Misc Astrophotography (Shoot the ISS, etc) besides moon shots...

[Apple fanboy]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this but, if you can find them where you live or can order online, use a couple of handwarmers (the little pouches that you shake to mix-up the contents) in a sock tied around your lens or strapped on with elastics to keep your lens from fogging-up. The lens doesn't have to get very warm...just warmer than the ambient air temp.

~ Peter

That's a good tip. I have a few of those in the house.

 

[tomnavratil]

Wrong thread, sorry!

 

[mtbdudex]

Kinda surprised no other Orionid Meteor Shower images posted here ....
Others - post yours!!
The Orionid meteor shower is one of two meteor showers created by debris from Comet Halley. The Eta Aquarids in May is the second meteor shower created by debris left by Comet Halley.

The Orionid meteor shower peaked Wednesday 10/21/2015 morning, but too many clouds then.
So I was imaging Friday morning 10/23 2:30am - 6am, this lone one going "up" captured 5:55am. That's a plane trail lower right.

Here is a star trail of the 700+ images, this is looking near due south, slightly east.
There were slight clouds at times that take away from the star trail crispness.
Each is ISO: 1250, Exposure: 13.0 sec, Aperture: 2.8, Focal Length: 11mm

I also made this timelapse video of the 775 images.
Workflow: DSLR download >> Apple Aperture (Basic PP) >> StarStax (save cumulative frames) >> Time Lapse Assembler >> iMovie (add sound) >> YouTube
Best viewed in full HD onscreen

 

[moxxham]

Kinda surprised no other Orionid Meteor Shower images posted here ....
Others - post yours!!
The Orionid meteor shower is one of two meteor showers created by debris from Comet Halley. The Eta Aquarids in May is the second meteor shower created by debris left by Comet Halley.

The Orionid meteor shower peaked Wednesday 10/21/2015 morning, but too many clouds then.
So I was imaging Friday morning 10/23 2:30am - 6am, this lone one going "up" captured 5:55am. That's a plane trail lower right.

Here is a star trail of the 700+ images, this is looking near due south, slightly east.
There were slight clouds at times that take away from the star trail crispness.
Each is ISO: 1250, Exposure: 13.0 sec, Aperture: 2.8, Focal Length: 11mm

I also made this timelapse video of the 775 images.
Workflow: DSLR download >> Apple Aperture (Basic PP) >> StarStax (save cumulative frames) >> Time Lapse Assembler >> iMovie (add sound) >> YouTube
Best viewed in full HD onscreen

WOOOOOAH. That second image is absolutely stunning! Well done

 

[mtbdudex]

This weekend could be a great visual scene, post images here

 

[Apple fanboy]

This weekend could be a great visual scene, post images here

Bet it's cloudy in the UK!

 

[mtbdudex]

Last nights attempt
My 10 year old boy viewing with me

Captured 1 in upper right

Made star trails

Rest of week is supposed to be cloudy wet, hopefully others have clear skies

 

[mtbdudex]

I'm blown away my new iPhone 7+ can capture Orion's Belt in the night sky!
This is handheld, amazing no blur, yes not totally bright but this shows me the image sensor technology of smartphones has progressed so much .
I did no RAW or Lightroom tweaking, this is straight out of the camera.
Maybe in 5-7 more years I can ditch my DSLR gear and just go with smartphone cameras...
Or maybe not, but you know the saying, "the best camera is the one with you"....

 

[mtbdudex]

It's a beautiful world we live in.
I love being outside at night and hearing the sounds of nature while watching the night skies.
Best viewed at full screen, not a small smartphone.

Canon 70D, Tokina 11-16 @ 11mm, f2.8, ISO 1600, 15 sec exposures each.
2am - 5:30am, 100's and 100's of image.
Captured a few small meteor streaks, no long ones.

Video, turn up the resolution to HD 1080p for good details.

 

[someoldguy]

Milky Way from about 6-7 miles north of Furnace Creek , Death Valley , Ca. .

5D2 , Samyang 14 2.8@2.8 , 25 sec. , ISO 2500 , 3A.M. Quick and dirty processing via ACR and Nik Dfine the next morning . Came out OK , but will retry processing now that I'm back home and have access to a good monitor .

