twinkle twinkle little star

[Pol]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

ha. the joys of both typing at the same time

We're both talking ninety to the dozen at the same time here too.

He's not convinced the scope will take the weight of an slr on the back but there's always the possibity. Failing that, I'm wondering if we can manage something by using a second tripod and ballhead for the camera then placing it over the viewfinder of the scope with the scope viewfinder at an appropriate angle.

I forsee endless 'fun and frolics' at this end. This always happens when we set about something different.

There was a young lass who used to post on another forum. Her parents gave her a Meade ETX 90 for her 18th birthday and she used to post some pretty good shots from it, shots she's got just using her small (inexpensive) compact handheld over the viewfinder. She eventually managed to link her scope and laptop in the garden and posted one or two screenshots she'd grabbed. That was a few years ago now but I was quite impressed (and not just a little bit envious) at the time. I admired her tenacity and skills despite her basic equipment.

Pol

[devilgas]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

Failing that, I'm wondering if we can manage something by using a second tripod and ballhead for the camera then placing it over the viewfinder of the scope with the scope viewfinder at an appropriate angle.

the only downside to doing that is that the scope, if it's set to track, will be moving continually and the alignment with the 2nd tripod & camera will get progressively worse. holding the camera to the eyepiece will generally only work for short exposures - moon, jupiter, saturn etc.

dslr's and the etx90 are discussed here - http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea...4/Main/4012705 with links to this site - http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html - which looks like a good resource.

[Pol]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

dslr's and the etx90 are discussed here - http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea...4/Main/4012705 with links to this site - http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html - which looks like a good resource.

Thanks for those links. David already has the Weasner link (also has his book) but the ETX/dslr discussion link is great, very helpful.

I know there are 'scope adaptors for Pentax K and David already has one for the Nikon but we'll see how things go after he's got the scope properly up and running. The 'scopenskies' accessories are due to arrive this afternoon by DPD courier ((filter, solar finder etc) then once we have good views we can start to concentrate more on photography. We'll start off with what we already have and take it from there. I don't suppose we'll be taking pics anytime soon but you never know.

I was looking a some links last night and I see some excellent results are to be had from certain webcams. So that'll be another area to look into at some point.

I came across http://www.astropix.com/
and also

http://www.eaas.co.uk/news/astrophotography_resources.html

As I said, we have a way to go yet. Especially me as I'm a complete novice with all this. It ain't arf exciting and good fun though.

Pol

[devilgas]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

the webcam i recently bought is the phillips spc880 from a firm called morgans - http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/pro...t-pre-flashed/ - great price, currently out of stock and delivery isn't that fast . it's been flashed so the computer thinks it's an spc900.

you can then get some freeware (wxastrocapture, sharpcap) for capture of images and a further bit of freeware from http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm

[Pol]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

the webcam i recently bought is the phillips spc880 from a firm called morgans - http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/pro...t-pre-flashed/ - great price, currently out of stock and delivery isn't that fast . it's been flashed so the computer thinks it's an spc900.

you can then get some freeware (wxastrocapture, sharpcap) for capture of images and a further bit of freeware from http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm

Thanks for all that.

I just forwarded a copy through to David, where he was actually busy looking at a [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-H5D-00003-Lifecam-Cinema-HD/dp/B002I3IRY8/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1323429961&sr=1-1"]Microsoft lifecam cinema hd[/ame] -0 which he tells me someone had said could be modified for astrophotography too - so he was actually looking at the modification methods when I called through to him.

He's also now looking at your 'SPC880 to 900 + to RAW' links as I type.

So I think we can conclude he's liking the idea of a webcam and will probably be spending the next few days looking at everything suitable and available then making a few decisions.

Pol

[Pol]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

the webcam i recently bought is the phillips spc880 from a firm called morgans - http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/pro...t-pre-flashed/ - great price, currently out of stock and delivery isn't that fast . it's been flashed so the computer thinks it's an spc900.

That definitely seems to be the popular one, best one to go for.

They're out of stock at the moment so we've asked to be notified when they have more stock (apparently new stock overdue at the moment).

We can't do much until after Xmas anyway but David is working away at getting himself updated (with me clinging onto his coat tails along the way). It's great fun for us both to be buzzing with new, shared ideas and project, especially without needing to spend much or add to the kit we have already.

Thanks so much for all your help. It's also very much appreciated.

Pol

[devilgas]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

no probs

[devilgas]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

m42 revisited.....

the following shot is the result of using a modified canon 20d so that it is more sensitive in both IR and hydrogen alpha (near infrared). focusing the camera was trial and error as it doesn't have live view, unlike the 'proper' 20Da.

this is the result of stacking 8 images of 30s exposure @ iso 800 through my 1100mm 'scope. post processed to bring out the colours. stacking and processing was done using deep sky stacker. 'dark' frames were taken and subtracted, which help reduce the effects of amplifier noise and hot pixels.

it was interesting to note the huge difference stacking has had on the images.

i'll see about uploading a 'donor' image later so that the difference can be seen.

the image.....


processing was quick and dirty, being done at 2am, so no doubt i'll tinker with it when i've got more time (when it's raining )

the centre of the nebula is over exposed. i could do with creating a few images and merging them. the goal with this shot though was to show the detail in the dust lanes.

[Pol]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

m42 revisited.....

the following shot is the result of using a modified canon 20d so that it is more sensitive in both IR and hydrogen alpha (near infrared). focusing the camera was trial and error as it doesn't have live view, unlike the 'proper' 20Da.

this is the result of stacking 8 images of 30s exposure @ iso 800 through my 1100mm 'scope. post processed to bring out the colours. stacking and processing was done using deep sky stacker. 'dark' frames were taken and subtracted, which help reduce the effects of amplifier noise and hot pixels.

it was interesting to note the huge difference stacking has had on the images.

i'll see about uploading a 'donor' image later so that the difference can be seen.

processing was quick and dirty, being done at 2am, so no doubt i'll tinker with it when i've got more time (when it's raining )

the centre of the nebula is over exposed. i could do with creating a few images and merging them. the goal with this shot though was to show the detail in the dust lanes.

The colours in astro photography are often so very so beautiful and this one's no exception. No doubt you'll be able to work on the image stacks and pick out more and more detail as you work on them.

I happen to have the Telegraph's Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010 bookmarked and I was looking through them again only yesterday. I think it's the eigth picci showing a nice one with Orion's Sword and M42 and there's also a very nice Jupiter Picci further on (I think Jupiter is 12th in the slideshow).

Pol

[devilgas]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

i have chosen the easy stuff to do though
M42 is such an amazing object to cut ones teeth on. for starters, you can see it with the naked eye so can find it quite easily in the camera viewfinder / lcd. it's also, in terms of telescope views, quite large.

some incredible photos on that link...stuff i'll never achieve.

[Pol]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

some incredible photos on that link...stuff i'll never achieve.

I know that feeling so well. I can't even manage to lift and set up the telescope myself, let alone use it. But that won't stop me having a go AND prodding David to get to grips with the appropriate camera(s) so he can hold my hand and guide me through it all.

Your own photos are actually very good imo. I always reckon it's not necessarily about getting the best pictures, it's about the thrill of getting anything at all then working at it so you keep improving. That's what 'achievement' means to me anyway.

We've just been outside measuring up for the shed/office/hide/observatory idea and we reckon we should be able to have something approx 14x8 no bother. David's clearly getting to be as keen on the idea as me so ...


Pol

[Barr1e]

Re: twinkle twinkle little star

Bravo Dave.

Thanks for posting the latest.

Regards. Barr1e