1st astro shot.

gus · December 3, 2005

Ok..1stly the excuses.

I took me about 3 hours to work out how to do it..all sounds easy reading in a forum but standing in total darkness in the bush at midnight without a moon its a diff story. A few yowies calling out down in the next valley does not help your nerves either....i was hoping they wouldnt pick up my scent & come to see what was going on.

This is my trusty kit lens @ 18mm...ISO 100...and 56 minuite exposure. I sharpened it just a tad & also a tiny amount of luminance smoothing because i really dont know what to do with the photo. I dont know what the colours are about...one is def mars i know that for sure.

Funny this is that i turned on the noise reduction in the cameras custom functions & thus if you have the shutter open for an hour..it takes an hour to process the photo. You just get 'busy' written in the lcd.

The 8 stars to the top right are part of the big dipper (i call it the North Arrow as it always points to the north) Orion is the brightest one. A lot of shooting stars went over but were all too fast for the camera to get...we are entering into the Phoenicids meteor shower at the moment.

Worst bit is that a storm was over the horizon & in the total darkness the lightning flashes were going up into the sky. I estimate it was easily over 100 miles away. I believe it poluted the shot.

gus · December 3, 2005

I did 2...this one didnt turn out well. It was with the 135mm @ f/4.5 for 9 minutes ISO 100

Big Dipper again...i dont know what the curled up bits are. Maybe the tripod head settling as that lens is quite heavy.

DanielB · December 3, 2005

Humungus wrote:

Ok..1stly the excuses.

I took me about 3 hours to work out how to do it..all sounds easy reading in a forum but standing in total darkness in the bush at midnight without a moon its a diff story. A few yowies calling out down in the next valley does not help your nerves either....i was hoping they wouldnt pick up my scent & come to see what was going on.

This is my trusty kit lens @ 18mm...ISO 100...and 56 minuite exposure. I sharpened it just a tad & also a tiny amount of luminance smoothing because i really dont know what to do with the photo. I dont know what the colours are about...one is def mars i know that for sure.

Funny this is that i turned on the noise reduction in the cameras custom functions & thus if you have the shutter open for an hour..it takes an hour to process the photo. You just get 'busy' written in the lcd.

The 8 stars to the top right are part of the big dipper (i call it the North Arrow as it always points to the north) Orion is the brightest one. A lot of shooting stars went over but were all too fast for the camera to get...we are entering into the Phoenicids meteor shower at the moment.

Worst bit is that a storm was over the horizon & in the total darkness the lightning flashes were going up into the sky. I estimate it was easily over 100 miles away. I believe it poluted the shot.

C'est magnifique!

i love the tree silhouettes in the corners. it adds perspective.

great shot gus

daniel-

DavidTO · December 3, 2005

Gus,

I don't have any experience (did try the moon once, though), but I'd say you did fantastic for first time out. Nice job.

gus · December 3, 2005

Thanks guys but i had no moon & not even the slightest breeze. It was a totally still night.

Now that i have worked out how to do it i can start planning on what to add in the foreground.

gus · December 3, 2005

BTW...i would be more than happy to send the originals to anyone that is proficient with post work to see what is able to be drawn from the shot.

Gus

ChrisJ · December 4, 2005

The first one is great! Definitely seems like something wasn't stuck properly on the second.

In the first image, I wonder what the pulsing light is that has a different trail than the stars. It has a more pronounced downward curve, going right through the big dipper stars. Too dim to be the ISS (which definitely doesn't pulse).

gus · December 4, 2005

95Mcaj wrote:

In the first image, I wonder what the pulsing light is that has a different trail than the stars. It has a more pronounced downward curve, going right through the big dipper stars. Too dim to be the ISS (which definitely doesn't pulse).

No worries ...i like to know what all that stuff is also.

Identification USSPACECOM Catalog No.:28646International Designation Code:2005-016-A Alternate Names:USA 182

Satellite Details
Orbit: 710 x 720 km, 57.0°Category: Military Reconnaissance Country/Org. of Origin:USA Intrinsic brightness: 3.4(at 1000km distance, 50% illuminated)Maximum brightness (Mag): 1.9 (at perigee, 100% illuminated)Launch
Date (UTC):April 30, 2005

Andyman · December 4, 2005

Pretty cool Humumgus.

babybluetx23 · December 4, 2005

Humungus wrote:

This is my trusty kit lens @ 18mm...ISO 100...and 56 minuite exposure.

