I am making the most of the good weather in Brisbane. Some more images last night. M42 was low in the horizon but still got a decent image. Also got a favorite deep sky object of mine, the radio galaxy NGC5128 or also called Centaurus A. M42 was 8 lights and 8 darks Centaurus A was 4 lights and 8 darks Processed in deep sky stacker, Nebulosity and PS. <iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/95752256@N03/13942758014/in/photostream/player/" width="1024" height="766" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/95752256@N03/13942460613/in/photostream/player/" width="1024" height="576" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>
Very nice images. Thanks for sharing. I am thinking of using my E-M5 for astrophotography as well. Can you tell me what telescope you are imaging with, the ISO settings and exposure times? I was doing drift aligning on my Celestron CGEM mount last night to get the polar alignment as close to spot on as I can, in preparation for guided imaging; my mount is permanently fixed in the garden on its tripod and after 2 years the tripod is still level, which is great news for me as it means the ground is fairly stable. The next thing is to figure out what ISO and exposure times to use for my Astrotech 8" RC (1600mm f8) for the various galaxies such as whirlpool, spiral, and perhaps Bode's nebula. But I will be using the Astronomik CLS-CCD filter, as there is significant light pollution where I live. BW, Boon
Boon Thanks.. these are my first attempts at astrophotography.. and I must say I am rather excited. I am using a Williams Optics APO 102mm F7 on an Ioptron IEQ30 mount. My place is fairly light polluted as well and I plan to travel to some dark sky sites.. fortunately only 90 minutes from where I live. On camera, I set the ISO at 800 and do one minute exposures for both lights and darks. I use Triggertrap to control the camera via my iphone but any movement of the phone during acquisition can cause the images to blur slightly.. I use a start shoot autoguider and PHD for guiding. Excellent combination I might add. A friend lent me his SBIG astro camera and I am excited to try it out, although it ups the complexity of data acquisition 100 fold. Your 8" RC sounds great. I was thinking of getting an RC for planets and galaxies.. but for now I just need to become profecient at using what I have. Do you have any images you have taken ? Cheers PhilS
Hi Phil, I've only shot with my setup about 2 years ago using an astro modified Canon 500d, which I have sold on since. I haven't used the RC with my Olympus yet, but hopefully will have clear skies soon. I intend to do auto guiding with my Lacerta MGEN on Skywatcher ED80. I did shoot short exposures with the E-PL5 and 75/1.8 of the Orion Nebula recently, which has got me excited about astrophotography again. BTW, did you use any light pollution filter for your shots? BW, Boon
Superb job with M42, Phil! It is difficult to preserve detail in the very bright core while bringing out the nebula.
Great pictures, but why are they so different in terms of the grey/blackness of the background? And : I haven't seen so many technical things on one page since Uni! It makes me glad I don't do piccies of stars. If you photograph M42 using an M42 lens do you get a prize?
Ulfric M Douglas With the image of Centaurus A, I had to raise the blacks as the galaxy was so feint. I just need darker skies and more data.