 

[mpainesyd]

Since this is a Mac forum...
I just went through the process of connecting my Retina Macbook to a Celestron 130SLT "computerised" telescope. Tedious but it worked first time!
I am using Astroplanner for Mac ( http://astroplanner.net/index.html ) to select objects to view and that program happily talks to the Celestron hand controller and slews the telescope to the selected object. Much easier than using the clunky user interface of the hand controller.
The main set-up difficulty is connecting to the telescope's RS232 port (actually a telephone cable socket - remember them!). I needed a "RS232 Cable for Celestron Computerised Telescopes" #93920 from Australian Geographic (US stores will not export this cable to Australia as it is clearly advanced electronics!) and a Digitech RS232 to USB Converter cable from Jaycar, plus the USB3 to USB-C adapter for the Macbook.
Follow the tips on this website for downloading and installing the Prolific PL2303 driver for Mac:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/PCControl.htm
Connect the cables, restart the Mac and turn on the telescope.
Astroplanner should now be able to connect to the telescope, after selecting the telescope model from the built-in list.
Enjoy stargazing.

 

[mtbdudex]

It's been a while since I've captured the ISS, it was due to flyover last evening 6:16pm - 6:21pm motion was southwest to north east, so I let my family/friends know via facebook so they could also go outside and see it.

Put's into perspective when you see it people are living in space, and we are growing with knowledge.

The ISS was very visible on a near full moon night. Luke (my 13 year old son) and I were outside imagining it on my Canon DSLR 70D, with ultra wide lens 11-16mm @ 11mm, f2.8 constant aperture @ f4, ISO800.
You can see us taking our selfie with the moon over our shoulder as it rose from the east.
What you see are 10 images "stacked", each image is 15 seconds with a 1 second gap as next image is taken.
That is gap in streak. 1 image I showed only ISS streak, the other I showed the star rotation (actually earth rotation) over those 160 seconds.
Yes - those are moon shadows you see, like the Cat Stevens song from long time ago.

Just the ISS stacked here, used PSE 15 to do this

I actually used StarStacker to make this, easy

Selfie of my boy and I, this was taken during the actual flyover, and you can see us in the image above.
I had NOT planned on us being in the image, it just happened as we watched for 2-3 frames and then walked away from the camera to take this selfie, nice accident..

Taken with iPhone 7+ front facing selfie camera, moon blown out, our face illuminated by red light.

 

[kenoh]

It's been a while since I've captured the ISS, it was due to flyover last evening 6:16pm - 6:21pm motion was southwest to north east, so I let my family/friends know via facebook so they could also go outside and see it.

Put's into perspective when you see it people are living in space, and we are growing with knowledge.

The ISS was very visible on a near full moon night. Luke (my 13 year old son) and I were outside imagining it on my Canon DSLR 70D, with ultra wide lens 11-16mm @ 11mm, f2.8 constant aperture @ f4, ISO800.
You can see us taking our selfie with the moon over our shoulder as it rose from the east.
What you see are 10 images "stacked", each image is 15 seconds with a 1 second gap as next image is taken.
That is gap in streak. 1 image I showed only ISS streak, the other I showed the star rotation (actually earth rotation) over those 160 seconds.
Yes - those are moon shadows you see, like the Cat Stevens song from long time ago.

Just the ISS stacked here, used PSE 15 to do this

I actually used StarStacker to make this, easy

Selfie of my boy and I, this was taken during the actual flyover, and you can see us in the image above.
I had NOT planned on us being in the image, it just happened as we watched for 2-3 frames and then walked away from the camera to take this selfie, nice accident..

Taken with iPhone 7+ front facing selfie camera, moon blown out, our face illuminated by red light.

nice shots. I love the house.

 

[Apple fanboy]

For those in the UK, Sunday is the last super moon of 2017. 14% bigger than usual. Around here it will be at its closest 15:46.
I might get my tripod out!

 

[mtbdudex]

From our Summer 2018 vacation in U.P of Michigan .... these taken July 6, 2018 with my 70D and 11-16 mm f 2.8 lens. Images at ISO 2000, f2.8 and 20 sec exposure, at 11mm.

light painting added

Startrails over lake

Back at campsite at nearly 2am after a few hours of imaging
those white streaks middle are actually 2 iridium satellites reflecting back to earth, not planes, you could see them crawling across the sky it was so dark

the trip

 

[mtbdudex]

Star trails from Sunday Apr-5-2020 10:30 pm.
Canon 70D, 540 images, individual exposure shortened due to almost full moon: 8 sec, ISO 500, f 3.5, UWA at 11mm
Processed in Aperture
Stacked via StarStax
Lovely colors in them stars ...
I’ve yet to see a smartphone capture the colors

Here’s individual frame

And of course .. the dogs were with me; handheld iPhone 11 at arms reach ... amazing considering

Here’s a handheld iPhone 11 just cradled against my body for stability ... to capture the setup

 

[kenoh]

Star trails from Sunday Apr-5-2020 10:30 pm.
Canon 70D, 540 images, individual exposure shortened due to almost full moon: 8 sec, ISO 500, f 3.5, UWA at 11mm
Processed in Aperture
Stacked via StarStax
Lovely colors in them stars ...
I’ve yet to see a smartphone capture the colors

Here’s individual frame

And of course .. the dogs were with me; handheld iPhone 11 at arms reach ... amazing considering

Here’s a handheld iPhone 11 just cradled against my body for stability ... to capture the setup

Love the individual frame image.

