Various images I have just taken.

[3488]

Location: Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Used Canon Powershot SX120.

Also date is in UK format. dy/mt/year.

All times are in GMT / UTC not CET / BST.

Leo with Saturn in neighbouring Virgo. It was a gusty wind, hense the wiggly trailing.

Auriga, with Capella & Menkalinan clearly visible above tree.

Ursa Major / The Plough.

Mars, Gemini & the Sickle of Leo.

Mars in Cancer cropped. Praesepe / M44 is just visible.

Some Venus, Mercury & misc on: Monday 5th April 2010. All times are in GMT / UTC not CET / BST.

Did not quite get the settings right, but got both Venus & Mercury. This is a shrunken crop.

Venus & Mercury, cropped out.

Full Sized uncropped.

Got a bit better with these. It was deep twilight, ISO setting 1600 @ 15 seconds.

Sirius, Mirzam & Orion. Monday 5th April 2010.

Full Sized uncropped.

Aldebaran, Hyades & Pleiades. Monday 5th April 2010.

Capella & The Kids. Monday 5th April 2010.

Full Sized uncropped.

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Some nice shots there despite the AWFUL LIGHT POLLUTION!!!!

 

[Fallingstar1971]

Agreed. Holy LP.......


Here is some of my latest work......These were taken less than a mile from a small mom&pop airport

Orion taken from the airport area

Orion as seen from my uncles house (Using HTTP link, image is huge, its the max my camera can do. Clicking on the image zooms it, and you can even see that the middle star of the "sword" is no star. Not bad for a point n click. Not bad at all.)

http://yfrog.com/eutestw001j


Two of Venus and Mercury, taken in the airport area.....

I will probably head back out twords my Uncles house tonight, its about 20 miles away. The airport is closer, but the skies are not as dark, granted those photos were taken around or just after sunset. Speaking of sunsets, I will close with this picture, taken about an hour before the others....... The pictures themselves are about 30 mins apart

and

Sorry about the angle of the photos, the camera mount attaches to the eyepiece of my dob. The camera was not shooting through the scope though, I was just using the afocal mount as a fixed tripod to "piggyback" my camera. This resulted in the camera being turned approx. 40 degrees.

They still look good though. I wish I had a camera like yours. I would love to try prime focus.......

However, slowly, a little at a time, I am learning how to get the most out of my little camera. Hopefully by next year I will be able to get a DSLR.



Star

 

[Fallingstar1971]

Im sorry dude....I thought you were shooting with a DSLR......I just googled Canon Powershot SX120 and discovered its a point n click like mine..........

So lets have a discussion........

What settings are you currently using to capture your photos? Lets compare. Im always willing to learn something new.

Mine:

The brighter sunset photo was taken using the "sunset scene" setting
The dimmer one was taken using the "fireworks" setting
The orion one at the airport was taken using the "fireworks" setting
I adjusted the exposure (or brightess.....the setting is confusing, but it ranges from -2 to +2 with a bunch inbetween, my pictures were taken with a factor of +1 (except the sunset one))

Pics taken at 5 megapixel with "normal" compression. I am unsure about the ISO. The candlelight one uses the longest shutter speed I think, with the fireworks one being slightly shorter.

The picture of Orion taken from my Uncles house was done on "candlelight" with an adjustment of +2 @12 megapixel

(I can only take 5 pictures at this setting)

(If you look at Sirius, you can see that the star is beginning to trail. This is why I cannot use this setting for the planets. With each bit of increased magnification, the trailing phenomena gets worse. Oh well, autotracking SOME day )

Then I adjusted the contrast in photoshop just a little bit to help bring out the stars.

All pictures were taken with the camera mounted to my dob, witch is why they are all tilted at approx. 40-45 degrees. I just turned the camera from the eyepiece so that it is parallel to the OTA. I also use the "autotimer" function to eliminate camera shake. This saves me from using the "anti-shake" features of the camera that locks out certain settings. That function has programmed "presets" like the different "scene" selections.

