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Space Science and Astronomy thread


The things these amateurs can capture with shop bought equipment is astounding.

This photo is the sum of 2 night acquisition. Andromeda Galaxy is the farthest object that we can see with naked eyes, and of course a great object to image! The Galaxy display a well-defined spiral structure, with curved arms extending from the central core. These arms are rich in young blue stars and star-forming regions. In the image we can see 2 of the biggest satellites galaxy. M32 is a dwarf galaxy and has a diameter of 6.500 l.y.; M110 is an elliptical galaxy and has a diameter of 17.000 l.y.. The structure of the galaxy is much more complex than the Milky Way, the 2 main branch breaks in 7 spiral segment. Another interesting object is NGC-206, is the largest star formation region, has a diameter of 4.000 l.y. and we can see over 300 blue supergiant with a diameter of 10 times our Sun. Last interesting fact about this shot is the blue shade. This is caused by the galaxy approaching us!
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- well worth a look if you like this type of thing.
 
Roker Mackem said:
nah cant be seen with home scopes
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10m across, at around 4 million km away. That is like trying to spot something a third of the size of the SoL admin block from nearly 24 times the distance of Sunderland to Sydney. One report says the bare minimum is a scope with a 30 inch (around 75cm) aperture. Mine is 90mm! Once again I'm inadequately small.
High Entropy said:
The things these amateurs can capture with shop bought equipment is astounding.




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- well worth a look if you like this type of thing.
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This is one of mine with a small scope, just from the garden:
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Chubbs said:
Any good? Went to listen to him at last years cheltenham literature festival. Came accross really well
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I'm really sorry I missed this.

It was excellent. I was afraid it was going to be the Tim peake show but it was great. First half was about the evolution of space travel and individuals involved. Plenty of anecdotes. Intermission where you could submit Q&A which he answered as they came in. 2nd half was about life in space.

Teo incredible stories. One was about nasa choosing astronauts on the basis of "least likely to die" and the other about a pilot regaining control of a re entry craft at 11g
 
DaveH said:
10m across, at around 4 million km away. That is like trying to spot something a third of the size of the SoL admin block from nearly 24 times the distance of Sunderland to Sydney. One report says the bare minimum is a scope with a 30 inch (around 75cm) aperture. Mine is 90mm! Once again I'm inadequately small.

This is one of mine with a small scope, just from the garden:
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Aye mines an 8 incher (!). Adequate for what I use it for
 
DaveH said:
10m across, at around 4 million km away. That is like trying to spot something a third of the size of the SoL admin block from nearly 24 times the distance of Sunderland to Sydney. One report says the bare minimum is a scope with a 30 inch (around 75cm) aperture. Mine is 90mm! Once again I'm inadequately small.

This is one of mine with a small scope, just from the garden:
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When I looked into what (if anything) I might see the suggestion was that a pro scope would be needed.

Love the clarity & detail in your lower pic. Did you need a tracking facility for it?
 
70s traveller said:
When I looked into what (if anything) I might see the suggestion was that a pro scope would be needed.

Love the clarity & detail in your lower pic. Did you need a tracking facility for it?
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Cheers. Yes, mine is a powered GoTo scope, not not an equatorial mount so it is not exactly smooth tracking. For planets I take a video (that was probably around 60 seconds) and stack the frames to bring out the detail, so even with a bit of drift, you can still get a canny image.
 
DaveH said:
Cheers. Yes, mine is a powered GoTo scope, not not an equatorial mount so it is not exactly smooth tracking. For planets I take a video (that was probably around 60 seconds) and stack the frames to bring out the detail, so even with a bit of drift, you can still get a canny image.
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It's a belting image, something like I eventually aim to with my beginner scope + tracking. It won't reach that standard but I'm hoping for a single img with some basic detail at this stage with my attempts. As you said some time ago I know I'll need a GoTo at some point but for the moment I'm seeing what I can achieve when I next have a chance. Just a blurry one showing scant band basics & red spot would make me happy.
 
70s traveller said:
It's a belting image, something like I eventually aim to with my beginner scope + tracking. It won't reach that standard but I'm hoping for a single img with some basic detail at this stage with my attempts. As you said some time ago I know I'll need a GoTo at some point but for the moment I'm seeing what I can achieve when I next have a chance. Just a blurry one showing scant band basics & red spot would make me happy.
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With a high frame rate camera (Zwo make some good and reasonably priced once), you might be able to get something decent without tracking. Start a video when it is at one side of the view and stop it when it reaches the other. Depending on your field of view, you might get 20 seconds. Most of the stacking applications will auto align (for things like the moon you can set some alignment points like bright bits on crater edges), so you will likely get away with it.

