We suffer a lot of pain in the astro-imaging hobby. Bad luck and tired fingers causes numerous problems. Problems in this business quickly means wasted imaging time. Whilst I like to whinge and complain as much as the next man, I always remember to thank the astronomy gods when I have a good problem free run.
Category: Astronomy Equipment
Posted by: Tom How
I like to use inexpensive SLR lenses designed for 35mm film with my ICX285 CCD camera and narrowband filters. This approach has a number of advantages and you can quickly get a whole different set of fields of view without great expense. Read more...
Category: Homemade Telescope Mount
Posted by: Tom How
After lots of construction work over the last couple of weekends, I've got some Meade DS motors rigged up on the homemade equatorial telescope mount. Using Meade Autostar I can slew in both directions - right ascension and declination. Read more for the video.
Category: Astronomy Equipment
Posted by: Tom How
Yesterday evening I was paid a visit by an LX200 weilding friend and some clearish skies. Much time was spent with hammers and spanners making the equatorial wedge servicable and testing the polar alignment.
Read more and see the photo.
Read more and see the photo.
Category: Astronomy Images
Posted by: Tom How
Continuing the study of this area in Cepheus, here is the IC1396 region in Hydrogen Alpha narrowband with my 135mm SLR lens. Read more for the full image.
This is a purely personal rant. All astronomers need their egos stroking... however, constructive criticism is infinitely more valuable than a three word compliment....
Category: Homemade Telescope Mount
Posted by: Tom How
My seemingly never ending DIY project to produce a homemade GEM equatorial telescope mount continues to progress, albeit slowly.
Read more for an updated photograph of this project.
Read more for an updated photograph of this project.
The Sharpless catalogue of Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) regions is a goldmine of objects for the narrowband astrophotographer. The targets range from bright familiar targets to very dim obscure nebula that are extremely hard to get into decent images.
Recently I found a fantastic resource to help with planning Sharpless Catalogue imaging sessions......
Recently I found a fantastic resource to help with planning Sharpless Catalogue imaging sessions......
Category: Astrophotography method
Posted by: Tom How
I has discussed before the importance of using field fields to calibrate your images in astrophotography. In this article I've presented some sample images to demonstrate why a flat field is so useful in astrophotography, especially when dealing with images of nebula.
I've been concentrating my imaging efforts on the Sharpless Catalogue of HA region lately, specifically SH2-129. I decided to find out a bit more about this object. Among other things, it is apparently called the Flying Bat Nebula!
Category: Infrastructure
Posted by: Tom How
I have the only flip top observatory in the world. Or so I like to think. Would you like to see how I open and close my observatory? Read more and see the video. Not many people have my set of circumstances, so I think I have a unique solution to the observatory roof problem.
Category: Astronomy Images
Posted by: Tom How
Last night was murky, but I could see some stars, so I decided to try taking some more frames of Sh 129 in Cepheus to add to the previous image.
However, it didn't turn out very well.
However, it didn't turn out very well.
The old classic Meade LX200 is a fine telescope, but has that one major drawback of any SCT telescope: A fork mount Alt/Az mount. Whilst this is quick and easy for visual observing, it makes decent astrophotography almost impossible. You need some kind of adjustable wedge to allow the scope to be mounted up at a 50 degree (or whatever your latitude) angle.
Because of the mass of the LX200, this needs to be a sturdy bit of engineering. Most commercial SCT telescope wedges fit into two categories. They are either flimsy and floppy and downright dangerous (i.e. useless) or they are well made and prohibitively expensive.
Of course, a homemade wedge can solve both these problems at once, and have some fun. Read the rest of the article to find out more.
Because of the mass of the LX200, this needs to be a sturdy bit of engineering. Most commercial SCT telescope wedges fit into two categories. They are either flimsy and floppy and downright dangerous (i.e. useless) or they are well made and prohibitively expensive.
Of course, a homemade wedge can solve both these problems at once, and have some fun. Read the rest of the article to find out more.
Category: Astronomy Images
Posted by: Tom How
The comeback continues: Next up is the faint Hydrogen Alpha region sh2-129 in Cepheus. Read all about it and see the image.
Category: Astrophotography method
Posted by: Tom How
How long are you supposed to expose to take a decent flat field? Most folks are quick to tell you that you need to expose long enough to get the signal about halfway across the histrogram, but this isn't the whole story. Does the same theory work for DSLRs?
Category: New Forest Observatory
Posted by: Tom How
On Saturday I visited my friend Greg at the New forest Observatory for a long overdue catchup.
What an interesting trip it turned out to be!
What an interesting trip it turned out to be!
I've not posted in this blog since 2007. Actually, I've not really produced any decent images since late 2007. Only after six months of phaffing about have I started to reach the standards I got to three years ago. For example, I'm quite pleased with my recent pop at the North American Nebula .
So what happened?
So what happened?
We choose to do this, and do the other things,not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
Some types of astrophotography are easier to do than others. Narrowband work is one of the tricker things. Why do we do narrowband astronomy?
Some types of astrophotography are easier to do than others. Narrowband work is one of the tricker things. Why do we do narrowband astronomy?
