Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Jack16 on March 09, 2011, 08:41:01 PM

Title: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Jack16 on March 09, 2011, 08:41:01 PM

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x311/archywood/Whirlpool.jpg)

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Buzzard7 on March 09, 2011, 08:54:41 PM

Nice shot.
Was there a light source on the right?

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Jack16 on March 09, 2011, 09:29:15 PM

Most likely. I was in a friends backyard and the neighbor behind him has a bright motion sensor light. Of course they had to be outside and set it off. Lol.

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: bcadoo on March 10, 2011, 01:55:20 AM

How long of an exposure?

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Wildcat1 on March 10, 2011, 01:57:03 AM

i'm guessing you used some kind of professional SLR?

you gotta tell me how you did that :O

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: saggs on March 10, 2011, 02:17:42 AM

Quote from: Wildcat1 on March 10, 2011, 01:57:03 AM

i'm guessing you used some kind of professional SLR?

you gotta tell me how you did that :O

Really good astrophotography is actually done with dedicated sensors make just for the job.  You can link up an SLR to a telescope with good results, but the best results come from pretty big CCD sensors with lower resolution (like 6mp) and no anti-alias filter and even built in cooling on some..  Those big lower resolution sensors mean higher sensitivity to light with less noise.

I would love to get into astrophotography, I have done quite a few star-trails images by stacking 30s exposures in PS.  But to really get into it further with a nice telescope, mount, tracker and sensor = $$$$$ that I don't have right now.

Anyway, a very nice image for your first attempt, please do share what gear you used, I'm interested as well?

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: mbailey on March 10, 2011, 05:47:47 AM

Nice Pic Jack  :aok

Love these threads, Where in PA are ya sir?

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: mechanic on March 10, 2011, 05:52:43 AM

that is amazing, well done.

any info on what you used would be great.

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Kermit de frog on March 10, 2011, 08:08:05 AM

WOW!

Absolutely beautiful.


More please.   :)

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Jack16 on March 10, 2011, 09:54:19 AM

Thanks guys! :D

DSLR Camera: Cannon Digital Rebel XSI
Telescope: Meade LXD 10" Schmidt Newtonian
Exposure: 33 images x 30 seconds each @ 800 ISO

Quote from: mbailey on March 10, 2011, 05:47:47 AM

Love these threads, Where in PA are ya sir?

Willow Grove

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: mbailey on March 11, 2011, 03:13:20 PM

Very cool, Im N of Quakertown, and grew up on Lake Nockamixon. Howdy Neighbor  :aok

WG part of my territory for work, nice area

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: CptTrips on March 11, 2011, 03:31:22 PM

Quote from: Jack16 on March 09, 2011, 08:41:01 PM

M51 Whirlpool Galaxy

(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x311/archywood/Whirlpool.jpg)

Good job Jack.  Thats a tough target.

Is that amp glow on the left you think?  Have you tried some dark frame subtraction?

Clear Skies,
Wab

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Jack16 on March 11, 2011, 11:16:08 PM

Quote from: mbailey on March 11, 2011, 03:13:20 PM

Very cool, Im N of Quakertown, and grew up on Lake Nockamixon. Howdy Neighbor  :aok

WG part of my territory for work, nice area

Howdy!! :D

Quote from: AKWabbit on March 11, 2011, 03:31:22 PM

Good job Jack.  Thats a tough target.

Is that amp glow on the left you think?  Have you tried some dark frame subtraction?

Clear Skies,
Wab

I stacked with that Deep Sky Stacker program and I did use darks. I tried editing the final .TIF file in photoshop this time using the channel mixer. I'm not sure if that glow was caused by the neighbor's motion sensor light or because it was the way I was using the channel mixer in PS.

Would you like to try messing with the JPS/RAW images again?

Title: Re: First attempt at a galaxy
Post by: Tupac on March 12, 2011, 12:11:31 AM

Wow! That really puts things into perspective! Nice shot!