Andromeda Galaxy

[Olyinaz]

Pretty noisy given 60s at 400iso but not too bad. Single exposure, 560mm at f/2.



Cheers,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

 

[SirSeth]

Is that with your Orion? Really super shot.

Cheerio,
Seth

--
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

--
wallygoots.smugmug.com
wallygoots.blogspot.com

 

[jungl]

That is cool. What are those other two big spots?
--
http://blog.thomaslaupstad.com - Photoblog from northern Norway

 

[headlessmike]

That is cool. What are those other two big spots?

Those are smaller satellite galaxies to Andromeda.

Great shot Oly!

--



http://flickr.com/photos/gatchell/
Michael Gatchell

 

[Olyinaz]

This one was taken with my 11" Celestron using a Starizona Hyperstar 3 lens assembly at the front of the scope. The Hyperstar transforms my 2800mm f/10 scope into a 560mm f/2 astrograph. (Hubba hubba!)

This was my first night out with the hardware. Now that I see what it can do I hope to start in on the software next so that I can figure out how to do the obligatory stacking that one really needs to do in order to beat down the noise and pull out detail. If I can get it sorted there might actually be some nice images lurking around the corner.

Cheers,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

 

[luisflorit]

This one was taken with my 11" Celestron using a Starizona Hyperstar
3 lens assembly at the front of the scope. The Hyperstar transforms
my 2800mm f/10 scope into a 560mm f/2 astrograph. (Hubba hubba!)

This was my first night out with the hardware. Now that I see what it
can do I hope to start in on the software next so that I can figure
out how to do the obligatory stacking that one really needs to do in
order to beat down the noise and pull out detail. If I can get it
sorted there might actually be some nice images lurking around the
corner.

Cool picture, and nice setup! Great for nebulae.
Unfortunately, I saw no Hyperstar for my Meade LX90...

Thanks!
L.

--
My gallery: http://w3.impa.br/~luis/photos



Oly Ee3 + 12--60 + 50--200 + EeC-14 + Oly EfEl50R
Pany FZee50 + Oly EfEl50 + TeeCon17 + Raynx 150 & 250
Nikn CeePee4500; Cann SDee500

 

[Przemek Sperling]

Great photo! Actually it is not so noisy as you thing. Professional astrophotos are heavily processed which is described e.g. here http://keithwiley.com/astroPhotography/imageSharpening.shtml I have a friend who used to work in an observatory and I was surprised that all photos were heavily PPed.

--
Smena 8M---> Practica LTL---> Minolta XTsi---> Fuji S6500fd---> Olympus E-420

 

[RL52]

I'm just curious. You probably spent about $800 for that piece of hardware. Why not just invest in a CCD camera manufactured for astrophotography with proper cooling? You then wouldn't need to worry about noise or long exposure times.

Richard

This one was taken with my 11" Celestron using a Starizona Hyperstar
3 lens assembly at the front of the scope. The Hyperstar transforms
my 2800mm f/10 scope into a 560mm f/2 astrograph. (Hubba hubba!)

 

[E_ B]

A very nice capture.

--
Good Shooting,

English Bob

 

[Archer S]

Nice. Reminds me of a good telescopic view. I like IRAF for processing these things, since you'll want to flat-field your images, etc...

--
Archer in Boulder

'The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.' -- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

[Goffen]

Looking forward to the stacked ones.

Goffen

 

[noohoggin1]

this is beautiful! I love space photography (or whatever the formal term is--"astro-photography? lol)

 

[Olyinaz]

Is yours an ACF model? Also, what aperture?

Thanks,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

 

[Olyinaz]

I have an astro camera called the QHY8 that is a 6MP cooled CCD. Unfortunately I could not get it to work last night so I went to Plan B and mounted my E-3! The damned software and learning how to capture images with a hunk of electronics vs. an actual camera is somewhat frustrating. The E-3 and live view saved the day such that I walked in last night at 4AM with several images vs. nothing but frustration.

The point at which by 3AM I had cables and wires running all over the place whilst I was jammed in my little observatory, hunkered down at my laptop pulling nothing but black frames out of my $1500 astro camera was not an especially rosy moment.

Cheers,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

 

[Olyinaz]

I'll keep after it! Hopefully be able to show you something better eventually.

Cheers,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

 

[Pete_CSCS]

The further of the two, M110 is on the left with M32 on the right. Both are traveling away from our galaxy. M31, the Andromeda galaxy OTOH is blue-shifted - it is hurling towards us at 186 miles a second (300 km)!

This means Olyinaz’s photos of it should be getting better and better in time since it is getting closer and closer.

Terrific photo Olyinaz, have you taken some of the other well known objects like the Crab Nebula, Ring Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, M13 The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, etc. (I saw that you captured the Great Orion Nebula.) If not, I look forward to seeing these.

--

'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.

 

[luisflorit]

Is yours an ACF model?

No, it's the old one (bought on March 2004).

Also, what aperture?

8".

L.

--
My gallery: http://w3.impa.br/~luis/photos



Oly Ee3 + 12--60 + 50--200 + EeC-14 + Oly EfEl50R
Pany FZee50 + Oly EfEl50 + TeeCon17 + Raynx 150 & 250
Nikn CeePee4500; Cann SDee500

 

[Olyinaz]

Meade 8" SCT with UHTC coatings. It's a great visual scope and that's what I use it for but unfortunately I don't think there's a Hyperstar lens for the 8". About the best I can suggest is a focal reducer from Celestron or Lumicon that get your scope down to about f/6. Here's one for your consideration:

http://www.lumicon.com/telescope-accessories.php?iid=LR1010&cid=6&in=Cassegrain+Rich-Field+Viewer+for+7in+-+9.25in&hn=

Best,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

 

[Olyinaz]

I'll keep at it and try to post up what I can.

Best,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

 

[luisflorit]

--
My gallery: http://w3.impa.br/~luis/photos



Oly Ee3 + 12--60 + 50--200 + EeC-14 + Oly EfEl50R
Pany FZee50 + Oly EfEl50 + TeeCon17 + Raynx 150 & 250
Nikn CeePee4500; Cann SDee500