I took a few shots of comet Machholz tonight, braving 3 deg temps. I didn't carefully polar align so the stars trailed noticeably. Here is the only shot I did any processing with; curves to increase brightness and contrast and a little noise reduction. This was 15 seconds at ISO 800.
I also took a few stabs at the moon, just for fun. Here was the best focused of the bunch:
John, you are a braver man than I. Looked at the thermometer, said, "nope, staying in tonight." I see you were rewarded with darn good seeing, your moon shot takes a bit of additional sharpening quite well.
BTW, did y'all get something for "architecture" yesterday?
They are really cool photos, i have been looking for the comet unfortunatly haven't found it... :(
I have tried to take photos too throught my meade 70at but have got any succes on any of them, have tried several things but it always comes out of focus.
Its sad having the material to take photos and all that and not get any fair results... have had help but nothing, i have seen sites and sites but can't get it right seems like it comes out shaked always... :(
John, you are a braver man than I. Looked at the thermometer, said, "nope, staying in tonight." I see you were rewarded with darn good seeing, your moon shot takes a bit of additional sharpening quite well.
BTW, did y'all get something for "architecture" yesterday?
Yeah, it was freakin' cold out there tonight. My fingers still hurt.
Shooting downtown was fun yesterday though we had to wait more than two hours for the spot to open up, and then wait for the crowds to thin out before we could shoot (Phantom performance). I ended up not submitting anything though Andrea did. She got some good shots.
They are really cool photos, i have been looking for the comet unfortunatly haven't found it... :(
I have tried to take photos too throught my meade 70at but have got any succes on any of them, have tried several things but it always comes out of focus.
Its sad having the material to take photos and all that and not get any fair results... have had help but nothing, i have seen sites and sites but can't get it right seems like it comes out shaked always... :(
Try some brighter objects Dis. Have you shot the moon yet? Which 70mm scope to you have, the ETX?
They are really cool photos, i have been looking for the comet unfortunatly haven't found it... :(
I have tried to take photos too throught my meade 70at but have got any succes on any of them, have tried several things but it always comes out of focus.
Its sad having the material to take photos and all that and not get any fair results... have had help but nothing, i have seen sites and sites but can't get it right seems like it comes out shaked always... :(
one trick on getting good focus is to find a bright star and focus on that, take a few test images and adjust your focus as needed. Once you get the focus you want move the scope to the object you want to image and you will have good focus.
Sometims if I cant find a comet, I put my camera on a tripod and point it to where I think the general area the comet is in, then I take a 60 sec exposure and look for a green blob and then I know where to point the scope.
rats my thread got locked....but I was expecting that.....
John, thanks for the kind words, but I still have a long way to go for the deep sky stuff. I have the moon kicked in the butt, I just need more time and pratice processing multiple short exposures
rats my thread got locked....but I was expecting that.....
John, thanks for the kind words, but I still have a long way to go for the deep sky stuff. I have the moon kicked in the butt, I just need more time and pratice processing multiple short exposures
What software are you using to process your multiple exposures? There are tons of programs out there, many shareware and freeware that automate much of this process for you (aligning, adjusting levels, etc.), and do a much better job than Photoshop.
edit: this is strangeghost talking on my daughter's account. She always logs me out when she has a photo entered in a challenge! :-)
I saw it, unfortunately, I didn't have my camera or telescope around. I was out, beause my sister ran my truck out of gas. It was bitter cold (try -9 + WC), and my only thought at the time was get some gas in this truck. Then on Sunday I read my email alert from NASA about Machholz & the Auroras we had the last few nights. Unfortunately none of my 'northern lights' pics came out as much more than a lighter dark streak. Those were pretty good last night, despite the freezing cold.
What software are you using to process your multiple exposures?
I use registax V3 for stacking, but I am having problems with it. I might have to go back to V2. I use Ulead photo impact for levels and stuff. I have imagesPlus on my big PC at my parents house. We dont have room here so I have to leave my pic PC there for now until Shannon and I get a bigger place.
I have not installed it on my laptop yet so I dont much time to use ImagesPlus which is an excelent program,
