Through The Telescope

[doug_amanda]

One of my other hobbies other than reefing is astronomy. With dark and clear winter nights being as rare as hens teeth nowadays whenever we're lucky enough to get one there's a good chance I'll be lurking around the garden in the dead of night with my telescope, last year I had a go at photographing some of the treats visible through it.

Here's a couple of examples, they're a long way off Hubble quality but it's surprising what can be photographed with some quite modest equipment.
The first the is the Orion Nebula approximately 1,500 light years away and the second is the Andromeda galaxy, approximately 2.5 billion light years away.

 

[McPikie]

Love astronomy. I've had a few goes with some 20s exposure on my DSLR, but because I am not far from the city, it's a nightmare.

I took all my stuff up to the lakes once. Beautiful clear night right up tol midnight. As I was getting my tripod out, the clouds rolled in. Great.

 

[McPikie]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28415743@N02/ I can highly recommend viewing this FlickR page

 

[doug_amanda]

Love astronomy. I've had a few goes with some 20s exposure on my DSLR, but because I am not far from the city, it's a nightmare.

I took all my stuff up to the lakes once. Beautiful clear night right up tol midnight. As I was getting my tripod out, the clouds rolled in. Great.

I was up at the observatory in Todmorden last year and a guy there was using a DSLR on a tripod taking 8 or 10 second exposures of the Milky Way and the pictures he was getting were absolutely stunning, it dose help that they have a good dark sky though with very little sky glow,
As far as setting the telescopes up only to have clouds roll in ten minutes later has happened so often it doesn't even #### me off anymore, although it probably would if I'd traveled some distance to a good dark site.

 

[doug_amanda]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28415743@N02/ I can highly recommend viewing this FlickR page

It's because of Sara and others on the astronomy forum I use that I had a go at astrophotography, she's a true master of what can only be considered an art. I just wish I had the patience, the knowledge and the money to get even close to that level.

 

[Realist]

I purchased a Sky-Watcher Skyhawk-1145P SynScan AZ GoTo Telescope last year on a whim bit like SB .

Opened the box, used it twice and its back in the box for good.

Waste of good money, bit like SB LOL

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[doug_amanda]

Lol, they're not a bad little telescope them, the problem is people buy them expecting to see things like the Hubble pictures, not helped by the grand pictures on the box they come in.
There must be hundreds if not thousands of perfectly good telescopes stuck up in lofts and garages never to be used again.

There's a superb book called "Turn left at Orion" that illustrates just what you can see with these sort of telescopes,
Probably get a copy for about 10p from Amazon,

 

[Realist]

I'll look into that.

 

[McPikie]

I purchased a Sky-Watcher Skyhawk-1145P SynScan AZ GoTo Telescope last year on a whim bit like SB .

Opened the box, used it twice and its back in the box for good.

Waste of good money, bit like SB LOL

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Give you £20 for it, lol

 

[Realist]

Ummmm yeh why not, tell you what you can have it free inc postage, better still I'll deliver it and set it up for free how's about that....... NOT lol.

Nice try Pikie by name and by the looks of it Pikie by nature

 

[McPikie]

its back in the box for good. Waste of good money

Only reason I offered. You may as well get something back from it, lol.

Out of interest, how much would you be asking for it

 

[Realist]

I would not sell it cos it's brand new and I'll loose to much.

 

[MissM]

What the telescope or the forum lol

 

[Realist]

Telescope.

 

[Kapitonov]

Wow, astonishing pictures. Astronomy is rather interesting hobby.

 

[Kevin_Hall]

Does anyone still doing astrophotography?
I'd like to share some works of mine:
Giacobini-Zinner comet