# A Couple Of Astronomy Pictures



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Well I got to practice with the new scope this weekend, took a few pictures but most had different problems, but I learned a lot and I'm getting it down to where it will be easier to do in the field. Last week it took me at least 2 hours to polar align the scope and this weekend it only took me maybe 30 minutes. Got better acquainted with the control software and identified mistakes I made. All in all had a good time and when I get to a dark site I will be better prepaired to get some really good pictures.

Here a 2 pictures that came out kinda OK, I have a lot of light pollution, a street light with in 50 feet and seeing in the valley is never real good. Both shots were made with three 10 minute long exposures stacked and Dark and bias frames subtracted.









M27 Dumbell Nebula









Double Cluster in Perseus, NGC 869, NGC884

As I get better and get to darker sites they will get better.


----------



## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

Very cool, what size/type of telescope were you using. I've been wanting a decent telescope for a very long time I just can't ever seem to be able to find a way to afford it. There's always something else that's a higher priority. Maybe when I retire and the kids are out of the house.


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Nicely done Bill! Superb image of the dumbbell nebulae. Very nice image of the double cluster too. Tracking looks spot on. 10 minute exposures are not trivial! Which camera were you using? When you get to dark skies you should be ready for some killer images! Just curious but where do you have to go to get good dark skies? I would think it would be a long way.

The skies were the clearest I've seen them here in Seattle area this morning. Unfortunately I had to start work early so I couldn't break out the telescope and my brother has my binos.

Oh, by the way, my new Celestron CPC 800 is in-transit. Should get here on Friday. Then we can count on three months of clouds. I wasn't this excited when I got my first car!


----------



## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

All I can say is awesome! Very cool pics Bill.

Carey


----------



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

MJRey said:


> Very cool, what size/type of telescope were you using. I've been wanting a decent telescope for a very long time I just can't ever seem to be able to find a way to afford it. There's always something else that's a higher priority. Maybe when I retire and the kids are out of the house.


It is a Meade LX200r 8" scope like the one in my Avatar.


----------



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

BigBadBrain said:


> Nicely done Bill! Superb image of the dumbbell nebulae. Very nice image of the double cluster too. Tracking looks spot on. 10 minute exposures are not trivial! Which camera were you using? When you get to dark skies you should be ready for some killer images! Just curious but where do you have to go to get good dark skies? I would think it would be a long way.
> 
> The skies were the clearest I've seen them here in Seattle area this morning. Unfortunately I had to start work early so I couldn't break out the telescope and my brother has my binos.
> 
> Oh, by the way, my new Celestron CPC 800 is in-transit. Should get here on Friday. Then we can count on three months of clouds. I wasn't this excited when I got my first car!


I'm using a Canon digital rebel the first one at 6.3mp, I plan on doing the filter mod where you remove the IR filter in front of the CCD or cmos chip and replaced it with optical glass, then my colors will come out better especially the reds but then it is not so good as a regular camera, so will wait until I can afford a new camera body.

We are actually close to dark skies just have to drive up into the mountains, as soon as you get a mountain between you and the valley you get nice dark skies and as you go up you get out of the haze that is usually in the valley. But this is where we have a disagreement, the DW wants to camp under the trees and I look for open fields.

Fine business on the CPC 800 nice choice, I know you will love it. Did you buy it from Astronomics? That is where I bought my scope. Well you better be ready for the rain, when I bought my first scope as a adult, it started to rain on Christmas day until May. Then after a 7 year drought I bought my Celestron C8 and again it didn't stop raining until the end of May in fact that is the year we busted the drought and the next year we had some of the worst floods ever. So if you want it to rain just buy a telescope. I bought my last scope in the late spring after the rainy season. I hope you have nothing but clear skies, right after you get it.

Have fun and clear skies


----------



## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

N7OQ said:


> Well I got to practice with the new scope this weekend, took a few pictures but most had different problems, but I learned a lot and I'm getting it down to where it will be easier to do in the field. Last week it took me at least 2 hours to polar align the scope and this weekend it only took me maybe 30 minutes. Got better acquainted with the control software and identified mistakes I made. All in all had a good time and when I get to a dark site I will be better prepaired to get some really good pictures.


I have been lusting over a nice scope for years but can't seen to save up enough to get one. Here in the midwest there is no dark skies any more. We get closest in the winter, but because of the moisture in the air during the summer, every little town adds more light to the sky. back 50 years ago when I was a kid, my parents bought me a 3" reflector. Back then you could from our home on the edge of town see mag 5 1/2 to 6 stars, so through that old 3" it was surprising what you could see.

I have had a chance to look through a 24" Meade, loved it! Post more pics.


----------



## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

Very impressive pics! I can see you've got some money tied up in equipment! Very nice, thanks for sharing.


