My astrophotography 2022

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
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

On that night, the ASI2600MC was used to shoot two targets only. The cam and ASIPro combined are quite power-consuming. After polar alignment, focusing and refocusing, target framing, and each about 20x2min subs, the powerbank (with a USBC-12V converter) had only 12% battery level. Game over for the ASI2600MC + ASIPro combo.

I was shooting with a 2nd Canon 200mm Lens -- stepping down to 58mm using rings really makes a huge difference in the image quality (my last trip to this place and shooting with the same lens without the rings gave me terrible quality star images.)

I have not built a flat frame library for the lens. But as far as my stretching goes in postprocessing, the lens seems to be performing exceptionally and I could not see unevenness in the image. I guess likely the dark sky also played a key role here.

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

And the Cygnus vista under 50mm lens. Truly a region of celestial gems.

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This wins, hands down, the image with the same setup+more exposures but under the super light-polluted sky of Singapore (Upper Seletar). For reference.

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

As said I carried along my Rokinon 14mmF2.8, a 2nd hand copy that was disappointing in my only shooting session with it.

Voila. At the Tg Leman dark site, it gave me quite a surprise. The optics quality looked largely different from my previous impression. Maybe the adapter, actually?

Anyway, I am super happy. The other day I almost got in hand a Laowa 15mmF2. But I told myself to stick to the 20mm lens. Now I am a bit uncertain which of the two will become better used, the 20mm or the 14mm?

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

6AM July 2, I decided to leave off the coast to see what would be the sunrise vista like from the high ground of the Penggaroh 3.

There I snapped the vertorama picture of the all the 5 naked-eye planets lined up in the sky. This concludes my campaign, if any, for capturing this celestial event. Farewell to all 5. See you all in 2040!

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

Unexpected findings.

I was postprocessing the stacked image of the super wide angle view crossing the Cepheus-Cassiopeia Milky Way to the Ecliptic. And I noticed some diffused glow taking a triangular shape pointing from Venus upwards Mars position.

A quick question came into my mind: could it be the zodiacal light? Well, I haven't been able to capture the image of zodiacal light before. Zero experience.

I checked the position of the glow. It seems to fit the description of the zodiacal light.

However, I could not validate this. For now it remains a question mark and awaits a separate investigation.

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

This is a stacking-processing outcome for one of the single-exposure photo above.

I wanted to bring out more detail and contrast in the MK image, hoping for a better visual feel. But while in the process, I kept asking myself, "why am I doing this?"

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Enough is enough.
akdwivedi
Posts: 141
Joined: Sat May 06, 2017 1:01 am
Favourite scope: celestron C6

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by akdwivedi »

beautiful pictures of the milky way. and you do a terrific job at lights in the foreground while keeping the milky way details untouched.
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

I finally got this shot -- too many people have done similar, cheap, and childish things so please bear with me. Aha

These are composite images -- using the same camera, same lens, and same position. Added foreground lighting and stacked background star field subs and merged with the foreground.

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

I attempted at the false comet nebula again. Well I did not expect much from the poor NEX5R camera (astro-mod). So this served to validate, again, it is truly astromodified. :)

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hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

I went up to Mersing twice, one last weekend and one last night.

Did not get clear skies last week. It was a crazy night seeing me going to Mersing and exploring the Mawar region, and after midnight went further north to ulu ulu country side past Rompin (traveled a lot of dirt roads). And I got back home sweet home in Singapore before dawn.

And I decided to go again last afternoon -- my last opportunity for shooting milky way until later this month.

Practiced landscape astrophotography. Quite enjoyed the process and pleased with the outcomes. Guess they are really worth the trip.


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