Anyone into Astrophotography?

[HoffmanMyster]

Fellow geekhackers!  Is anyone into astrophotography at all?  I figure that with so many of us taking such wonderful pictures of close-ups, maybe some of us also take pictures far away?

I'm not currently involved in this hobby, but it does interest me greatly.  So does anyone have a setup they'd like to share?  Part of the reason for making this is to start a discussion, and part is to gather intel on a good setup to start with. 

I am well aware that there are other communities for astrophotography, but I intend for this to not only be informative, but also a location where we can discuss and share photos.   

[ComradeSniper]

I've done a little bit of long exposure stuff with star paths (which is actually more difficult than I initially expected) but I know nothing at all about true astrophotography. I'd love to learn, of course   

[HoffmanMyster]

I've done a little bit of long exposure stuff with star paths (which is actually more difficult than I initially expected) but I know nothing at all about true astrophotography. I'd love to learn, of course   

You should post some pics!    And I'd imagine it's probably really easy to get some good shots up in Montana, if you go away from the city. 

I'm getting closer and closer to figuring out what kind of setup I want, so hopefully within a month I'll have made some purchases and can contribute a little more to this thread.      As much as I love my mirrorless camera, it simply doesn't have a useful bulb exposure, which is a little disappointing. 

[ComradeSniper]

No way, I need a lot more practice 

My mom's place is a few miles outside of a town of only 2,000 people, so there's pretty much no ambient light and the sky on a clear night is beautiful. It makes a perfect place to do astrophotography.

The main issue I've run in to is that the sensor heats up a bunch and makes all my long exposures really noisy. I need to play around with taking a set of 30-60 second exposures and stitching them together in photoshop but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. This is probably astrophotography 101, but I am a noob  )

[EpicSNES]

Last few months I joined the astroimaging club with my local astronomy organization. My friend got a Canon Rebel dslr and we're planning to go out camping to take our first pictures of space pretty soon. I'll be sure to post them back here when we're done but I'm not too certain when that'll be exactly.

[ddot]

[tjcaustin]

I'll probably get more into it with the new camera and lenses

[HoffmanMyster]

Show Image

Nice setup.  :)  Have any shots you've taken that you'd like to share?

I'll probably get more into it with the new camera and lenses

Yay!  I still need to buy my new camera (stupid keyboards getting in the way), but after I do I'll start spamming this thread.

[tjcaustin]

My current keyboard plans might get in the way of me getting lenses.

[Melvang]

No way, I need a lot more practice 

My mom's place is a few miles outside of a town of only 2,000 people, so there's pretty much no ambient light and the sky on a clear night is beautiful. It makes a perfect place to do astrophotography.

The main issue I've run in to is that the sensor heats up a bunch and makes all my long exposures really noisy. I need to play around with taking a set of 30-60 second exposures and stitching them together in photoshop but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. This is probably astrophotography 101, but I am a noob  )

Have you tried in the winter?  Being in Montana it would be cold enough to help prevent overheating the sensor.  I have not tried it, but have read this tip in multiple places.

Not only does this help with the sensor but supposedly it helps with image quality due to much less dust in the air and the optical density of the atmosphere.

[ynrozturk]

I plan on doing this but I need some better lenses.

There's this guy called Nicholas Buer who is awesome at it. Check him out here - Not a valid vimeo URL

[ddot]

Show Image

Nice setup.  :)  Have any shots you've taken that you'd like to share?

Thanks Hoff.  Unfortunately I have yet to get my telescope and camera connected, so for now the telescope is for viewing only.

I made the previous picture with a long exposure (~8 sec), which allowed the Big Dipper to appear in the background, while "painting" the telescope with a flashlight throughout the exposure.

By far my biggest problem is dealing with the Earth's rotation.  All those stars that had always seemed pretty stationary suddenly started moving pretty fast when I tried photographing them.  It depends on what lens I'm using, but anything over about 15 sec is pretty tough.

Some sort of barn door tracker should next on my to do list.

[ddot]

Below are a couple of my better ones.  3 pictures, progressively zooming in on the Pleiades.

[ddot]

One more.  This one is of the Northern Lights with a few stars in the background.

[HoffmanMyster]

One more.  This one is of the Northern Lights with a few stars in the background.

Show Image

I love it!  I'm exceedingly jealous that you're far enough north to have access to the Northern Lights.  I just get cold weather and snow without that benefit.  :))

As for your tracker, have you considered an automated mount?  Or are you more interested in cost savings (the barn door tracker looks great for the cost)?