Ok I feel STUPID but HOW ON EARTH did you get a 56 min exposure? Do you have a manual Shutter release that allowed you the ability to lock it down for that long? Or is it a setting on your Cam?

gus · December 5, 2005

babybluetx23 wrote:

Ok I feel STUPID but HOW ON EARTH did you get a 56 min exposure? Do you have a manual Shutter release that allowed you the ability to lock it down for that long? Or is it a setting on your Cam?

Manual lockdown on the remote control.

gus · December 5, 2005

Andyman wrote:

Pretty cool Humumgus.

Tks for looking AM. Much more to come.

I was purely by chance aiming in the correct area at the correct time to score this baby but i was way too far east. Imaging how rare it would be to get one this big on film.

I saw on the news where the sonic boom of it blew a trap door of a wheat silo open. Someone caught it on video & it looked like the world was going to end...massive tail behind it just like the movies.

BigAl · December 5, 2005

Wow Gus!

Very daring of you to heat up your sensor for 58mins

Heard about your meteorite on this mornings news - now that would have been something to take pics of...

gus · December 5, 2005

BigAl wrote:

Wow Gus! Very daring of you to heat up your sensor for 58mins

Heard about your meteorite on this mornings news - now that would have been something to take pics of...

Tks mate...i had heard that it heats the sensor...wonder if it damages it

Maybe if it does i can get that 'next' model.

BigAl · December 5, 2005

Humungus wrote:

Tks mate...i had heard that it heats the sensor...wonder if it damages it

Maybe if it does i can get that 'next' model.

I've heard that the CCD detectors on the big astronomy telescopes are cooled down with liquid nitrogen, but I think that's more to kill the noise.

rahmonster · December 5, 2005

Hi there Gus.

This is something i have been planning on doing for about a year now with my EOS30 film camera...But planning and doing are two very different things

I would have no idea to process them so I can't help you there.

Glad the yowies didn't eat you. Sitting in the bush for a few hours in the middle of the night with no moon sounds a bit hairy...Perhaps thats one reason I haven't ventured out yet. That and the fact that since I've become a mother I take every precious minute of sleep I am offered.

If you know how, or know someone who does, you can work out where the south celestial pole is and you can get them rotating in the circle. I have also seen people do them just before dawn and get some slight colour in the sky.

And from what I'm told, it takes practice and enthusiasm to get it going well. Sometimes you get lucky and get shooting stars going across.

I think I'm rabbitting on again...

Nice shots:D

gus · December 5, 2005

Thanks RM...yep been there with a little one & sleep is a powerfull friend.

Celestrial south pole is easy...finding a bit of untree'd flat ground is the hard part as its very low. You extend the southern cross's axis on toward the horizon & the bisect it with a line 90 degrees off the pointers axis.

That bit about dawn is a good idea.

I got lots of shooting stars in that shot but none burnt on as thats just too fast for a long exposure. Now had i got that hooah that crashed into WA then i recon i would have a real hot seller on my hands.

Thusie · December 5, 2005

WOW..speechless

Stef · December 5, 2005

Cool! I really like these shots. I am too impatient for THAT long of an exposure, so keep posting them so I can see.

gus · December 5, 2005

Tks guys. Impatience is not the word when you do a 56 min shot & then have to wait 56 min to see the image or to do another.

John Mueller · December 5, 2005

Cool stuff Gus,but I was wanting a Yowie

nod
I think you pull it off very well

ChrisJ · December 5, 2005

Humungus wrote:

No worries ...i like to know what all that stuff is also.
Satellite Details
Orbit: 710 x 720 km, 57.0°Category: Military Reconnaissance Country/Org. of Origin:USA Intrinsic brightness: 3.4(at 1000km distance, 50% illuminated)Maximum brightness (Mag): 1.9 (at perigee, 100% illuminated)Launch
Date (UTC):April 30, 2005

Nice, U.S. spy satellite!
Gotta keep a close watch on you shifty Aussies... :tiptoe

Too bad you missed that Meteor.... that would have been a great reward for 1 image in 2 hours!

ian408 · December 5, 2005

Cool shot there Gus!

Too much light around here for that.

Ian

rahmonster · December 11, 2005

Hey Gus....

I just found this in my browsing around and it looks like it may be of great use to you...

EOS Digital Astro Photography Guide

davidryan · December 11, 2005

Great shots you have. I think the most frustrating thing about astro photography is how difficult it is to frame up a subject. However, I always carry a flashlight with a red diffuser on it so as to see what I'm doing without ruining my night vision.

1st astro shot.

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