K-5 For Astrophotography

**Ex Finn.** · 11-30-2013, 01:01 AM

Originally posted by jbinpg

Nice! My AstroTrac tracking mount is essentially a fancy barndoor device but it does a good job.

Jack

Thanks.
If you saw the rig that I put together you might question my sanity

The oscillations are really nasty, I can`t even look at it without it going nuts. And counting "one Mississippi, two Mississippi" is starting to get to me

. Might be time to bite the bullet and invest in real GEQ mount.

Dave L · 12-01-2013, 09:45 AM

Originally posted by tonypysm

In this picture,I'm not sure the line is a Meteor or a Satellite.

105mm 90sec exposure ISO1250 F2.8
PENTAX K-5 ,SIGMA 105mm/2.8 EX Macro ,SkyTracker

Given the exposure length and the sudden beginning/end of the line in the middle, it looks to me like a satellite trail. An Iridium-type satellite brightens and fades in a characteristic way over 10 to 15 seconds, similar to the left hand part of the trail.

tonypysm · 12-03-2013, 02:09 AM

Thanks

Originally posted by Dave L

Given the exposure length and the sudden beginning/end of the line in the middle, it looks to me like a satellite trail. An Iridium-type satellite brightens and fades in a characteristic way over 10 to 15 seconds, similar to the left hand part of the trail.

tonypysm · 12-03-2013, 02:12 AM - **2 Likes**

Taken in Dongchuan Red Land, a famous seneric place in China.Pentax K5,Sigma 28mm/1.8,Skytracker 0.5X tracked.

seti_v2 · 12-13-2013, 12:22 PM

Captured via piggyback mounted on my Nexstar 8se while trying to spot some meteors.

Moon was bright and high in the sky and the artificial light glow from the city around me was competing for sky dominance.

VisualDarkness · 12-13-2013, 01:11 PM

I want to shoot Lovejoy now that ISON is considered dead, but the whole of december has been 80-100% cloudiness during night and the reports says that it will continue.

**jbinpg** · 12-18-2013, 12:42 AM

Lovejoy is at perihelion Dec 23rd and is not a sungrazer as was ISON so it will survive its close encounter. Thursday morning will be my next best opportunity to snag it since we by some miracle will have about 18 hours of clear skies starting Wednesday afternoon. Some beautiful images showing up now on Spaceweather.com.

Jack

seti_v2 · 12-26-2013, 09:26 AM - **1 Like**

First attempt at M42 The Great Orion Nebula. It was very windy that night so I had to limit my exposures to 2 minutes. Any longer and the wind gusts were destroying the exposures.

Celestron Nexstar 8se, homemade wedge, meade off axis guider, ZWO ASI120MM guide camera, and of course the trusty Pentax k5.

**pixelsaurus** · 12-26-2013, 12:53 PM

Originally posted by seti_v2

First attempt at M42 The Great Orion Nebula. It was very windy that night so I had to limit my exposures to 2 minutes. Any longer and the wind gusts were destroying the exposures.

Celestron Nexstar 8se, homemade wedge, meade off axis guider, ZWO ASI120MM guide camera, and of course the trusty Pentax k5.

I'd be happy with that.

**Ex Finn.** · 12-26-2013, 02:22 PM

I cant get more than 10 second exposures out of my barn-door and EON 120ED 900mm f/l f7.5 refractor.
Here is one from last night, nowhere near as nice as the one from seti_v2.

DeadJohn · 12-26-2013, 03:28 PM

Originally posted by seti_v2

First attempt at M42 The Great Orion Nebula. It was very windy that night so I had to limit my exposures to 2 minutes. Any longer and the wind gusts were destroying the exposures.

Celestron Nexstar 8se, homemade wedge, meade off axis guider, ZWO ASI120MM guide camera, and of course the trusty Pentax k5.

Congratulations. I assume you're using the f6.3 reducer. It looks like you solved your earlier internal reflection problem.

A ZWO camera is on my shopping list. Still undecided between color or B&W. B&W is a bit better for autoguiding and offers the potential of higher resolution for planetary imaging, but color is so much easier for planetary imaging.

seti_v2 · 12-27-2013, 06:53 AM

Originally posted by DeadJohn

Congratulations. I assume you're using the f6.3 reducer. It looks like you solved your earlier internal reflection problem.

A ZWO camera is on my shopping list. Still undecided between color or B&W. B&W is a bit better for autoguiding and offers the potential of higher resolution for planetary imaging, but color is so much easier for planetary imaging.

Yes, I'm using the f6.3 reducer.

I got the B&W ASI camera. Meade is running a deal for the tricolor LRGB interference filters for only $19.99. I jumped on that as well for doing tricolor planetary imaging. Meade Deep Sky Imager RGB Color Filter Set for use with DSI PRO

They are standard 1.25" filters and interference ones to boot!

**Ex Finn.** · 12-27-2013, 11:41 PM

This is starting to feel like work, too much post processing involved.

The K5 does do well for astro however.

Cheers.

seti_v2 · 12-30-2013, 07:58 AM

i like the color balance on the reprocessed on ExFinn! M42 is such a bear to process, too much dynamic range in it.

seti_v2 · 12-30-2013, 11:47 AM - **1 Like**

Spent a long time reprocessing to bring out as much detail as I could.

Full Res M42 Orion Nebula (seti_v2) - Full resolution | AstroBin

11-30-2013, 01:01 AM	#556
Ex Finn. Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Southern Maryland. Espoo. Kouvola. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,975	Originally posted by jbinpg Nice! My AstroTrac tracking mount is essentially a fancy barndoor device but it does a good job. Jack Thanks. If you saw the rig that I put together you might question my sanity The oscillations are really nasty, I can`t even look at it without it going nuts. And counting "one Mississippi, two Mississippi" is starting to get to me. Might be time to bite the bullet and invest in real GEQ mount.

