails and hot pixels. I removed these by enlarging the image, sampling the adjacent pixel colour then blotting the tails and hot pixels out. Looks bad still, but better than blue and red dots everywhere. The star tails still need a bit of work. Really need to work on taking darks. Still haven't got the whole gist of it yet....


With those parameters and the fact I have only ever owned point'n'shoots, I think I did alright...

Thanks for looking, I would appreciate ANY comments. Good or bad. I just got smacked in the face with a huge vertical learning curve, so any assistance would be great.


Can you spot my mates hanging out, enjoying the view too? The one on the left is easy spotted, the one on the right moved a bit during the exposure.

[astroron (Ron)]

I see your Possum Buddies
The satellite is probably rotating thats why you have the gaps between the dots

[Lumen Miner (Mitchell)]

Originally Posted by astroron

I see your Possum Buddies
The satellite is probably rotating thats why you have the gaps between the dots

Oh! I was assuming it was a blinking light, is it a solid state, but rotating? Interesting indeed.

The possums are out every night with me. The timer noise makes them stop munching my trees, for 20 or so secs to join in on the capture.

[astroron (Ron)]

Satellites come in all shapes and sizes, hexagonal Round and even the ISS which is long with lots of panels
The Satellites that you see blinking are usually of the hexagonal type, with even the possibility of a wing like solar panel on top.
If you see one that flashes and you have a pair of binoculars, have a look and you may see a number of smaller flashes in between the big flashes, the big flashes being when the wing like solar panels catch the sun
If you look at your picture you will see a number of smaller dots in amongst the big dots

[renormalised (Carl)]

You can do either of two things to get rid of the star trailing....take lots of short subs and stack them to get an image, or get an EQ mount and camera attachment. Then later on, you can get a scope for your mount and then embark on the slippery slide to the dark side of the Force

You definitely have a dimmish Milky Way there....that faint cloud like glow across the top of your piccie

[Lumen Miner (Mitchell)]

Originally Posted by renormalised

You can do either of two things to get rid of the star trailing....take lots of short subs and stack them to get an image, or get an EQ mount and camera attachment.

I am building an electric double arm Barn door at the moment.

I have modified the standard screw drive system, by utilising a car jacks internal mechanism. Not sure if it with produce the goods, but by my calcs it should be a very tight mech, with no play to it. Anyway that's another story really...

[renormalised (Carl)]

I hope it works!!!!. Post some piccies

[Lumen Miner (Mitchell)]

Still constructing the lift arm. I need to find a hinge with no play.