Reading mode: Light Dark

Andromeda Galaxy

Go to last post
erichK said:
It's a good picture, and certainly an accomplishment that anyone who
has tried astrophotography with relatively simple equipment will
appleciate.

I used to be much more active in amateur astronomy, but now only
occasionally put together my CG-11, which stands on a hill behind our
rural house as I write. My occasional tries at astrophotos with my
OM-1;s and OM2 produced much worse results, back in the film day,
even after I'd disassembled the Losmandy mount and regreased it with
silicone grease, and repeatedly polar-aligned very carefully,
Click to expand...
Yes, let us consider the poor souls who used to do 1-2 hour exposures on film, with hand-guided scopes!

--



'I cried because I had no E-3. Then I met a man with no E-510'

Olympus E-410, E-330, Nikon D100 (IR) & Pentax K20D.
57 lenses of various types from most brands.
 
It looks like they thought of everything! No more red cellophane over the lens of a flashlight. :D

--

'When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.' -- Jacob Riis

Stay Well,
Pete K.
 
I was looking at baffle tube diameters of different SCTs and it occured to me that the APS sensor might vignette with a C8...

8" SCT at f10 has a 38mm baffle tube diameter...
8" SCT at f6.3 has a 24mm baffle tube diameter...

Which is larger than the diagonal of an APS sensor, but fits nicely within the 22mm 4/3rds sensor...

If I use my 0.5 reducer stacked on top of my f6.3 reducer, I get a nifty f3.15 and a 12mm baffle tube diameter-- which is just right for my DSI-3 2/3-type sensor, which has a 11mm diagonal!

I used the ccd calculator on astronomics.com and found out the fov of this combo is 0.8 degrees-- easily enough to image the full moon in one shot and many dso's!

--
http://Alex_the_GREAT.photoshop.com
 
Olyinaz said:
My observatory was a day's work to erect if you don't count building
the spot to put it. And it's made by a Canadian company! :-)

http://www.skyshedpod.com
Click to expand...
Wow! for the first time, ever, I am really tempted to put up a permanent observatory, as my poor CG-11 endures occasional 60-80 kmh winds, waiting for the rare nights when I have the fortitude to haul my aging carcass and diverse accessories out of the warm house and into the cold night.

After helping in the construction and moving of observatory comes and equipment both the Sudbury Astronomy Club and the Saskatoon RASC / University of Saskatchwewan dark sky observatory (atr a site I located and helped to acquire, and seeing many other domes and roll-offs and sheds, I more or less gave up on the idea. For one thing, as Terrnece Dickenson warned me, once you build your observatory, it's almost inevitable that a shopping centre will open in the middle of your southern sky. For another, most domes seem calustrophobic to those of us who love being out in nature at night. And finally, most such structures were large and awkward, even occasionally dangerous buildings, difficult to build and more difficult to remove.

This looks different! - but is it a bit cramped?
Olyinaz said:
The weight on the corrector plate of an SCT telescope isn't much of
an issue because the glass is thick and the secondary mirror weighs
quite a bit in the first place (and it gets removed to install the
Hyperstar). The system was originally envisioned and marketed by
Celestron so obviously they didn't think it was an issue either.
Click to expand...
Is this a tricky operation, or are there clear and intuive click stope. markings, etc.
If so, then its one more argument for the E-30 to have weatherproofing!
Olyinaz said:
Did you say you have a Losmandy G11 mount? What kind of optics?
Click to expand...
The standard 1992 or so Celestron C-11 on the (G) German Equatorial Losmady mount, with a number of minor modifications to the mount, but none - not even collimation - to the optical tube, though that was initially returned, and came back much better. It's an optically good to very good scope, but needs cleaning and collimation (which I've never dare on an SCT).
Olyinaz said:
Best,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz
Click to expand...
likewise, and sorry to go on so...but your images get me excited!
--
erichK
saskatoon, canada

http://erichk.zenfolio.com/

http://www.fototime.com/inv/7F3D846BCD301F3

underwater photos: http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?
cat=500&ppuser=5567
 
You're a candidate for sure! The whole reason I got mine is because I grew so tired of hauling my C11 around (fear of tripping, fear of blowing a disc, fear of...) it got to the point that I didn't use it. Well what the heck's the point of having such a nice optic if I'm not going to haul my carcass out into the wilds and use it?! Now it's out there every night and I just walk out back and fire it up! Beauty. :-)

Yes, the dome is a bit tight with a C11 in it. No question. But it's not claustrophobic tight the way a slit-type dome is (I evaluated several - yeesh, no way). These domes open half way and feel very open/airy when you're in them. My C11 is on a tripod and a wedge. Were it on a pier and an equatorial mount it would be much much easier to move around in the dome around the telescope and I plan to get this done somehow.

The best installation of this unit is on a deck constructed around a pier just off of the grass in your back yard or wherever you typically set up to view. There are tons of photos of various installations at the Yahoo user group set up for these units: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/skyshed-pod/

There are better domes to be had but they cost tens of thousands of dollars so it's just not a player for regular folks like me. THIS one is within the realm and that's what it's all about.

Regarding the Hyperstar, yes - it's very intuitive how it works and it does not affect your collimation once it's set. Here's a link to a video showing how it works:

http://www.hyperstarimaging.com/video.php

Play the top video and you'll see what I mean - it's easy as pie.