Although uncommon, I can't see a reason why you can't join say 5 videos together to have around 100 seconds of frames. That will give you 100 seconds of data.

I really need to get out with my scope. I have hardly done anything in the last year. Last winter was so crap weather wise and because of building work and things going on, I've not had a clear place on my patio to set up. I should probably get a decent groundsheet for the lawn, but this year my lawn was waterlogged until late may, and then we were into light nights.
 
DaveH said:
With a high frame rate camera (Zwo make some good and reasonably priced once), you might be able to get something decent without tracking. Start a video when it is at one side of the view and stop it when it reaches the other. Depending on your field of view, you might get 20 seconds. Most of the stacking applications will auto align (for things like the moon you can set some alignment points like bright bits on crater edges), so you will likely get away with it.

Although uncommon, I can't see a reason why you can't join say 5 videos together to have around 100 seconds of frames. That will give you 100 seconds of data.

I really need to get out with my scope. I have hardly done anything in the last year. Last winter was so crap weather wise and because of building work and things going on, I've not had a clear place on my patio to set up. I should probably get a decent groundsheet for the lawn, but this year my lawn was waterlogged until late may, and then we were into light nights.
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I aim to have a play with my tracker, scope & dslr to see what I can get in a single suitable long exposure frame. I'm unsure of my camera time settings but I have bulb to try for longer. I'm nowhere near the stacking or vid stage yet. I also have the iso settings because I'm only around 800 so still have up to 1200 I think to see what that produces.

We're heading into the better aerial views time of year that I pictured the moon last winter/autumn so Jupiter is one of my main hopes this time round because looking at it where I'm set up offered great views last year [you may recall my sight of it's moons Io, Europa, et al that took my breath away]. I have a decent internal vantage point so going outside in the cold is not on my agenda yet - I still recall the state of my fingers when I went outside last year with a compact on a clear night. A lot of my attempts will be trial & error based around things I've read (if I can remember them)
 
Really enjoying going through this thread. Any recommendations on a newbie who's not the most tech savvy to start trying to have a go? What to buy? Etc
 
Chubbs said:
Really enjoying going through this thread. Any recommendations on a newbie who's not the most tech savvy to start trying to have a go? What to buy? Etc
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I was a total beginner a year or so ago - and still am - so I went for a Skywatcher Explorer 130 eq2 telescope (beginner level) that I can also use with my DSLR for pics with the correct t-mount. That scope comes with a 2x Barlow lens, 10 & 25mm eyepieces and red dot finder for viewing which covers a lot with it's 900mm lens. It also has an alt/az mount. It was only £175 or so.

It can be an expensive game depending on the standards you want and how far you go with it in time

I've had great help & instruction from DaveH & KevJ on here.
 
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DaveH said:
Another option is a good pair of binoculars.

Do you know what interests you? Planets, galaxies, the moon, nebula, fancy any photography?
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Photos for sure. Anything that's realistic. Not looking at chucking huge money at it to start with but definitely would love to see what's possible
 
70s traveller said:
I aim to have a play with my tracker, scope & dslr to see what I can get in a single suitable long exposure frame. I'm unsure of my camera time settings but I have bulb to try for longer. I'm nowhere near the stacking or vid stage yet. I also have the iso settings because I'm only around 800 so still have up to 1200 I think to see what that produces.

We're heading into the better aerial views time of year that I pictured the moon last winter/autumn so Jupiter is one of my main hopes this time round because looking at it where I'm set up offered great views last year [you may recall my sight of it's moons Io, Europa, et al that took my breath away]. I have a decent internal vantage point so going outside in the cold is not on my agenda yet - I still recall the state of my fingers when I went outside last year with a compact on a clear night. A lot of my attempts will be trial & error based around things I've read (if I can remember them)
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Jupes is coming back around.. the last three months it should be in a great spot after sunset
 
Chubbs said:
Photos for sure. Anything that's realistic. Not looking at chucking huge money at it to start with but definitely would love to see what's possible
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I'm not an expert but that sounds similar to what I was interested in at first, I now know I'll get some better quality & capability scope. If/when you see what's up there you'll be hooked like me once you've looked around. You'll see it's real when conditions allow.
Roker Mackem said:
Jupes is coming back around.. the last three months it should be in a great spot after sunset
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Yes, I've been waiting for it and it turned up when I looked out late last night. It looked superb.
 
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