----------



## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Really nice pictures

Thor


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Bill,
Have you done any afocal AP? I have the right pieces to do some afocal with my new telescope and thought I'd give it a try on the moon (looks like the next clear night may be mid-October anyway). I doubt I'll get to the AP real soon anyway. I'll be learning my way around the new Cat. It arrives tomorrow!

Brian


----------



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

BigBadBrain said:


> Bill,
> Have you done any afocal AP? I have the right pieces to do some afocal with my new telescope and thought I'd give it a try on the moon (looks like the next clear night may be mid-October anyway). I doubt I'll get to the AP real soon anyway. I'll be learning my way around the new Cat. It arrives tomorrow!
> 
> Brian


By afocal do you mean eyepiece projection? If so yes I have, I have a camera mount that allows you to install the eyepiece of choice and use it to capture planets. At prime focus the planets are very small so with eyepiece projection you get a much larger planet or can take a picture of a single crater on the moon. There are a couple of problems I have run into with this way of taking pictures, 1st your eyepiece had to be very clean, any dust will show up on the frame, 2nd my holder will not fit any eyepiece, the eyepiece must not be to big around or it won't fit. 3rd the seeing has to be very good super transparent skies are the best. 4th mirror flop is a problem, any movement is noticed right away. I was thinking about doing some the next time I get to set up again. I had the best luck with a 16mm and 9mm plossls.

Man that was fast, glad you are getting it tomorrow hope someone will be home to sign for it. Yeah you will want to do visual work on it for some time, it is so much fun to spend your night seeing objects instead of looking for them. You are going to have a blast, you will start out with the brighter more well known targets like the Messiers and soon you will be looking for dimmer objects until you run out of targets at that point you will be waiting for more to come up in the east







You will be surprised at how fast you can go from one objects to the other and you will also be surprised of how dim you can go and still see that objects.

Keep me posted on how it goes and I hope you get some clear skies soon.


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Woo-hoo! Scope just arrived (and I mean JUST - it's been here for almost 10 minutes or so). Unfortunately, I have to finish my work day before I can even open it up. (Well, maybe a lunch break would be OK). Very exciting day!


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

And the rain just started!


----------



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

BigBadBrain said:


> And the rain just started!


OK will start working on the Ark









I'm so glad you got it, I know the felling well







Well while it is raining you can set it up inside, get the book out and get to know it and how everything works. It is raining here too, but we really need it. One nice thing as the days get shorter I can setup after work and get some telescope time when it's not raining. Keep us posted


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

That's the one good thing about winter here - nice long nights. Gets dark around 4pm at the Solstice and that gives plenty of time to get out and look at the sky. However, the sky has to be clear or all that dark goes to waste. The other nice thing about living on the west side of the state is that we don't get much snow. Snow reflection can spoil an otherwise dark night out. Can't say how many times we could go sledding as a kid on moonless nights and have NO trouble seeing in the dark. It was lit up like a full moon with crystal clear skies.

The software was missing from the box too.


----------



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

BigBadBrain said:


> That's the one good thing about winter here - nice long nights. Gets dark around 4pm at the Solstice and that gives plenty of time to get out and look at the sky. However, the sky has to be clear or all that dark goes to waste. The other nice thing about living on the west side of the state is that we don't get much snow. Snow reflection can spoil an otherwise dark night out. Can't say how many times we could go sledding as a kid on moonless nights and have NO trouble seeing in the dark. It was lit up like a full moon with crystal clear skies.
> 
> The software was missing from the box too.


Oh man that is a bummer but I would thing you can download it from their website. I too remember sledding at night and the snow lightens up everything, I grew up in Spokane so had lots of snow not sure I would want to use the scope when it is that cold. I also remember full moon nights with lots of snow it was almost like day, you would have to pull the curtains to get it dark enough to sleep. Have fun!


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

First light!

For those who're not telescope junkies, first light is the very first time a telescope is tried on the night sky and is a big deal. This is when you find out if you have a jewel or a dud for a telescope. It's pretty exciting and a little nerve wracking to get to go out and try out the thing you just dumped a wheelbarrow of cash for. Kinda like camping for the first time in a new rig.