So, what settings are you using? What have you found to be the best methods so far? Lets compare notes!


Star

 

[3488]

I agree 100% Wayne. Light Pollution is just awful. Good news though is that it is reducing here in Ashford, Kent, UK as the street lighting is being replaced with lighting that lights the street, not the surroundings & the sky.

They have not gotten to my area yet, but where my mother lives, it's a huge improvement, much darker skies & better lighting. So progress is being made here.

Love your photos Fallingstar1971. Brilliant. Please, please post more. :mrgreen:

I have just been out with my new camera & came up with the following. Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. All times are in UTC / GMT, not CET / BST.

Friday 16th April 2010.

Moon & Venus.

Crescent Moon with Earthshine.

Best Earthshine, before the batteries ran flat.

Moon, Venus & Taurus.

Crop, but actual size, Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri) & The Hyades in Taurus.

Moon & Pleiades. A gust of wind got up, but did not spoil it too much.

Orion & Sirius.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

More of my photographic spam. :shock:

Ashford, Kent, UK. Times are in UTC / GMT not CET (BST).

Volcanic dusk from ash from the Eyjafallajokull Volcano in Iceland drifting over. Thursday 15th April 2010.

Volcanic dusk from ash from the Eyjafallajokull Volcano in Iceland drifting over. Saturday 17th April 2010. 30 minutes after sunset.

Moon & Venus.

Crescent Moon.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Some more of my homemade creative spam., with my new camera.

Sunday 18th April 2010.

All times are in GMT / UTC not CET (BST). Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom.

Volcanic dusk from Eyjafallajokull Volcano in Iceland.

Venus & volcanic dusk from Eyjafallajokull Volcano in Iceland.

Actual sized crop from above.

Zoom in of crescent Moon. 18 times.

Earthshine on the night side of the Moon.

Moon & Auriga.

Sirius / Alpha Canis Majoris through the tree.

Mars & Praesepe / M44. A ten times zoom in.

Actual sized crop from above.

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

I'll have to check with the meteor observers across Europe to see what the dust has done to the sky darkness (limiting magnitude). It could affect upcoming observations of the Lyrid meteor shower, which peaks on Thursday and Friday morning.

 

[3488]

That's a good point Wayne.

Here it was quite strange today. The sunlight varied between the more normal white to really quite yellowish, despite being close to noon.

The sky varied from blue to almost a light greenish blue at times. Later on it was steely yellow & white in the west, turning to the colours in my pictures above.

Noticed earlier that Mars & Preasepe could be sell seen, but Orion lower down was quite hard. Sirius did not flash imn all colours as usual, looked more steady but steely. The skies are currently cloudless. Mind you a late season Winter storm could hit here towards the end of the week, certainly rain & possibly some snow so we'll see what happens.

There are some strange effects here for sure.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Oh, Andrew what-a-rock-n-roll I went from 'OOoooh.... :shock: ' to 'WOW ' and back a couple of times :mrgreen:

You pack a mean gear

 

[Fallingstar1971]

Hey all......

Been working and did not have a lot of time, but here is some that I did last week

Ursa Minor

Leo

I have others, but the res is so high that only a small portion is visible.



Star

 

[3488]

Thanks Fallingstar1971,

I like those, very nice. :geek:

Getting a decent one of Ursa Minor is not easy, as apart from Polaris & Kockab, the component stars are quite faint.

On the Leo photo, you also got Leo Minor well. As with Ursa Minor not easy to get a decent photo. :shock:

A few crap Moon pictures I took this afternoon.

Thursday 22nd April 2010.

All times are in GMT / UTC not CET (BST). Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom.

Below I had made greyscale to make easier to see.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Owing to my mental health acting up again, I have decided to bow out, however I will leave this final entry. Thank you all @ Space.Com, every one even those who's opinions do not match, but I am becoming a liability on here & best to go before I really screw up.

