Astrophotography

[caerus]

My other love besides aviation, is the sky above us. I've always looked up and stood amazed at the expanse of universe before our eyes. It's not until recently though that I've started imaging what I see. I have a Celestron Astromaster 114EQ telescope and various adaptors to photograph through the 'scope. It still needs some fine tuning to align the mirrors (known as collomation), but otherwise, it's ready to go. I've been learning the sky recently, so I don't actually have any shots through the scope, but what I do have is my attempts at "Widefield Photography".

Widefield photography can be as simple as putting your camera on a tripod and opening the shutter. There are some tricks to getting sharp images though. Setting a higher ISO such as ISO800 and a large aperture (I can reach f/3.5) will reduce the length of the exposure, prevent the stars from trailing. A wide field of view is also recommended. 18mm will give you an exposure of around 30s before the stars begin to trail, but with the rough settings above, you shouldn't get any exposures longer then 15-20s. Light pollution will also determine how long your exposure will be. If you're shooting in the countryside, be prepared for longer exposures.

Here is my image of Orion, shot at 18mm, f/3.5, ISO1600, giving a 30s exposure..

The Hunter by Caerus Aviation, on Flickr

Cygnus is in this shot. 18mm, f/3.5, ISO800, 13s..

Cygnus by Caerus Aviation, on Flickr

That is as basic as it gets so if you're interested, give it a go.!

Star trails can be an inspiring subject to shoot. You can shoot these by setting the camera to 'Bulb' and let it go, but I prefer to shot shorter exposures and stack them afterwards.

This shot was taken on the shortest night of the year, something I've been told showed complete dedication and that its not something even the professionals do.! The shot used the same settings as the Orion shot, with 40 exposures at 15s ea., giving 10 minutes worth of star trails, stacked once I'd got home and warmed up..

Rotation by Caerus Aviation, on Flickr

My final image was shot during a spell of boredum. The clouds rolled in about halfway through the exposures, but I think it's a nice touch. 18mm, f/3.5, ISO800. I can't remember the total number of exposures however. I'm guessing it might be around 30-40mins worth at 15s each..

Cloudy Trails by Caerus Aviation, on Flickr

It's a rough introduction, but I hope you've enjoyed it. If you feel a little bit inspired and have any questions, I'd be happy to answer anything that's troubling you.! It starts with a glace upwards on a clear night..

Sam.

[bennyboy]

Nice shots Sam

Heard the next full moon is at the end of this month.....hopefully we will have a clear sky

Regards

Ben

[Jonay]

Nice pictures.

I too have tried this - not as good results as you mind. I need a better body - the D300 is really letting me down.

I'm not going to post my attempts - they are shocking and I'm really disappointed that everytime I have tried since my last "good" batch it's clouded over since.

I've got a T mount for my telescope too - though I'm having really issues trying to focus it

[caerus]

Thanks Ben. When the moon is out, give it a go, see what you get.!

Jonay; The cloud hasn't been too much of an issue for me down here recently, but I've not given anything a bash. I should, seeing as Mars is sitting just below Leo.

I've been having the same issue with hooking the DSLR up to the telescope. Looking through the scope the moon is nice and sharp, but as soon as I hook up the DSLR, it's out of focus. I'm waiting for the moon to come back up to try and figure out whats going on. If I do work it out, I'll let you know..