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08-09-2018, 11:35pm | #1 | ||||||
Barn Raising I
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Another TripleBlack Space Pic
The "Post a random photo that you took" thread has faded away so putting this in a new thread. This is kinda version 0.9 as I have a little more editing to do but thought I'd post as doubt the improvement I hope for will show online.
This is the Triangulum Galaxy, AKA M33. It's radius is bout 30,000 light years and it's 2.7 million light years away. But it's closing "fast". Headed for the Milky Way at 62,000 MPH. For the 2 or 3 who might be interested, this is just under 3 hours of exposure - 34x5 minute exposures. My scope has an effective focal length (in camera lens terms) of 537mm @ f4.6. Shot at ISO1600 but should have probably dropped that back to 800 as it was plenty bright but had lots of noise, some of which is still evident. |
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08-10-2018, 7:43pm | #2 | ||||||
A Real Barner
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Please explain what setup you have to so accurately track the movement of these things across the sky. After a three hour static exposure I would expect to see only a pattern of smears across the image. Whatever you use synchs damn near perfectly!
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08-10-2018, 8:29pm | #3 | ||||||
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This is the Triangulum Galaxy, AKA M33. It's radius is bout 30,000 light years and it's 2.7 million light years away. But it's closing "fast". Headed for the Milky Way at 62,000 MPH.
At that distance and speed I don’t think any of us have to lose sleep over the impending collision |
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08-10-2018, 11:50pm | #4 | |||||||
Barn Raising I
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I use an equatorial mount that tracks the target at a rate to compensate for the earth's rotation. The mount must be carefully aligned with the North Celestial Pole - almost Polaris, but not quite. The stars appear to move in a circle with the center being the celestial pole. With the mount aligned the camera and scope move in an arc identical to the apparent movement of the stars. I can frame and focus an object and track it visually all night, though not accurately enough for really long exposures. With just the mount, 1-2 minute exposures are possible. That's limited by the mechanical integrity of the mount. Hey, it comes from China - enough said. To improve this, I have added a separate guiding scope and camera that locks on a single star and sends small corrections to the equatorial mount every few seconds to correct for gear lash etc. in the mechanism. With a guide scope (connector to a computer) it's pretty easy to get 5-10 minute exposures. 20-30 minute exposures are possible with higher end hardware. The trick is to take many exposures and stack them with a software package that examines each frame and determines what is noise from the camera sensor and what is good signal. The software uses "dark frames", exposures taken with the lens cap on, from the camera to subtract the camera sensor noise from the actual exposures. The processing is considerably more time consuming than the image capture. It's really cool to point your telescope at something you can't see with the naked eye and see an image pop up on the camera LCD or computer screen. Especially when it took the light from that object 2.7 millions years to get here. The camera, guide scope/camera, and the mount are all controlled by a laptop via USB. Once I set up the session, I can kick back and just look at the stars or go to the car for a nap. Here's a pic of the setup. |
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08-10-2018, 11:54pm | #5 | |||||||
Barn Raising I
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Quote:
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08-11-2018, 5:07am | #6 | ||||||
A Real Barner
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amazing stuff here. Thanks
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08-11-2018, 8:18pm | #7 | ||||||
Goldilocks
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I love these shots. One of these days I'm gonna try some of this shooting. Just some basic Milky Way shots, nothing fancy.
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08-11-2018, 10:00pm | #8 | |||||||
Barn Raising I
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BTW, I'm hoping for a major improvement in this one. I did something really wrong processing and on a big monitore the background looks like someone blew chunks then sprinkled glitter on it. There's a much better image there... just gotta figure out how to find it. |
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08-11-2018, 11:42pm | #9 | ||||||
A Real Barner
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Nice pic! For those interested, there is a cool web forum for this:
https://www.cloudynights.com/ |
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08-12-2018, 9:30am | #10 | ||||||
A Real Barner
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That one should be printed on glass and hanging on your wall. Incredible.
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08-12-2018, 1:53pm | #11 | ||||||
Barn Raising I
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Thanks! I'm planning to go get additional exposures of it Tuesday evening. Hopefully another 3-4 hours worth and those will get added into the stack. Should enable me to bring out more detail in the galaxy with less noise in the background. That'll make a much cleaner print. I may try a glass or acrylic print. I have one on metal that looks pretty cool.
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08-12-2018, 3:38pm | #12 | ||||||
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Great pic and great education.
I had no idea it was that involved. Very |
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08-12-2018, 5:22pm | #13 | |||||||
Barn Raising I
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I'm just learning. Thought I knew a little about photography but this is a whole new game. |
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08-13-2018, 7:39am | #14 | ||||||
A Real Barner
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Very nice!!!!!!
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