Astrophotography

[CptTrips]

Finished processing some of my image runs from last weekend.  These two are the pick of the litter.

(Warning: these are large images.  About 1mb each.  I just didn't have the heart to crop them.  )

The vicinity around crater Eratosthenses (the crater near the center of view).  Something interesting to note in this field is the almost completely filled crater to the lower left of Eratosthenses: Stadius.  Its been almost completely filled by lava flow.  I honestly didn't even notice it at the eyepiece, but it caught my eye during processing.
http://jasonirby.net/Astronomy/Lunar/EratosthenesVicinity_lrg.png


Good old Clavius (the large crater towards the left of the frame).  Always a favorite.  The whole area of the Southern Highlands has been so pounded it looks like someone has taken a shotgun to it.  Clavius, btw, is the crater in which that the original Monolith was supposed to have been found buried in Clarke's "2001: a Space Odyssey".
http://jasonirby.net/Astronomy/Lunar/ClaviusVicinity_lrg.png

Thanks for looking. 

Wab

[moot]

Very nice .. There's some really nice lava shots recently from the Mercury probe as well, you can see the layers really well in this one.. 

Sort of off topic too - would you hesitate much between a D90 and a 450D, strictly from an astropics pov?  If price weren't a consideration.

[xNOVAx]

Fantastic shots Wabbit.. You must have an incredible scope to get those pictures.. 

[red26]

Can I ask what kind of scope you are using my friend wants to get a really good scope for him and his girl.


Wonderfull picks by the way. <S>

[007Rusty]

very cool 

[Motherland]

I love your pics Wabbit!

[CptTrips]

Very nice .. There's some really nice lava shots recently from the Mercury probe as well, you can see the layers really well in this one.. 

Sort of off topic too - would you hesitate much between a D90 and a 450D, strictly from an astropics pov?  If price weren't a consideration.

Thanks for the encouraging words all.


Moot,

I'm not much of a camera expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt.  If it were me, I would lean to the Canons.  There are people who are doing great AP with Nikons.  They are good cameras.  However, in AP, the preponderance of preference defintely leans to Canon.  I think mainly due to lens choices, software support, and in the past at least, lower noise.  Here is a thread that discusses some of this topic:
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/2744335/page/6/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

Now, a DSLR is really only for deep sky stuff like nebulas, galaxies, etc.  If its hires planetary/lunar/solar stuff you are interested in, then you need an entirely different kind of camera for best results. like:
http://www.theimagingsource.com/en/topics/firewire-cameras-at-the-imaging-source/

Regards,
Wab

[CptTrips]

Can I ask what kind of scope you are using my friend wants to get a really good scope for him and his girl.


Wonderfull picks by the way. <S>

Red,

These pics were taken with a 12" Meade LX200GPS SMT.  I also use a Televue 102mm for wide field stuff.

Clear Skies,
Wab

[Curlew]

very nice

[moot]

Thanks Wab

[nirvana]

Excellent pictures as always, Wabbit.

[CptTrips]

Very nice .. There's some really nice lava shots recently from the Mercury probe as well, you can see the layers really well in this one.. 

Sort of off topic too - would you hesitate much between a D90 and a 450D, strictly from an astropics pov?  If price weren't a consideration.

Moot,

One other data point to consider.  Check into which cameras can be "modded".  For AP DSLR's can be modified by removing the IR cutoff filter on the chip.  Many of the targets you will photograph will be deep red Hydrogen emission nebula and most of that light get cut off by these filters.  Removing them can greatly increase the cameras sensitivity.  You can still even use it for daytime photography by using a custom white balence I believe.  I know the Canon can have this mod done,  I don't know about the Nikon.  Google a guy named "Hap Griffen".  He is one of the sources that will do this mod for you.

Wab 

[moot]

Got the D90 and remembered to double check everything but this post before making the purchase.. So I dont know if it's possible to mod it or not.. I cant find a webpage detailing how to go about contacting this Mr Griffin, or his rates etc. My dad's a 30 year + electronics tinkerer though, so I should be able to figure something out.. And it's worth it, because I just went out on the roof to try it out on night shots for the first time... And with 30 seconds exposures I had a hard time not having too much light even at ISO 200 (on that 18-105mm nikkor, if that matters)!  
It's great.. I'd checked out the technical reviews and saw that it had even or better noise ratio up to 600 or 800 ISO, compared to the 450D (rebel XSI right?). Moon shots are gonna be a lot easier than I expected.

So I had a question: At 30" I get blurring, and it looks like the earth's rotation. Is that right, or is the tripod moving? I never really paid attention, but I guess that's why pretty much everyone uses trackers? I had figured it was for convenience when you've got a dedicated camera that never needs to come off the mount.

[WilldCrd]

  I keep getting the dreaded error 404 file or directory not found 
tried on 2 seperat puters on 2 seperate connections (1 at home with fios 20/5 and the other on my laptop using wireless at work)

[BigR]

Got the D90 and remembered to double check everything but this post before making the purchase.. So I dont know if it's possible to mod it or not.. I cant find a webpage detailing how to go about contacting this Mr Griffin, or his rates etc. My dad's a 30 year + electronics tinkerer though, so I should be able to figure something out.. And it's worth it, because I just went out on the roof to try it out on night shots for the first time... And with 30 seconds exposures I had a hard time not having too much light even at ISO 200 (on that 18-105mm nikkor, if that matters)!  
It's great.. I'd checked out the technical reviews and saw that it had even or better noise ratio up to 600 or 800 ISO, compared to the 450D (rebel XSI right?). Moon shots are gonna be a lot easier than I expected.

So I had a question: At 30" I get blurring, and it looks like the earth's rotation. Is that right, or is the tripod moving? I never really paid attention, but I guess that's why pretty much everyone uses trackers? I had figured it was for convenience when you've got a dedicated camera that never needs to come off the mount.

Moot, when photographing the night sky, you will get more star blur as you head away from the North Pole. If you photograph the pole star and the stars around it, you will get a lot less movement than if you took shots of outer stars. Also, remember your focal length will dictate your exposure times. A wider focal length will appear to have less motion blur than a zoomed in one. When I take night photos, I use my 12-24 F4 wide angle lens. If you go to http://rmahoney.carbonmade.com/, click on the "Places" section. There are a few examples with stars that I took over the past couple years.