I look forward to seeing more of what you capture.   :thumb:

[Puddsy]

i dig space

[ddot]

As for your tracker, have you considered an automated mount?  Or are you more interested in cost savings (the barn door tracker looks great for the cost)?

I look forward to seeing more of what you capture.   

I was mostly just thinking of the barn door as a simpler place to start.  See if it lives up to expectations and maybe get a feel for what features I’d want in an automated version.

I’ll have to take a look through my photo collection and see what else I can find.  I know a lot of my attempts have been rather underwhelming, but I can probably find a few more that are worth sharing.

[ddot]

A couple more.

Moon:




Moon during a lunar eclipse:

[JaccoW]

I would love to, but I live here:


And with the some of the largest greenhouses around the world just around the corner, quite often we can't even see any stars. The yellow glow from the clouds are kind of cool though.

[OldDataHands]

Then you need to go for something like:

transit of venus in 2012 w/ cell phone camera through eyepiece of scope w/ H-alpha filter.

[Puddsy]

everyone likes space pictures

[tbc]

do you actually have to head out of the city to take pics?

is downtown vancouver too bright?

i'm getting a rokinon 12mm in a few weeks and apparently it's gawdly at astro.

[Melvang]

do you actually have to head out of the city to take pics?

is downtown vancouver too bright?

i'm getting a rokinon 12mm in a few weeks and apparently it's gawdly at astro.

Probably, I have read that the light pollution from Las Vegas can affect night time shots up to 25 miles away.

[HoffmanMyster]

do you actually have to head out of the city to take pics?

is downtown vancouver too bright?

i'm getting a rokinon 12mm in a few weeks and apparently it's gawdly at astro.

You can still take shots, but they won't be nearly as good.  I'm planning to drive out to the farms when I get my setup and start taking pictures.  If that's not feasible you can still get cool pictures, you just won't be able to see as much (much like the difference in star-level you can see with your naked eye).

[vivalarevolución]

do you actually have to head out of the city to take pics?

is downtown vancouver too bright?

i'm getting a rokinon 12mm in a few weeks and apparently it's gawdly at astro.

Probably, I have read that the light pollution from Las Vegas can affect night time shots up to 25 miles away.

I've been 100 miles from Vegas and you can a pink glow from the lights.  It's awful.  Luckily, Nevada has a lot more territory farther away from Vegas.

[tbc]

so i got my lens...but everytime i open my door, i nearly drown from the rain.

no astro shots for awhile -_-

[tbc]

sorry for necro


here, I finally got a decent tripod.  So I thought it'd be a great time for astro.  unfortunately, they also fixed the broken street lamp in my alley which is a really damning situation -_-.

here's what happened:



so ya, we got a whole screenload of 'street lamp.'

but MAYBE, we can postprocess and actually get something?  here's the jpeg:



um...not so hot.  let's try the RAW file:





also, not so hot, but at least we got a single 'star' right?  here's a friendly reminder to shoot with RAW because it's alot easier to fix a mediocre photo and make it shine (i knew my photo was beyond recover from the beginning)

[Joey Quinn]

Not my pic but this was taken tuesday night near my school. I was about 15 miles north where the lights were brighter.

[slip84]

I took some pictures when I was back home last fall. With a ****ty tripod and a really old DSLR:





Now I live in Toronto, so that's not going to happen. I'll have to travel north a bit.

[HoffmanMyster]

CROSS POST


Supermoon Eclipse by HoffmanMyster, on Flickr

Let's get some more posts in here! 

[rowdy]

We need more pictures in this thread!

[byker]

So my school recently finished building an observatory, and a coworker/friend who is into astrophotography and space in general has access to it. I have definitely spent a few nights in there - its amazing!

Here is a picture that my friend took from our observatory

[rowdy]

Cool!

[HoffmanMyster]

So my school recently finished building an observatory, and a coworker/friend who is into astrophotography and space in general has access to it. I have definitely spent a few nights in there - its amazing!

Here is a picture that my friend took from our observatory

That's so cool!!!  This is awesome, thanks for posting.  (I know I can find similar pictures anywhere online, but it's really neat knowing that an "amateur" or friend took the picture )

[inanis]

I tried to take some shots last night during the eclipse. I wasn't super successful because I don't have a good tripod, but here is what I came away with:

Full Moon:


Partial Eclipse:

[ideus]

This thread is awesome.