So, we had a brief break in the clouds which happened to coincide with my brother coming up (he and I are join owners of the Orion XT10i Dobsonian - my other telescope). He was coming to see the new Celestron CPC 800 - an 8 inch aperture Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT). We didn't expect the sudden windfall of clear skies so we hurriedly took the scope out to the backyard (all 70lbs of it) and set up for a quick view of the moon. I didn't bother with hooking up the finder scope or adding electricity - we were only going to be out for a few minutes just to get a hint at the quality of the optics. Well it was great! The scintillation was horrible and transparency was bad (lots of thin clouds still marching across the sky) but it was GREAT! Jupiter was just visible to the west of the moon so I eyeballed across the top of the scope (no finder remember - darn, I should have taken the time to put it on) but OK, Jupiter is almost as easy to find as the moon. It still wasn't dark yet but we got a great view of Jupiter (I admit, every view last night turned out to be a great view so I think I'll tone down the superlatives). We could see Jove and three of the Galilean moons (I'm guessing the 4th was occulted or in front of Jupiter - I'll need to check). Seeing (scintillation) was really bad so it was a little like looking at Shania Twain walking across the desert (sorry, best allegory I could generate right now, it was a bad image but it was still a thrill) kind a wavy underwater look. The moons looked like disks with a 20mm in the Orion binoviewers. I showed DW and she oohed and ahhed. It was getting a little darker (and my brother had to leave) so I thought I'd see if I couldn't find a couple other favorites real quick before I packed it up - I hadn't really prepared for going outside and it was getting pretty chilly. So I whipped the scope around to look NE and up to look at Cassy. Caught the double cluster between Cassy and Perseus - nice view int he 40mm Celestron E-Lux eyepiece. Oogled that for a while and when I decided it was really time to go in cause the cold is getting to me I caught a glimpse of the big dipper and thought, what the heck I can quickly split the double in the handle of the dipper right? Wow, the seeing to the North was really good, the double was bright (even with the Seattle light pollution bubble) and the two stars looked great all the way to 10mm! So I thought wow, the seeing is getting a lot better I wonder about M-31. So over to the great square, line up the arrow from Cassiopeia intersect the line with roughly half way from the first star off the great square to the North and try and line up the optical tube - curses no finder! So a little searching and BINGO! Andromeda! Pretty weak in all the light pollution but didn't matter. Tried the 26mm and immediately went back to the 40mm - much better light. I love Andromeda and seeing it in person is always a mesmerizing event. In a new scope it was even better. Oh man, look at Jupiter now that it's dark! Scintillation was better and I could see three of the bands and a hint of the spot! Very cool! Looked at my cell phone (destroyed what dark vision I had - closed the right eye first - crap it was 10pm! I'd been out almost three and a half hours and my hands hurt, I was starting to shiver, man was I cold!

So I went in to warm up and get a coat on before I went out to bring the scope in. It was a great first light session - no GOTO, not even a finder, only a couple eyepieces, an optical tube, a good mount to keep it steady - not even any tracking. It was wonderful. My DW gave me a funny look when I came in and stood with my coat on shivering while I looked outside at the scope with my ruined night vision. She said "Um, aren't you supposed to wear the coat when you go outside rather than when you come in?" Then she added "You're nuts." True.

But a great first light! And I had a jewel!

Tomorrow at 4am, me and Orion! Dark skies!


----------



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Whoo Whoo, glad you got to do first light with the new scope even if you didn't get to use its most powerful feature. Hope you get to set it up and align it soon and then you can see the same things you just looked at in a matter of seconds. It is so fun to plus I was surprised how much better I could see with the new scope compared to the old one even though they are the same size. It must the be Ultra-High Transmission Coatings that make the difference. Have fun and keep us posted.



BigBadBrain said:


> First light!
> 
> For those who're not telescope junkies, first light is the very first time a telescope is tried on the night sky and is a big deal. This is when you find out if you have a jewel or a dud for a telescope. It's pretty exciting and a little nerve wracking to get to go out and try out the thing you just dumped a wheelbarrow of cash for. Kinda like camping for the first time in a new rig.
> 
> ...


----------



## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Bill, we need to recruit some additional Outbacker folks to come over to the dark side (of the day). We could then have Outbacker star parties (that I'd have to cancel out of) rather than regular Rallies (that I always have to cancel out of). OK, maybe not a good idea on the star parties.

Anyway it would be great to have a little enclave of amateur astronomers on the forum. Other forums can get a little stuffy and hard to settle into.

I wasn't able to go out this morning - clouds. The next couple days are looking up though - hopefully so will I!

BBB


----------



## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

BigBadBrain said:


> Bill, we need to recruit some additional Outbacker folks to come over to the dark side (of the day). We could then have Outbacker star parties (that I'd have to cancel out of) rather than regular Rallies (that I always have to cancel out of). OK, maybe not a good idea on the star parties.
> 
> Anyway it would be great to have a little enclave of amateur astronomers on the forum. Other forums can get a little stuffy and hard to settle into.
> 
> ...


I know there is another Amateur Astronomer here, his name is Insomniak and he is at a much higher level than me. I know he goes to a lot of star parties in the desert. I have never been to a star party have only viewed with some friends who are real casual viewers. I would really like to go to a small star party first with some guys who would be patent with me.

Hope the clouds go away there, it is really windy here 25 to 35 mph winds so not conducive to setup a scope.


----------

