My astrophotography 2021

CCD vs Film? Lots of time vs no patience? Alright, this is your place to discuss all the astrophotography what's and what's not. You can discuss about techniques, accessories, cameras, whatever....just make sure you also post some nice photos here too!
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hhzhang
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Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

Post by hhzhang »

2020-2-23 The three planets rise in the dawn skies. Compared with the photo taken 4-days ago on Feb-19, the position of Mercury has shifted significantly.

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

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hhzhang wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:57 am 2020-2-23 The three planets rise in the dawn skies. Compared with that in the photo taken 4-days ago on Feb-19, the position of Mercury has shifted significantly.

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

Post by hhzhang »

Mars visits M45.

Just to capture the event. The weather has not been cooperative recently :(

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

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2021-3-2 Into the far north west of Lim Chu Kang. The dark site awaited exploring was an unlit gravel road in the jungle flanked by military bases. The Tuesday evening saw clear skies (probably not the best seeing and transparency but way better than "false" clear skies).

None visible artificial lights are in sight yet the skies are still light-polluted so much that my eyes could not make out any mag4 stars (could reach mag3.5 easily though). Fortunately, the winter asterisms were shining brightly overhead, producing a nice vista to enjoy stargazing.

The 1st target was a wide field shot of Mars in Taurus. It is travelling in between Hyades and Plaiedes now.

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hhzhang
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Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

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I then changed the lens to 16mmF2 and pointed it to Orion which was right overhead.

I shot 10x60s without soft-focus filter and another set of 4x60 with.

The stacked image actually showed traces of the big loop in Orion -- and other interesting smaller hydrogen areas. However, the image was affected by terrible uneven background and so far I still could not manage to remove it. Wasted!

The small set of soft-focus exposures were used to produce an image less affected by the uneven background.

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Aha! There was a streak of slight in the upper part of the Orion, above the belt stars. Looks like a meteor fireball!
Last edited by hhzhang on Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2021

Post by hhzhang »

Look over forest towards Auriga and Gemini.

It gives a sense of how severe light pollution is. The foreground grass was lit by my handphone's torchlight (LED), otherwise it would appear pitch black in the exposure -- however the taller tree at the back is illuminated by distance lights.

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celeron787
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

Post by celeron787 »

hhzhang wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:39 am Look over forest towards Auriga and Gemini.

It gives a sense of how severe light pollution is. The foreground grass was lit by my handphone's torchlight (LED), otherwise it would appear pitch black in the exposure -- however the taller tree at the back is illuminated by distance lights.

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Looks like a relatively darker area but seems mosquito infested lol. [smilie=crying.gif]
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2021

Post by hhzhang »

celeron787 wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:19 pm
hhzhang wrote: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:39 am Look over forest towards Auriga and Gemini.

It gives a sense of how severe light pollution is. The foreground grass was lit by my handphone's torchlight (LED), otherwise it would appear pitch black in the exposure -- however the taller tree at the back is illuminated by distance lights.

Image
Looks like a relatively darker area but seems mosquito infested lol. [smilie=crying.gif]
Aha! I was indeed having a problem with that. But it only bothered me in the post sunset warm times before it miraclely went away when the night breezes blew to cool everything down.

The obervation was on the wide dirt road and I kept some good clearance from the vegetation.
hhzhang
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Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

Post by hhzhang »

Sun is non-dormant yet not very active either.

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hhzhang
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Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
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Re: My astrophotography 2021

Post by hhzhang »

Mercury approaches Jupiter.


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