Moon from Ashford, Kent, UK. Friday 23rd April 2010. Time is UTC / GMT not CET (BST)

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffhqOy_A8KM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZWXpmbu4Z4[/youtube]

 

[Mee_n_Mac]

Owing to my mental health acting up again, I have decided to bow out, however I will leave this final entry. Thank you all @ Space.Com, every one even those who's opinions do not match, but I am becoming a liability on here & best to go before I really screw up.

Andrew Brown.

You have to do what you feel is best but I'll not sign up to you being a liability here. It's not true, never has been, never will be. You're very definitely an asset, one of high caliber (or I guess that's calibre to you !). I can guarantee I'm not the only one, not even one hundred, that thinks this. Don't let any verbal miscues, by you or anyone else here, chase you away. They're small potatoes (if even that) ... you should visit the Politics Forum to see some real screw-ups ! Be well !!

 

[Fallingstar1971]

Dont go......take more pictures.......

Im going out in ten minutes.....Ill post what I take

Star

EDIT.....and here they are:

These are unedited, I can play around with photoshop and try as sharpen them, but these are straight off the camera..

Star (Again)

 

[3488]

Hi Fallingstar1971,

Lovely photos of the moon. What did you use to take them?????? Have you tried Saturn or Jupiter yet???

Hi everybody,

@ 20:48 HRS UTC the International Space Station passed over Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Three shot I had taken.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Fallingstar1971]

Those were afocal shots through my scope (Orion XT8 w/15 mm EP)

Camera is a Olympus FE26

Using the steadyshot mount I can clamp the camera to the EP

Images are much sharper looking then shooting. Its supposed to be clearing up by 10:00 EST, Ill see about nabbing some more. If the moon is out Ill try some 12MP shots ( I can only do 5 at this setting) Ill try different ISO settings for each and we can compare and see what works best.

But honestly, I do not think I am going to get it much clearer without steady skies. Turbulent skies suck, albeit not as bad as cloudy skies, but they still suck.

Nice work with the ISS BTW....

Then again, I just checked starry night, no moon until 2 AM. Perhaps some constellations then.....

Star

 

[3488]

Thanks Fallingstar1971.

I did wonder if you did something like that. Amazing results, you can clearly see the terracing in the walls of Copernicus Crater & the central peaks show up well (the proposed landing site of the cancelled Apollo 18)

A bit of spam I took earlier. From Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Times are GMT / UTC not CET / BST. Date is in UK format: DY/MT/YEAR.

Leo, Leo Minor & Mars.

International Space Station passing close to Castor / Alpha Geminorum. Pollux / Beta Geminorum as well as Mars with Cancer are also visible.

International Space Station passing close to Alkaid / Eta Ursae Majoris. Corona Borealis can be seen at bottom right.

International Space Station passing through Hercules. Vega / Alpha Lyrae is visible on the left, as can the rest of Lyra (just about). On the full sized image it is much clearer.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Just taken these.

International Space Station. From Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Times are GMT / UTC not CET / BST. Date is in UK format: DY/MT/YEAR. Monday 10th May 2010.

It was still twilight.

ISS just passing to the north of Mars. Regulus can be seen to the lower left of the ISS & Mars.

ISS passing through Leo. Mars is on the right.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Venus & Crescent Moon. From Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Times are GMT / UTC not CET / BST. Date is in UK format: DY/MT/YEAR. Tuesday 15th June 2010.



Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Nice shooting

Venus is not full, right ? There seams to be a bit more of it to the right .. ?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Venus is currently 76% illuminated, heading toward crescent phase (inferior conjunction) later this summer. MW

 

[3488]

Moon pictures I have just taken. Saturday 26th June 2010. Click on them for full size.

From Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Times are GMT / UTC not CET / BST. Date is in UK format: DY/MT/YEAR.



Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

A few more just taken.

From Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. Times are GMT / UTC not CET / BST. Date is in UK format: DY/MT/YEAR.

Sunday 4th July 2010.

The Plough / Big Dipper above my apartment block, Moon, Jupiter & Square of Pegasus & two of the Moon.



Andrew Brown.