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Author Topic: Anyone interested in Astronomy?  (Read 1009 times)

Offline RixPJ

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Anyone interested in Astronomy?
« on: January 19, 2007, 12:21:45 PM »
Hello All.  I'm new to the community here but I think it is safe to say that I will be hanging around.  Some of you may remember me from the 'other' MMOG WW2 sim although I have not played that in over 2 years now..

I thought I would share with you guys some of the images I have taken while doing my main hobby - astronomy and astro-imaging.  I won't bore you with the technical details unless asked, so here is a small selection of my images.  Click on the thumbnails for full size.

Discovery and the ISS taken last month less than an hour after separation.


M33 - The Triangulum Galaxy


M1 - The Crab Nebula


Saturn (of course)


The Eastern Veil Nebula


The Horsehead and Flame Nebulae


The Western Veil Nebula



It is amazing what you can take a picture of from your back yard :).

Anyone else here into Astronomy and imaging?


Paul
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Offline Helrazr1

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« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2007, 12:24:29 PM »
Some pretty cool pix in there.  Just curious, what kind of equipment does it take, and what is the cost?
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Offline SkyRock

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« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2007, 12:26:58 PM »
Ahh!  One of my favorites, the horsehead nebula!  I taught advanced integrated science for 8 years.  Astronomy is/was always my favorite, right in front of genetics and micro-evolution!  <> and welcome!
Mark:aok
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Offline Hornet33

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« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2007, 12:34:44 PM »
I used to be into it a long time ago. Ended up having to sell my scope to pay some bills and never got back into it. Kinda sucks but now that I'm older and finacialy secure I've been thinking about getting back into it. I'd like to get myself a nice Meade scope.
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Offline Schatzi

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Anyone interested in Astronomy?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2007, 12:36:08 PM »
Wow. Thanks for a new desktop :) - those pics are awesome!!

Im very interested in Astronomy, I actually "majored" in it in high school (German schooling system is much different, I chose Physics/Astronomy as Oral for my final school exam - had to hold a 20 min report on black holes... ended up discussing electrons and relativity with my teacher).


But I never got so far as having my own telescope or imaging. So much of interest to do, and so little time.



If you keep them pictures (and stories) coming, welcome to Aces High!! ;)
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Offline RixPJ

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« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2007, 12:38:51 PM »
Glad you like them :) .  I do need to apologise for posting this thread here (I thought I was in the O'Club but I guess I was mistaken).  Mods, please feel free to move the thread.


The telescopes I use are a Meade 10in LX200 SCT and an Orion ED80 refractor.
I have three USB cameras I use for imaging..  the Meade DSI Pro II, DSI Pro and a Philips SPC900NC webcam.  Here is a recent photo of my rig.

« Last Edit: January 19, 2007, 12:43:12 PM by RixPJ »
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Offline Schatzi

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« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2007, 12:43:36 PM »
Please dont apologise! I probably wouldve missed them in the OClub, since I rarely ever go there. ;)
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Offline Benny Moore

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« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2007, 01:22:35 PM »
Thanks, very cool!  Out of curiosity, did you have to color those images or do they really show up like that?  I didn't think that small telescopes could pick up those things at all, let alone so clearly.
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Offline RixPJ

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« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2007, 01:32:29 PM »
For the deep space objects I use the DSI cameras which are black and white.  I shoot through special colour filters (Red, Green and Blue) plus an extra set without colour for 'Luminosity'.  I then take the RGB sets and combine them in Photoshop to get a colour image.  After that I add the luminosity data as a layer on top of the colour image (most of the fine detail is in the luminosity layer, the colour data is really just used to colour that layer).  Kind of hard to explain but it is not that hard to do once you have done it a few times.
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Offline bozon

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« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2007, 01:34:45 PM »
I'm doing X-ray astronomy (working on my PhD). Trouble is - I can't do it from my back yard and I don't have a billion dollars for my own project, so I need the kind assistance of NASA and ESA :)

I'm not very versed in the details of optical astronomy but these are VERY good pictures. I didn't know you could get this quality with a home telescope. How long exposures did you need?

BTW, the crab nebula has an excelent movie in X-ray from the Chandra space telescope. I've seen a VJ use it as a psycodelic movie in a club to go with the music :)
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Offline RixPJ

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« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2007, 01:44:55 PM »
Bozon, thanks for the compliment.  The way the DSI camera work is to stack a large number of short exposures.  Typically I use 60 second exposures and stack up to 100 of these for Luminance and then 45-60 exposures each for red, green and blue.

The equipment is not cheap, but then again not all that expensive if you shop around and are willing to buy second hand.  I got the LX200 used for about $1800 with a bunch of extras, the ED80 was about $350 used.  The DSI Pro II is $700 with filters and the DSI Pro that I use for autoguiding was about $300 used.  If you include my laptop, the whole setup was under $4000 which is not huge money compared to a lot of hobbies.  I have to admit though that this is not the only astro gear we have (my wife is very much into astronomy too).  She does mainly visual observing though and is very good at sketching what she see's through the eyepiece.
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Offline Westy

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« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2007, 02:31:49 PM »
Hey :)  Nice pictures!

I saw your post back in 2005 on AGW and bought one of those 6" Dobsians. Not had a lot of time in 2006 to use it but looking forward to getting it set up when the weather warms up more here in the US Northeast this spring (well, warmer than it's already been anyway;) )

and welcome to AH.
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Offline JohnnyT

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« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2007, 02:57:16 PM »
They are amazing pictures.. just reminds me how small we are.

I don't remember you from the 'other' game.. you must have fought on the wrong side :D
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Offline RixPJ

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« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2007, 03:01:55 PM »
Westy, good to see you!  It is good to see some familiar names here.


JohnnyT, :)  I used to be =rix== and before that rixrix.  As I said, it was a while ago.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2007, 03:04:24 PM by RixPJ »
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Offline nirvana

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« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2007, 05:48:55 PM »
Those pictures are great, space provides some of the best images I've ever seen.  I might take astronomy next year in as a senior in high school.  I hear it's extremely easy but I'll give you a shout if I need any help:aok
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