Astrophotography

[crazyfingers]

Ya Saturn will be smaller though if the rings are at a good angle I should be able to tell that they exist. That's really all I'd expect.

I'm sure that I didn't mess with my metering exposure ISO, etc setting for the jupiter picture. I would have used my custom setting to capture a bird in a bush. Focus and metering set on spot center and let the camera choose what it thinks is best. I'd need to do some serious fiddling for astronomy photos.

And if the camera was on night shot, that's mainly for taking photos of a city skyline at night. Surely not the best for astronomy.

But the lens and sensor should be good enough to take better astronomy photos if the settings provided that flexibility. It's still just a point and shoot camera with a huge zoom.

 

[SLD]

Planetary imaging can be very difficult because they have a small angular size, but are very bright. The best way to do them is to set the camera for a high speed, typically 1/100, but do video for 10 minutes. That’s 60,000 frames. There are programs that delace your frames and throw out those that have been distorted by the atmosphere. The rest are stacked and processed.

 

[steve_bank]

Put an aperture stop over the scope.

 

[barbos]

Planetary imaging can be very difficult because they have a small angular size, but are very bright. The best way to do them is to set the camera for a high speed, typically 1/100, but do video for 10 minutes. That’s 60,000 frames. There are programs that delace your frames and throw out those that have been distorted by the atmosphere. The rest are stacked and processed.

ordinary cameras don't have big enough lenses for atmosphere to be a problem. Unless you take pictures during day time over Mojave desert.

 

[barbos]

Saturn is about 10 AU from the Sun so it should vary from about 9-11 AU from Earth.

Wikipedia says the angular size of the disk will range from about 15-20 arcseconds, with the rings being almost double that across - actually wider than Jupiter’s disk.

Well, with 1" lens of typical long zoom camera I expect Saturn to be 2 pixels wide and rings twice of that. Just wonder if it can really be resolved as something other than a point object.

This is a photo I took of Jupiter with the same camera I used for the moon above. Jupiter is definitely not a point object. If Saturn's rings are at an angle, I'm pretty sure that the camera would be able to show that the rings exist but as I mentioned, probably no colors. The camera is one of those superzooms. It has a small point and shoot sensor but a very long zoom. In the case of this photo, 204 mm. The camera can zoom farther. I expect that when I took this in 2012 that I backed off the zoom to get the moons in.

I don't recall how much care I took taking this or if the camera was in single shot mode or night shot which takes multiple shots and stacks them. The camera could probably do a bit better if I didn't take this hand held which I believe that I did.

View attachment 33857

That's better than I expected. Saturn's rings have roughly the same angular size as Jupiter. So I suspect Saturn can be seen as a planet with rings.
So take a picture of Saturn. And use maximum aperture and different setting for exposure (exposure priority)
By the way what is the aperture of your camera? (diameter of the lens)

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

And if the camera was on night shot, that's mainly for taking photos of a city skyline at night. Surely not the best for astronomy.

Not certain, but the night-time will raise the ISO, which from what I read is what you want to do anyway. So ISO 800 or 1600, as there will be signal noise at lower ISOs. Obviously, the other issue would be a tripod if available. That'll help, unless you have surgeon hands, with the super zoom, the camera needs to be super still. The aperture will likely be as wide open as it can for nighttime mode.

If you can't do shutter priority or aperture priority to limit the shutter, it could become hard to resolve Saturn in the final image.

 

[crazyfingers]

This is a photo I took of Jupiter with the same camera I used for the moon above. Jupiter is definitely not a point object. If Saturn's rings are at an angle, I'm pretty sure that the camera would be able to show that the rings exist but as I mentioned, probably no colors. The camera is one of those superzooms. It has a small point and shoot sensor but a very long zoom. In the case of this photo, 204 mm. The camera can zoom farther. I expect that when I took this in 2012 that I backed off the zoom to get the moons in.

I don't recall how much care I took taking this or if the camera was in single shot mode or night shot which takes multiple shots and stacks them. The camera could probably do a bit better if I didn't take this hand held which I believe that I did.

View attachment 33857

That's better than I expected. Saturn's rings have roughly the same angular size as Jupiter. So I suspect Saturn can be seen as a planet with rings.
So take a picture of Saturn. And use maximum aperture and different setting for exposure (exposure priority)
By the way what is the aperture of your camera? (diameter of the lens)

The diameter of the lens glass is about an inch and a half. I am able to set for Av Aperture priority. Tv, etc.. there are a lot of sittings. Before Saturn comes up at a reasonable time in the fall I will try to figure it out.

My newer camera, also a superzoom, the Canon PowerShot SX70, which I'm still getting used to, has about a 1.7 inch lens. It has all the various setting that the older one has.

 

[crazyfingers]

And if the camera was on night shot, that's mainly for taking photos of a city skyline at night. Surely not the best for astronomy.

Not certain, but the night-time will raise the ISO, which from what I read is what you want to do anyway. So ISO 800 or 1600, as there will be signal noise at lower ISOs. Obviously, the other issue would be a tripod if available. That'll help, unless you have surgeon hands, with the super zoom, the camera needs to be super still. The aperture will likely be as wide open as it can for nighttime mode.

