Thread: An amazing amateur

Pictured: Spectacular images of deep space caught by an amateur astronomer - from his back garden. He used a specialised digital camera, which is refrigerated to boost its performance, and a 28cm reflecting telescope, from a portable observatory at his home in the New Forest.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...r--garden.html

Truly amazing. Thumbs up! Here is more on him.

Truly inspiring.

Like, now I want to do something. But on a budget. :wink:

I understand a mirror can be made by spinning mercury in a dish (alas, the planet points it). I could set that up without vibrations, 1m diameter. What else do I need? Preferably with yard sale camera parts.

As inspiring as that is it seems to be very difficult either way, I tried it and my images came out no where near as good, although I only spent £200

I checked out that link. Wow, some truly amazing shots.

Here are a few that I've done from my back yard. Keep in mind this is in light pollution from being within the Phoenix metro area.







These are about my third or forth attempt. I've learned a whole lot and also found my scope to have some quirks that I'm trying to iron out.

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

Here are a few that I've done from my back yard. Keep in mind this is in light pollution from being within the Phoenix metro area.

These are about my third or forth attempt. I've learned a whole lot and also found my scope to have some quirks that I'm trying to iron out.

Those are awesome, well done! What telescope did you use? Tracking? CCD? Software?

Originally Posted by (Q)

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

Here are a few that I've done from my back yard. Keep in mind this is in light pollution from being within the Phoenix metro area.

These are about my third or forth attempt. I've learned a whole lot and also found my scope to have some quirks that I'm trying to iron out.

Those are awesome, well done! What telescope did you use? Tracking? CCD? Software?

Using an Orion EQ-G with an 8 inch Orion reflector, thus the spider vanes in the photos. I'm using an HP laptop with the EQMOD Ascom driver that takes over all the functions of a hand controller. For a cam I'm using a Canon EOS 350D. These are all multiple shots stacked with registax and then digitally tweaked. The stacking is really what allows us amateurs to get any results resembling decent. It brings out more and more detail. I'm looking for ways to add light pollution filters to my existing setup. I have very little room to change the way my camera mounts to the scope. It's solid, but just not able to expand outward with extra adapters, filters, etc.

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

Using an Orion EQ-G with an 8 inch Orion reflector, thus the spider vanes in the photos. I'm using an HP laptop with the EQMOD Ascom driver that takes over all the functions of a hand controller. For a cam I'm using a Canon EOS 350D. These are all multiple shots stacked with registax and then digitally tweaked. The stacking is really what allows us amateurs to get any results resembling decent. It brings out more and more detail. I'm looking for ways to add light pollution filters to my existing setup. I have very little room to change the way my camera mounts to the scope. It's solid, but just not able to expand outward with extra adapters, filters, etc.

Thanks, that's good info. I used to use a Canon camera as well and eventually purchased a NexImage, which proved more useful in expanding the setup. As well, I could easily move it to my Coronado PST and take surface and filament pics of the sun. I haven't tried filters myself but have read from a number of people mixed results, which apparently has to do with a number of conditions.

Yeah, Registax is awesome software. Love it.

Here is another shot I just did a little while ago. Totally different exposure. I find it's one of the cool things about astrophotography, you never know what you'll get from night to night.

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

I checked out that link. Wow, some truly amazing shots.

Here are a few that I've done from my back yard. Keep in mind this is in light pollution from being within the Phoenix metro area.







These are about my third or forth attempt. I've learned a whole lot and also found my scope to have some quirks that I'm trying to iron out.

I like your m31 - I think contrast could be improved a bit to enhance the dust lanes? Have you ever checked out the usenet group: alt.binaries.astro.photos ?Some of the best astrophotographers hang out there and post their latest work daily - they also are very helpful - will answer any technical question ... several NASA photographers are there. Your horsehead nebula is stunning - really excellent. I assume it was done without filters, which is amazing. The colour balance is excellent. Just a great photo!

Which brings me to a question: do you copy and paste photos at this forum?
I dont find any provision for attachments? What is the size limit and what file
types will post (~300mb ??).

Thanks -

Which brings me to a question: do you copy and paste photos at this forum?
I dont find any provision for attachments? What is the size limit and what file
types will post (~300mb ??).

Nope, all images have to be hosted off site. Bandwidth, copyrights, porn, all those fun things being reasons why we don't host images.

Originally Posted by (In)Sanity

Which brings me to a question: do you copy and paste photos at this forum?
I dont find any provision for attachments? What is the size limit and what file
types will post (~300mb ??).

Nope, all images have to be hosted off site. Bandwidth, copyrights, porn, all those fun things being reasons why we don't host images.

So you copied and pasted your images to your post? I will just try it:

Nope it didnt work. Hmmmmm. I must not understand ... ???
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