My little window...

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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Sivakis
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:55 pm
Favourite scope: Astrotech AT66ED APO

My little window...

Post by Sivakis »

Location: Bedok North
Elevation: 6th floor
From: Utility room window
Photo: 11 x 10-sec exposure (80mm, f/2.8, ISO800)
Visible here: Butterfly cluster (left), M7 (left, below butterfly), NGC6231 (center, bottom)
Visible on full-res: above 3 +
- NGC6124
- NGC6281

Image


The block of flats behind are quite close (you can see the corner at the bottom left of the picture. Black object on bottom right is the utility room window corner.....

Wasn't easy to manually turn the bolt-driver at 1rpm, either too fast or too slow.... ended up with lots of trashed shots that showed trailing. Still, managed to get a few keepers. Stacked in DSS and edited to bring out all the stars possible.

My wife's amazed so many stars are out there in that small little space above us between the flats :D
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timatworksg
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Location: Pasir Ris

Post by timatworksg »

Welcome to the world of the Barndoor manual hand driven, sweat and hope to not vibrate Astro Imaging...HAHA! Yes it is difficult but knowing you can actually get some good images...it just takes practice!

Nice image....a little too dark in the background but worthy! Great job!
My wife never complained about how much time, effort & money I spent on my Astronomy hobby!................suddenly I met her!!!
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Airconvent
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Post by Airconvent »

wow sivakis..you must have caught a really clear night. An interesting view of M6 and M7. Thanks for sharing!
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Bergkamp_
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Favourite scope: Telescope that i can bring out
Location: Singapore, Bukit Panjang

Post by Bergkamp_ »

looks good.. i think west of singapore got too much clouds!!
Wee Ern aRmeD wiF Telescope reAdY tO taKe ovEr thE skY .. wIF jUst mY naKed eYEs .
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Sivakis
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Favourite scope: Astrotech AT66ED APO

Post by Sivakis »

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Yeah, I'm pretty amazed such a simple contraption could do so much!

So, after playing around with the image a little more, here's a closeup of the butterfly cluster and M7, slight tweak to colour saturation:
Image
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jimmyleong
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Post by jimmyleong »

wow how is it possible for you to see so many stars in bedok? isnt the place light polluted?
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Sivakis
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Favourite scope: Astrotech AT66ED APO

Post by Sivakis »

jimmyleong wrote:wow how is it possible for you to see so many stars in bedok? isnt the place light polluted?
Lol, tell me about it! There's hardly a night without some red clouds blanketing the sky.

But 11.50pm on 22 June 2011 was surprisingly clear!

Then again, this was what a single 10-sec photo looked like:

Image
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timatworksg
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Location: Pasir Ris

Post by timatworksg »

The east can get pretty clouded too! I stay in Pasir Ris near Loyang Ave and clouds just love rolling in from the sea! But 2nd floor Home balcony, Park Lamp just outside, street lights...severe LP!! Normal observation....I can pick out the Clusters...but with AP...there's only so much I can take due to the LP! Not easy to balance exposure time and how much of the target one can get through the pollution. Nebula's are tricky from my pier set up. So some mods/add ons need to be done to shield as much of the light.
Also timing it where the fine line of window sill, target height and subs make a reasonable image...lol!

There were a few clear moments past evenings! Glad you managed to work the Barndoor! Hey we should meet up and talk shop Sivakis..lol!
My wife never complained about how much time, effort & money I spent on my Astronomy hobby!................suddenly I met her!!!
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jimmyleong
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Post by jimmyleong »

so how do you stack the photos? do you need to adjust the camera position with each shot?
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Clifford60
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Location: Central

Post by Clifford60 »

Great effort for a manual device
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