If you can't do shutter priority or aperture priority to limit the shutter, it could become hard to resolve Saturn in the final image.

The camera does have Av and Tv modes though I don't know if I have those controls and others are available under Night Shot. As I mentioned, night shot takes several shots and stacks them. I am not sure yet, before really studying the manual, what controls I have under that special scene mode. I expect not as many. Even metering. Under my usual uses I can set metering for evaluative ( the entire field of view) center weight or spot. Since most of my photos are of birds in a bush or similar, I have the metering set on center spot, along with focus. Lots of studying and lots of experimentation is needed to really set this for astronomy.

I do have a tripod. I can at least set it and set the timer and let it shoot hands free.

 

[bilby]

 

[barbos]

And if the camera was on night shot, that's mainly for taking photos of a city skyline at night. Surely not the best for astronomy.

Not certain, but the night-time will raise the ISO, which from what I read is what you want to do anyway. So ISO 800 or 1600, as there will be signal noise at lower ISOs. Obviously, the other issue would be a tripod if available. That'll help, unless you have surgeon hands, with the super zoom, the camera needs to be super still. The aperture will likely be as wide open as it can for nighttime mode.

If you can't do shutter priority or aperture priority to limit the shutter, it could become hard to resolve Saturn in the final image.

The camera does have Av and Tv modes though I don't know if I have those controls and others are available under Night Shot. As I mentioned, night shot takes several shots and stacks them. I am not sure yet, before really studying the manual, what controls I have under that special scene mode. I expect not as many. Even metering. Under my usual uses I can set metering for evaluative ( the entire field of view) center weight or spot. Since most of my photos are of birds in a bush or similar, I have the metering set on center spot, along with focus. Lots of studying and lots of experimentation is needed to really set this for astronomy.

I do have a tripod. I can at least set it and set the timer and let it shoot hands free.

in your place the best time for taking pictures is just before sunrise. Now Saturn is slightly to the right of Jupiter and actually higher - 23 degrees over horizon.

1.7*1.22*58232*2./(150e6*9.44)/(0.6e-6/0.0254) = 7.22137115630885 pixels resolution
for Saturn itself on 1.7" lens

 

[crazyfingers]

Not that dedicated. Need my sleep. I'll wait until fall. When it's up after sundown.

 

[Gun Nut]

Speaking of the Moon, I took this photo with my camera last night. Canon Powershot SX50 camera.

View attachment 33780

Why is it upside down?

Define "up".

 

[bilby]

Speaking of the Moon, I took this photo with my camera last night. Canon Powershot SX50 camera.

View attachment 33780

Why is it upside down?

Define "up".

The opposite of "down".

Der.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Define "up".

The opposite of "down".

Der.

Goose insides?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Define "up".

The opposite of "down".

Der.

Don't know, the anus appears in the right spot to me.

 

[SLD]

 

[SLD]

 

[crazyfingers]

Are those your own photos? I so they are great!. What did you use and how? And of curse, what are they?

 

[SLD]

Are those your own photos? I so they are great!. What did you use and how? And of curse, what are they?

I took these with my new telescope. First light. I had a Williams Optics 70mm, 420mm focal length on an iOptron ieq45 mount. I used a modified Canon T3i DSLR with the infrared filter removed. The first shot is of M8, the lagoon nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. It’s just 30 shots at 40 seconds a piece, 20 minutes total, at ISO 800. The second is of NGC 7000, the North American Nebula. Also 20 minutes at 40 seconds per shot, but ISO 1600. Both unguided, and Stacked and processed with 10 dark shots and bias shots in ImagesPlus.

I like this new scope because you don’t really need to guide. Just get a good polar alignment and it should be good for 60 second shots. For the larger nebula, which you need less focal length for, that’s perfect. It’s not a good scope for galaxies, except for Andromeda. I need a ten inch Astro graph for those. And very, very good guiding.

 

[crazyfingers]

Are those your own photos? I so they are great!. What did you use and how? And of curse, what are they?

I took these with my new telescope. First light. I had a Williams Optics 70mm, 420mm focal length on an iOptron ieq45 mount. I used a modified Canon T3i DSLR with the infrared filter removed. The first shot is of M8, the lagoon nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. It’s just 30 shots at 40 seconds a piece, 20 minutes total, at ISO 800. The second is of NGC 7000, the North American Nebula. Also 20 minutes at 40 seconds per shot, but ISO 1600. Both unguided, and Stacked and processed with 10 dark shots and bias shots in ImagesPlus.

I like this new scope because you don’t really need to guide. Just get a good polar alignment and it should be good for 60 second shots. For the larger nebula, which you need less focal length for, that’s perfect. It’s not a good scope for galaxies, except for Andromeda. I need a ten inch Astro graph for those. And very, very good guiding.

Very cool. What is your new telescope?

I used to be up on all the models. I subscribed to Astronomy magazine and Sky & Telescope for years and years until I ran out of time to read them. Back then I purchased a Meade 6" reflector on a clock drive. It became too heavy and inconvenient for me to move out and in again but now with some teenagers in the house I expect to get it going again. We re-collimated it and re-aligned the finder scope. It's waiting for fall to come as I'm not keen on staying up too late in the summer.