 

[mtbdudex]

From Sunday Apr-5 nights sky imaging session.
There are 4 "things" happening in the heavens above, can you spot them and name them?
Yea - need to zoom in, or use a desktop screen

 

[mtbdudex]

Astro quiz answers:
Green are satellite flares.
Blue are specks of dust moving at high rate of speed, the left one bounced

 

[Mark0]

That's a good tip. I have a few of those in the house.

I use a hair bobble (my wife’s, not mine )

I’ve not been about much recently, but it is nice to come back to find a thread related to the night sky. For anyone interested, feel free to have a look at my efforts

Mark Shannon - The Night Sky

I am an enthusiast photographer currently based in the South West of Scotland and specialise in landscape and nature photography.

www.mshannon.co.uk

 

[Apple fanboy]

I use a hair bobble (my wife’s, not mine )

I’ve not been about much recently, but it is nice to come back to find a thread related to the night sky. For anyone interested, feel free to have a look at my efforts

Mark Shannon - The Night Sky

I am an enthusiast photographer currently based in the South West of Scotland and specialise in landscape and nature photography.

www.mshannon.co.uk

The last super moon of 2020 tonight so a good opportunity for people to grab a shot. I’ll see how the evening goes.

 

[Mark0]

The last super moon of 2020 tonight so a good opportunity for people to grab a shot. I’ll see how the evening goes.

I might get my 8” Newtonian out for that. Even just for a wee look because I don’t have a T adapter for my Fuji, only a Canon.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

I tried my hand at a serious astrophotography effort last night, here's the result at a disused sheep shearing building built in the late 1800's.

Lessons learned from this attempt:

• wrong lens choice, don't use lenses that create those cigar shaped things with wings (there must be a term for them, but I am ignorant to it as yet!)
• if you're going to attempt a 4 row by 7 column panorama, don't do it manually on a three way geared head! The Milky Way appears to have time-frames to be places that don't necessarily align with my slowness...
• choose a location that isn't influenced by the very distant city lights and local traffic on a neighbouring hill
• bring gloves
• wait till later in the season for the Milky Way to be lower in the sky for full capture of it (it was basically directly above me last night!)
• bring a stool to sit on at the camera
• investigate waterproof fleece lined boots of some sort at the local camping store!

Sony a7III, SLR Magic Cine 35mm T1.4, 10 second exposures, ISO 3200, Incandescent WB
Quick stitch and fiddle in Lightroom Classic

 

[Apple fanboy]

I tried my hand at a serious astrophotography effort last night, here's the result at a disused sheep shearing building built in the late 1800's.

Lessons learned from this attempt:

• wrong lens choice, don't use lenses that create those cigar shaped things with wings (there must be a term for them, but I am ignorant to it as yet!)
• if you're going to attempt a 4 row by 7 column panorama, don't do it manually on a three way geared head! The Milky Way appears to have time-frames to be places that don't necessarily align with my slowness...
• choose a location that isn't influenced by the very distant city lights and local traffic on a neighbouring hill
• bring gloves
• wait till later in the season for the Milky Way to be lower in the sky for full capture of it (it was basically directly above me last night!)
• bring a stool to sit on at the camera
• investigate waterproof fleece lined boots of some sort at the local camping store!

Sony a7III, SLR Magic Cine 35mm T1.4, 10 second exposures, ISO 3200, Incandescent WB
Quick stitch and fiddle in Lightroom Classic

View attachment 935937

Not bad effort. Some lighting in that barn would be great. Maybe merge the two together in post.
But seriously moaning about the cold? How cold was it! I bet it wasn’t U.K. at night cold!

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Not bad effort. Some lighting in that barn would be great. Maybe merge the two together in post.
But seriously moaning about the cold? How cold was it! I bet it wasn’t U.K. at night cold!

Love your thinking, but unfortunately all the windows are boarded up with metal sheet! Cold, what would you know about cold, I once had the heater trip the power board, now that was cold!