[byker]

So my school recently finished building an observatory, and a coworker/friend who is into astrophotography and space in general has access to it. I have definitely spent a few nights in there - its amazing!

Here is a picture that my friend took from our observatory

That's so cool!!!  This is awesome, thanks for posting.  (I know I can find similar pictures anywhere online, but it's really neat knowing that an "amateur" or friend took the picture )

Yeah I got a bit of a personal tour at the end of the night and it is super awesome. Basically they have this computer with this program that has a map of the sky, and you can type in or select any stars/planets/anything and then the dome and the scope both move into the correct position to see whatever you selected! And it has an eyepiece and a camera built in, so you can do both quite easily!

[HoffmanMyster]

So my school recently finished building an observatory, and a coworker/friend who is into astrophotography and space in general has access to it. I have definitely spent a few nights in there - its amazing!

Here is a picture that my friend took from our observatory

That's so cool!!!  This is awesome, thanks for posting.  (I know I can find similar pictures anywhere online, but it's really neat knowing that an "amateur" or friend took the picture )

Yeah I got a bit of a personal tour at the end of the night and it is super awesome. Basically they have this computer with this program that has a map of the sky, and you can type in or select any stars/planets/anything and then the dome and the scope both move into the correct position to see whatever you selected! And it has an eyepiece and a camera built in, so you can do both quite easily!

Gahhhhhh, I need dis...!

* HoffmanMyster searches for local observatory

[byker]

Yes you do! That photo I posted above took I think 4 hours to take, and is made up of approximately 400 pictures, each with an exposure time of 2 or 3 minutes iirc.

[rowdy]

So my school recently finished building an observatory, and a coworker/friend who is into astrophotography and space in general has access to it. I have definitely spent a few nights in there - its amazing!

Here is a picture that my friend took from our observatory

That's so cool!!!  This is awesome, thanks for posting.  (I know I can find similar pictures anywhere online, but it's really neat knowing that an "amateur" or friend took the picture )

Yeah I got a bit of a personal tour at the end of the night and it is super awesome. Basically they have this computer with this program that has a map of the sky, and you can type in or select any stars/planets/anything and then the dome and the scope both move into the correct position to see whatever you selected! And it has an eyepiece and a camera built in, so you can do both quite easily!

One of those would fit very nicely in my back yard!

Probably have to demolish the shed.  And the garage.  And maybe the houses on either side.  But worth it!

[SamirD]

Some seriously awesome shots!  I have yet to get a decent shot of the moon with any of my current cameras, but none of them are really good for the night (not very sensitive sensors).

[byker]

So my school recently finished building an observatory, and a coworker/friend who is into astrophotography and space in general has access to it. I have definitely spent a few nights in there - its amazing!

Here is a picture that my friend took from our observatory

That's so cool!!!  This is awesome, thanks for posting.  (I know I can find similar pictures anywhere online, but it's really neat knowing that an "amateur" or friend took the picture )

Yeah I got a bit of a personal tour at the end of the night and it is super awesome. Basically they have this computer with this program that has a map of the sky, and you can type in or select any stars/planets/anything and then the dome and the scope both move into the correct position to see whatever you selected! And it has an eyepiece and a camera built in, so you can do both quite easily!

One of those would fit very nicely in my back yard!

Probably have to demolish the shed.  And the garage.  And maybe the houses on either side.  But worth it!

Hah! The one at my school is pretty small actually.. About a garage size..

[SamirD]

Kinda mildly on topic, but if you love the space shots and stuff and are in LA, go to the Griffith observatory.    It's a really cool place to visit.

[HoffmanMyster]

Kinda mildly on topic, but if you love the space shots and stuff and are in LA, go to the Griffith observatory.    It's a really cool place to visit.

That's totally on topic.    Frankly, any space talk is on topic here.    I just started the thread with a photography spin to it, but anything is good here.

[cmadrid]

I want my own observatory to play with

[SamirD]

Where my brother and I grew up in Alabama, you could literally sit at around 2am and the entire sky would be filled with stars.  I almost forgot how clear it was there until he and I visited there recently and looked up at the sky again.  Literally a thousand stars like in this photo posted earlier:

[njbair]

I would love to do stuff like this but I spend all my hobby money on keyboards.

[HoffmanMyster]

I would love to do stuff like this but I spend all my hobby money on keyboards.

  That was my problem for the longest time too.  ) 

Gotta summon that willpower!!

[cmadrid]

Or just have kids, then you won't h ave to worry about hobby money