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 »

But my favorite image is this: finally I got a nice horizontal Milky Way lane over two interesting foreground subjects. The illumination from the passing traffic adds an unexpected but nice cinematographic effect.

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I guess the trip is totally worth it despite all the odds!
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

2022-May-25

The Planets-Moon show continues in the eastern dawn twilight. Gave me a chance to play with a new toy (Canon EF 200F2.8 II).

Not a common sight: Mars, Moon and the Jovian system in the same tight frame.

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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 »

Today's celestial show is no other than the lunar occultation of Venus.

The occultation happens at 10:19AM and ends at 12:09 -- according to my Cartes du Ciel software.

I got up early to capture the planets-moon alignment, and tried to record the co-motion of the Moon.

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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 »

No idea how to embed the compiled animation. You may click the link below to watch the Google Photos video.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/FVwrKitzpBhEVYpE8
hhzhang
Posts: 730
Joined: Sun May 10, 2020 4:11 pm
Favourite scope: 115mm APO

Re: My astrophotography 2022

Post by hhzhang »

I went out to set up the gear a few minutes before the occultation began. No! High clouds occupied the zenith region. I felt desperate in my visual search for any visual of the crescent moon.

When the high clouds cleared a little, I finally caught a glimpse of the crescent. However, the sky background was way bright and I struggled to lock it in my camera viewfinder. I just anyhow snapped one photo. Shortly, the crescent became identifiable in the viewfinder -- but I could not see Venus. I took a few shots anyway. Back home, I realized that except for the first "guess" shot, all the shots were too late -- the occultation already happened and Venus had moved behind the lunar limb.

But this "guess" shot still captures the exact moment of the occultation. If you look closer at the image of Venus, you can see a limb of the disk and another bright point within the disc of the moon. WHY?

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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 »

Headed out to shoot the ending part of the show. The high thin clouds made it really difficult. I managed to capture the crescent just after the Venus exited the disc.

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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 »

2022-May-28/29

An 18hrs return trip to Tanjung Leman. I was virtually depressed after reaching the location: the drive was tiring (huge jam@causeway/heavy slow traffic after that ) and I scouted other candidate locations on the way but to no avail, and it was cloudy and no sight of clear sky when night falls.
Sort of a miracle when the weather turned better and better. Finally, I was for the first time able to feast on the splendid milky way with my eyes, and dark lanes were easily visible despite my poor sight.

It was a very long night and I just kept shooting. Returned home with hundreds of hundreds of photos. Don't know when I could finish processing them.

Here are the milky way panorama (my first ever attempt thanks to the dark and clear sky), and the Venus-Jupiter-Mars (Mars-Jupiter form a close pair, a nice visual) in the morning twilight.

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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 »

Milky Way Arch Panaroma. Retouched.

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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 »

OK. Here is another one. A difficult shot, considering my remote shutter release failed after dropping into water, considering that I had to navigate through the difficult terrain. Didn't know I got a reflection in the water.

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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 »

A simple star trial image.

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