Milky Way and Jupiter 8/30/08

[fillerupmac]

Milky Way and Jupiter 8.30/08

[Taff]

hey fillerup

wot an amazing picture, did you take multiple images?
would be nice if you give us some run down how you did these, telescope attachment etc

well done

[fillerupmac]

I have been interested in amatuer astronomy for many years. I don't know if I have the patience (or the $$$$$) to get really involved in astrophotography. But I am surprised how good the Pentax can "stack up" (pun intended) against the canikon bunch.

I have a Stellarvue 80mm refractor, on a Celestron CG5 computerized mount. Since this was my first attempt, I didn't want to spend a lot of money until I see what the Pentac can do. So the process was: Get my alignment done on with the telescope and mount, so it was tracking accurately, point the telescope just to the right of Jupiter, remove the telescope from the mount, attach the camera to the bracket used for the telescope, mount the bracket and camera to the tripod, and take pics.

I used the Pentax Remote Assistant, on a Macbook, to control the camera. This gave me almost instant feedback/results. Temperature that night, about 50 degrees F.

This was my first attempt, using the Pentax K10D. I have tried before, but the cameras weren't designed for long exposures, and the number of hot pixels was disappointing. The Pentax was amazing! Two minutes, and practically no hot pixels! I was amazed!

So, in this case, a single shot was used for the photo. I took several, this is the best, exposure wise. This was the second night. The first night I posted in the photo forum, a shot towards the Andromeda Galaxy (looking Northeast). This is looking almost due south.

It turned out better than expected, but I think I can be a little more careful, the tracking should be a bit better.

This was also taken in a somewhat remote site in Colorado, extremely dark skies!

Thanks,

Al S.

[Bill B]

I've been working my way up to getting the Milky Way to show in my photos. I've not yet gotten anything like this and obviously one of my issues is the current lack of any tracking setup, manual or automated. I'm working on that aspect. I can just start to make out the Milky Way in some of my pictures.

I, too, have the K10D. My question relates to that. You mention "Two minutes and practically no hot pixels". Did you have the in-camera noise correction on? It sounds like you did, but I'd like to ask just to be sure.

Thanks for sharing, this is great!

Bill B.

[Bill B]

Forgot to mention that I'm also interested in the ISO, F-stop, Aperture, and lens used.

TIA,

Bill B.

[Taff]

sorry for the late response fillerup, nice information, good luck in future pics i will be keeping an eye on your pics