Picture of the Day

[Dromond]

[Fuzz]

Andromeda Galaxy from overnight.

3hr 20min (200 x 1min) @ ISO1600
Canon 40D w/ Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L II lens @ 200mm f/4 (thanks to Summit for the lens)

[supermodel159]

Andromeda Galaxy from overnight.

3hr 20min (200 x 1min) @ ISO1600
Canon 40D w/ Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L II lens @ 200mm f/4 (thanks to Summit for the lens)

Sick shot, how do you track that Glalazy for 2hrs.

[YoungManofTheMountain]

Fuzz...your intergalactic shots blow my mind. that one is seriously ridiculous. what is the blue'ish joint in the upper portion of the shot, another galaxy or a bright star?

[jce338]

FKNA! Siiiick shot fuz!

Can we get a TGR photobook thrown together please?

[SchralphMacchio]

Sick shot, how do you track that Glalazy for 2hrs.

Hire these guys for the night, DUHHHH




He's talked about it in the space pictures thread. Camera mounted on a telescope servo, right? As long as you know your latitude you should be able to track any object in the sky. Fuzz do you have to calibrate that thing for your precise location since you are using it for imaging?

That's some pretty nifty software you are using to combine and noise reduce those images too, very very impressive.

[Fuzz]

Thanks all.

Sick shot, how do you track that Glalazy for 2hrs.

As SchralphMacchio said, the camera is mounted on an equatorial telescope mount, which tracks the motion of the stars. I set up the camera to shoot 60-sec exposures through the night.

what is the blue'ish joint in the upper portion of the shot, another galaxy or a bright star?

The very blue point is a star, Nu Andromeda. There are actually two other galaxies in this image (both satellites of Andromeda). M110 at 4 o'clock and M32 at 10 o'clock (right at Andromeda's edge, looks like a big bloated star).

What is really mind-boggling is that the light bluish clumps in the spiral arms (visible more in the full-size image) are stars in the Andromeda Galaxy, not in our own. The idea that we can see individual stars in another galaxy using an amateur setup from a backyard with only a few months of experience is just crazy.

Camera mounted on a telescope servo, right? As long as you know your latitude you should be able to track any object in the sky. Fuzz do you have to calibrate that thing for your precise location since you are using it for imaging?

Yup, you got it. The calibration has to be pretty accurate for imaging. The better the calibration, the longer you can run your exposures. For such wide-field images, you don't necessarily need a long exposure. When I image through my telescope, then I'm running 10-minute exposures, where the calibration has to be very good. To help with calibration to get such long exposures, you have to guide (since even the best mounts have periodic errors -- I use an [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoguider"]autoguider[/ame]. For such a short exposure, I didn't guide.

That's some pretty nifty software you are using to combine and noise reduce those images too, very very impressive.

DeepSkyStacker is very easy to use and free. In addition to the 200 1-min exposures, I also calibrated the images with about 30 dark frames, 60 flat frames, and 60 bias frames. Along with a lot of light frames, all of those help with noise reduction.

[iscariot]

A couple shots. First time posting in this thread. C&C welcome, let me know what you think. No post-processing on these.

[junto]

figured it's time to post a couple...I've picked up some great tips in here.

All of these are pre-processing, still couldn't get that sun not to be blown out on the river shot though.

[Tippster]

DeepSkyStacker is very easy to use and free. In addition to the 200 1-min exposures, I also calibrated the images with about 30 dark frames, 60 flat frames, and 60 bias frames. Along with a lot of light frames, all of those help with noise reduction.

Fucking crazy what tools we have available to us now. 20 years ago I was dipping and dunking color film...

[buttahflake]

whoa, this is bending my brain right now. more please.

[Out_to_lunch]

Fuzz, that's freakin amazing!!

Hiking up in LCC earlier this week

[jce338]

[kidwoo]

[SchralphMacchio]

^(last one)

whoa, trippy, make any contact?

[samthaman]

From THIS little adventure.

I really want to get back up there and take a series for later stacking.

[kevok2]

These are from the American Le Mans Series race at Laguna Seca in May. No post production. The last one isn't a very good shot but it's the only one I got with the brakes glowing.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Skier = altasnob, Mt. = Mt. Adams

[mtcham]

Three Forks Rodeo, Montana
Flying Cowboys

[Gebster]

Belding ground squirrel chilling at Glacier Point looking at Half Dome


Stormy day at Mill Pond Park in Bishop

[outabounds]

twelve weeks

[HankScorpio]

Those rodeo shots are incredible.

[Lonnie]

twelve weeks

Awesome. You and mom must be stoked.

[grskier]

twelve weeks

Awesome.. capturing that expression is priceless

[Tap]