I figured I'd share some snaps I took from my back/front yard last month, using just a camera and telescope mount (no telescope involved!).

First we begin with NGC5139 (Omega Centauri), something known as a globular cluster consisting of about 10 million stars:

(Canon 450D, 4x30sec exposures, ISO800, 250mm FL)
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/496076116_HfRt8-L.jpg
(Click image for 1600x1200 version)


Next we have a 2+ hour animation of Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter:

(10sec exposures at ISO200, 250mm FL)
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/492614068_Mn2nq-L-2.gif


Finally: Pluto. Much harder as it's 20x the distance and 1500x darker than Ceres. It's somewhere in this mess of stars and nebulae (4min exposure):

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/513695517_afHAN-X3.jpg
(Click image for 4272x2848 version)


Consulting a virtual planetarium program called Stellarium, we can look up artificial plots of Pluto and make an arbitrary star-hopping map to guide us:

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/513699305_p3EhV-X3.jpg


Going back to the original image, we find our way ...

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/513699361_x5Pwc-X3.jpg


Zooming in, we have Pluto! While just a dot, keep in mind it's 4.7 billion km away and I'm using just a camera, no telescope.

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/513699329_STbri-X3.jpg


After stacking a number of frames over 3 nights, we can see Pluto hoon over time:

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/499274502_g6TmJ-L-1.gif

Going back to the original large Pluto shot, there was some cloudy structure in the bottom left corner. It happened to be in all the shots over the 3 nights, so that can be processed too! Meet M17, the Omega Nebula:

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/513702160_mBkhe-X3.jpg

Hope you enjoyed the read.

(EDIT: fixed an image link)

dude thats f***ing impressive. you should post a few pics of your setup as well! keep em comin'

Very impressive stuff. What telescope are you using? And mount? It amazes me that the mounts can keep such a perfect aim that even super long exposures don't show any trails.

What telescope are you using? And mount?

No telescope!

Just a Canon 450D DSLR with 250mm kit lens pointed up at the sky, attached to a Skywatcher EQ6 mount without any automatic guiding. Takes me about an hour to align before I can take multi-minute exposures.

you should post a few pics of your setup as well! keep em comin'

The same setup I had in the widefield thread a while back:

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/484167226_GaTpo-X3.jpg

last edited by parabol at 21:51:40 16/Apr/09

I demand you buy a big Schmidt Cassegrain, mount your camera to it and try again!

f***ing nice para! :) Keep em coming!

parabol delivers as per usual.

Nice effort!

Don't spose you could snap us a high res of the Aries constellation could you?
Have wanted a clean/clear copy of that for years

I will pay in either free tickets to my mum, beer or whatever currency you value.

my god, it's full of stars!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mUT4smw1FmY/R-BMHhVfXtI/AAAAAAAAABw/kQah5-UftJA/s400/bowman.jpg

Don't spose you could snap us a high res of the Aries constellation could you?

You want me to aim the camera at the Sun during the day? :)

Maybe in a few months when Aries is out at night ...

http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~boldajis/images/aries.jpg

They come out at night...

mostly...





















Cheers :)

Those pics are really impressive! Very cool seeing Pluto move too.

top photos mate, 2 thumbs up. and that is a mad camera I recently bought a cannon SX10IS and thought it was good.. if only it had the settings yours has

Awesome work Parabol!

nice. ive got a 400mm you should borrow.

just wondering where do you live to get such great vision of the sky?

absolutely awesome there man!!

mad props to you again Parabol.
When are you holding a backyard workshop so some of us can come over and learn how to do this?

awesome work bud.
no telescope madness

Interesting as always, keep em coming

just wondering where do you live to get such great vision of the sky?

All of those were taken across the street from Carindale shopping centre. Light polluted as hell but not too bad at 2am and viewing straight up. The widest high resolution shot (clicky) - despite looking huge with a zillion stars - only covered a tiny 5 degree angle of the sky, so it wasn't really a massive sky shot :)

When are you holding a backyard workshop

I figured most people would find it time-consuming and boring? Though some more mainstream and easy targets like Jupiter/Mars may be suitable later on in the year when they rise at a decent hour. Uranus/Neptune will be visible as coloured specks later on too.

If people show interest, I'd be happy to host something (just BYO beer/spirits!). Will have to suss out the Indro skies since I moved recently.

Pluto would get an astronomical speeding ticket were it to have wheels

f***ing awesome parabol

Do you ever go out into the countryside where there's less light pollution? Would there be a significant difference in the quality do you reckon?

Props again. Wish I had the time / motivation to get into it

Do you ever go out into the countryside where there's less light pollution? Would there be a significant difference in the quality do you reckon?

Absolutely.

Light pollution not only makes less stars visible but it also adds glow/noise to long exposures. I was at the base of Mt Warning a few months ago and we couldn't believe the view we had. So many stars visible that I couldn't recognise anything in the star soup! We were seeing (by eye) the faintest low-orbit satellites hoon by every few minutes. Never seen anything like it!

Props again. Wish I had the time / motivation to get into it

Aye, add this to the s***-I-think-is-cool-but-will-probably-never-get-involved-in list. It's a pretty long list. Includes tropical fish tank and windsurfing.

Kiteboarding is the contempory windsurfing

Aye, add this to the s***-I-think-is-cool-but-will-probably-never-get-involved-in list. It's a pretty long list. Includes tropical fish tank and windsurfing.

Dragon slaying?

I know I'd be up for some tutorial on it Parabol. I also know a couple of other people who would be interested. I went up to Camp Duckadang last August to check out Astrofest . It was amazing. The largest scope onsite was a 30" dob. We had to climb a rather high step ladder just to look into the eye piece. Everyone there is very friendly and willing to share their gear. Well worth a look if your so inclined later this year.

last edited by E.T. at 14:38:04 17/Apr/09