M16 Eagle Nebula from A.S.I.G.N.

barry.armstead

Target: M16 Eagle Nebula

http://www.asignobservatory.com/nebulae.aspx

Date: 17 August 2007

Exposure: 14x3Min

ISO: 800

Camera: Canon EOS 400D

Scope: Skywatcher Pro Series ED80 Prime focus

Processing: Deep Sky Stacker, Photoshop

Comments, good or bad welcome. Do you think I need to go for longer exposures or more of them?

Baz.

ben

hey barry
GREAT IMAGES!!!! They look great
I wouldnt mind getting in to astrophotography soon. But im not sure where to start. just a few questions:

1) can i take photos through a simple begginers scope. Its a 60mm refractor telescope. I know its small but is it possible?

2) what type of camera is best. I have both digital and film cameras. to me the film would get the long exposures needed but can the digital do the same?

3) do i need any special equipment to get me started?

4) what do you mean by "prime focus"

Any answers would be great.
keep up the great work

Ben

barry.armstead

Hi Ben, Short answer on a telescope like that is usually no, as it is usually set up on an flimsy Alt Az mount. Thats one that goes up-down and left-right. This is not much good for astrophotography unless you are doing very fast shutter speed photos on the moon.

These scopes characteristically have eyepiece holders that are too small in size to your average camera adapter and are usually lighter than the camera itself.

If it is of solid construction and you had it on a sturdy mount that was polar aligned on a wedge or even better, if it was a German equatorial mount, than you have the beginnings of good astrophotography.

You can take Afocal shots of the moon by holding the camera by hand up to the eyepiece.

Prime focus means, the camera has its lens removed, (like an SLR camera) and an adapter tube couples it straight to the telescope where the eyepiece would normally go. The scope then becomes the camera lens.

Film is a very difficult medium to work with and not without plenty of challenges. It lacks the instant satisfaction of digital astrophotography and can be very costly. However, I believe it will make you learn a lot and you will gain a better appreciation of how light photons can be collected and gathered to produce an image.

It is far better to learn to tell the time with hands on a clock before you go out and buy a digital watch with the time displayed as ready to read numbers.

You do need special equipment to get into it seriously, that all depends on how far you want to take this.

There are a few examples of how to set up on my site. Pictures and explanations, along with astrophotos.

http://www.asignobservatory.com/Astrophotography.aspx

I hope this helps Ben.

Baz.

M16 Eagle Nebula from A.S.I.G.N.

Forum Options