12-03-2013, 02:09 AM	#558
tonypysm Junior Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 29	Thanks Originally posted by Dave L Given the exposure length and the sudden beginning/end of the line in the middle, it looks to me like a satellite trail. An Iridium-type satellite brightens and fades in a characteristic way over 10 to 15 seconds, similar to the left hand part of the trail. Last edited by tonypysm; 12-03-2013 at 08:11 AM.

12-13-2013, 12:22 PM	#560
seti_v2 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 59	Moonlight Versus Light Pollution Captured via piggyback mounted on my Nexstar 8se while trying to spot some meteors. Moon was bright and high in the sky and the artificial light glow from the city around me was competing for sky dominance. Last edited by seti_v2; 09-22-2014 at 08:39 AM.

12-26-2013, 09:26 AM - 1 Like	#563
seti_v2 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 59	M42 Orion Nebula First attempt at M42 The Great Orion Nebula. It was very windy that night so I had to limit my exposures to 2 minutes. Any longer and the wind gusts were destroying the exposures. Celestron Nexstar 8se, homemade wedge, meade off axis guider, ZWO ASI120MM guide camera, and of course the trusty Pentax k5. Last edited by seti_v2; 09-22-2014 at 08:39 AM.

12-26-2013, 02:22 PM	#565
Ex Finn. Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Southern Maryland. Espoo. Kouvola. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,975	I cant get more than 10 second exposures out of my barn-door and EON 120ED 900mm f/l f7.5 refractor. Here is one from last night, nowhere near as nice as the one from seti_v2. Last edited by Ex Finn.; 11-11-2014 at 05:44 PM.

12-01-2013, 09:45 AM	#557
Dave L Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Hampshire UK Posts: 306	Originally posted by tonypysm In this picture,I'm not sure the line is a Meteor or a Satellite. 105mm 90sec exposure ISO1250 F2.8 PENTAX K-5 ,SIGMA 105mm/2.8 EX Macro ,SkyTracker Given the exposure length and the sudden beginning/end of the line in the middle, it looks to me like a satellite trail. An Iridium-type satellite brightens and fades in a characteristic way over 10 to 15 seconds, similar to the left hand part of the trail.

12-03-2013, 02:12 AM - 2 Likes	#559
tonypysm Junior Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 29	Taken in Dongchuan Red Land, a famous seneric place in China.Pentax K5,Sigma 28mm/1.8,Skytracker 0.5X tracked.

12-13-2013, 01:11 PM	#561
VisualDarkness Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Uppsala, Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,439	I want to shoot Lovejoy now that ISON is considered dead, but the whole of december has been 80-100% cloudiness during night and the reports says that it will continue.

12-18-2013, 12:42 AM	#562
jbinpg Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Prince George, BC Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,546	Lovejoy is at perihelion Dec 23rd and is not a sungrazer as was ISON so it will survive its close encounter. Thursday morning will be my next best opportunity to snag it since we by some miracle will have about 18 hours of clear skies starting Wednesday afternoon. Some beautiful images showing up now on Spaceweather.com. Jack

12-26-2013, 12:53 PM	#564
pixelsaurus Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Te Kuiti, NZ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 986	Originally posted by seti_v2 First attempt at M42 The Great Orion Nebula. It was very windy that night so I had to limit my exposures to 2 minutes. Any longer and the wind gusts were destroying the exposures. Celestron Nexstar 8se, homemade wedge, meade off axis guider, ZWO ASI120MM guide camera, and of course the trusty Pentax k5. I'd be happy with that.

12-26-2013, 03:28 PM	#566
DeadJohn Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: New York Posts: 4,834	Originally posted by seti_v2 First attempt at M42 The Great Orion Nebula. It was very windy that night so I had to limit my exposures to 2 minutes. Any longer and the wind gusts were destroying the exposures. Celestron Nexstar 8se, homemade wedge, meade off axis guider, ZWO ASI120MM guide camera, and of course the trusty Pentax k5. Congratulations. I assume you're using the f6.3 reducer. It looks like you solved your earlier internal reflection problem. A ZWO camera is on my shopping list. Still undecided between color or B&W. B&W is a bit better for autoguiding and offers the potential of higher resolution for planetary imaging, but color is so much easier for planetary imaging.

12-27-2013, 06:53 AM	#567
seti_v2 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 59	Originally posted by DeadJohn Congratulations. I assume you're using the f6.3 reducer. It looks like you solved your earlier internal reflection problem. A ZWO camera is on my shopping list. Still undecided between color or B&W. B&W is a bit better for autoguiding and offers the potential of higher resolution for planetary imaging, but color is so much easier for planetary imaging. Yes, I'm using the f6.3 reducer. I got the B&W ASI camera. Meade is running a deal for the tricolor LRGB interference filters for only $19.99. I jumped on that as well for doing tricolor planetary imaging. Meade Deep Sky Imager RGB Color Filter Set for use with DSI PRO They are standard 1.25" filters and interference ones to boot!

12-27-2013, 11:41 PM	#568
Ex Finn. Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Southern Maryland. Espoo. Kouvola. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,975	This is starting to feel like work, too much post processing involved. The K5 does do well for astro however. Cheers. Last edited by Ex Finn.; 11-11-2014 at 05:44 PM.

12-30-2013, 07:58 AM	#569
seti_v2 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 59	i like the color balance on the reprocessed on ExFinn! M42 is such a bear to process, too much dynamic range in it.

12-30-2013, 11:47 AM - 1 Like	#570
seti_v2 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 59	M42 Reprocess Spent a long time reprocessing to bring out as much detail as I could. Full Res M42 Orion Nebula (seti_v2) - Full resolution \| AstroBin Attached Images

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