And don't let collimation scare you! With an SCT it's actually rather easy because when a bright star is moved to out of focus you either get a nice classic doughnut or you get a weird oval or somesuch. Do this for both sides of focus and see how your stars look. Then, if you need to, teach up and move the screws on the secondary mirror and you'll see the image adjust (it's no biggie - you can move it right back) and if you guess right (you've got a 50/50 chance the first time) it'll move toward the correct, round doughnut just out of focus but if you guess wrong it'll get worse. I was EXTREMELY reluctant to try this until they showed me how easy (and hard to screw up) it is down at my local shop. The key is to simply start with something bright (like Polaris for example - at least you wont have to worry about it moving on you) and then move your focus in and out and see what you've got.

If that was all stuff you already knew and beneath your level of knowledge I apologize! No slight intended - I just don't know what you don't know. What I do know is that I don't know much. ;-)

Best,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz
 
Orion (telescope.com) has their StarShoot Pro which is a dual cooled ccd cam (with TEC and fan cooling) that has an APS sized Sony sensor and 6.1MP! I was shocked to find its only selling for $1299! Shocked because this kind of cam usually goes for alot more (like 5K)! Check it out on their website, Ive read some amazing reviews about it and Im on the Yahoo group where people rave about it.

Only downsides--

You need a 2" visual back or t-thread adapter to use it
It needs a cigarette lighter or 12V power source for that huge sensor
It weights 28oz-- almost twice as much as my 520 body!

--
http://Alex_the_GREAT.photoshop.com
 
but it's also quite large and wont work on the front of an SCT using a Hyperstar lens. Still, with a good equatorial mount that can auto guide (the Orion Atlas comes to mind) that camera would work very nicely.

I have a QHY8 camera which uses the same chip but is packaged in a smaller footprint. It runs about $200 more than the Orion camera but for me it was worth it to get a camera that would work with my Hyperstar setup.

Best,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz
 
Ive heard lots of good things about the QHY-- I didnt realize they were so close in price! I wonder if I will get any vignetting with the C8 when used with a focal reducer (f/6.3), as the baffle tube diameter then becomes 23.9mm

--
http://Alex_the_GREAT.photoshop.com
 
Hi Oly,
Sorry that I missed your kind reply, which I find very reassuring and helpful.
Olyinaz said:
You're a candidate for sure! The whole reason I got mine is because
I grew so tired of hauling my C11 around (fear of tripping, fear of
blowing a disc, fear of...) it got to the point that I didn't use it.
Well what the heck's the point of having such a nice optic if I'm not
going to haul my carcass out into the wilds and use it?! Now it's
out there every night and I just walk out back and fire it up!
Beauty. :-)
Click to expand...
It's even worse in my case. We partly bought this rural aceage because of its dark skies...and then I almost always too lazy to even haul it the hundred meters or so out the door and up the hill.
Olyinaz said:
Yes, the dome is a bit tight with a C11 in it. No question. But
it's not claustrophobic tight the way a slit-type dome is
Click to expand...
Have always had exactly the same reaction, and well remember talking with Terrence Dickinson and my late friend Father Lucien Kemble about the beauty of being out under an open sky.
Olyinaz said:
These domes open half way and feel very open/airy when you're in them.

The best installation of this unit is on a deck constructed around a pier just off of the grass,
Click to expand...
Sounds like a plan for next year.
Olyinaz said:
There are better domes to be had
Click to expand...
This one does look fairly well made, though, and also even somewhat portable, for sale, or the retirement move we hope to make in a few years

I have looked at the videos and images of the dome and of hyperstar...tempting!
Olyinaz said:
And don't let collimation scare you! With an SCT it's actually rather easy
Click to expand...
A friend, actually my VP when I was president of Saskatoon's local Royal Astronomical Society of Canada organization actually did it several times, a few yards away...but back then my C11 seemed so sharp,compared to his 10" Meade, that we decided it didn't need it. Now it does.
Olyinaz said:
If that was all stuff you already knew and beneath your level of
knowledge I apologize! No slight intended - I just don't know what
you don't know. What I do know is that I don't know much. ;-)
Click to expand...
Neither do I, and your words are most helpful, and your pictures are truly inspiring.
Olyinaz said:
Best,
Oly
Click to expand...
Likewise!

--
erichK
saskatoon, canada
 
--



========================

When told the reason for Daylight Saving time the old Indian said... 'Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of the blanket and have a longer blanket.'
 
R Stacy said:
--



========================
Click to expand...
Yes...but also potentially very expensive for some of us ;-)!

BTW:
R Stacy said:
When told the reason for Daylight Saving time the old Indian said...
'Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top
of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of the blanket and have a
longer blanket.'
Click to expand...
we DON'T do daylight savings time here in saskatchewan - just hibernate for the six or seven months of winter!
--
erichK
saskatoon, canada

http://erichk.zenfolio.com/

http://www.fototime.com/inv/7F3D846BCD301F3

underwater photos: http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?
cat=500&ppuser=5567
 
It is of course, since he's showing us what this vaat galaxy 2.2 million years ago!
--
erichK
saskatoon, canada
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

V
Andromeda galaxy
Replies
1
Views
3K
Michael S.
Michael S.
TomD54
Andromeda Galaxy with Coolpix P950
Replies
14
Views
8K
TomD54
TomD54
A
Phoenix in the city
Replies
2
Views
2K
aenoether
A
M
Cleveland Air Show (Part 1)
Replies
4
Views
944
MarkyM
M
J
Customize multiple shooting for astro object - g7x
Replies
1
Views
225
reyalp
R

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top