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[Hawking Radiation]

Hi guys. Thought I'd share my first few astrophotos.

I took this at a New Zealand dark sky reserve in the south island while on holiday there. Itching to go back.

Since Milky Way season is pretty much over, the only 2 targets worth capturing was the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

BONUS: Orion Nebula captured at 85mm. My dream come true. I've been wanting to get my own image of this nebula for many years and finally I did it. I felt a little emotional capturing this one. Beautiful beautiful object when I first saw this on my camera screen.

Gear used:
Sony A6400
Sony FE 85mm F1.8
Sigma 16mm F1.4
Manfrotto MT190XPRO3 aluminum tripod

All images edited in Lightroom Classic. I'm also still learning Lightroom and editing so final images will improve. Image quality will also improve as I get a star tracker and small refractor telescope sometime next year.
Enjoy


Large & Small Magellanic Cloud captured at 14mm.
13 second exposure.
ISO 3200.

Large Magellanic Cloud with the Sony FE 85mm.
5 second exposure.
ISO 3200.

Small Magellanic Cloud at 85mm (47 Tucanae globular cluster visible just above the cloud). Also manged to capture a shooting star and didn't want to edit it out of the image.
5 second exposure.
ISO 3200.

The ever beautiful Orion Nebula at 85mm.
8 second exposure and it shows (slight star trails)
Tried to push my 85mm to the limits with this one.
ISO 6400.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

This is amazing, mate...

 

[Stouffers]

Awesome, mate!

 

[KiNeMz]

wow

 

[Come On Tars]

So is 5 Seconds the longest you can expose before the stars streak?

 

[Cunth]

Look at all that shit up there

 

[Porcile]

That's nice. I haven't seen a clear night sky for years thanks to light pollution.

 

[Riven326]

Hi guys. Thought I'd share my first few astrophotos.

I took this at a New Zealand dark sky reserve in the south island while on holiday there. Itching to go back.

Since Milky Way season is pretty much over, the only 2 targets worth capturing was the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

BONUS: Orion Nebula captured at 85mm. My dream come true. I've been wanting to get my own image of this nebula for many years and finally I did it. I felt a little emotional capturing this one. Beautiful beautiful object when I first saw this on my camera screen.

Gear used:
Sony A6400
Sony FE 85mm F1.8
Sigma 16mm F1.4
Manfrotto MT190XPRO3 aluminum tripod

All images edited in Lightroom Classic. I'm also still learning Lightroom and editing so final images will improve. Image quality will also improve as I get a star tracker and small refractor telescope sometime next year.
Enjoy


Large & Small Magellanic Cloud captured at 14mm.
13 second exposure.
ISO 3200.

Large Magellanic Cloud with the Sony FE 85mm.
5 second exposure.
ISO 3200.

Small Magellanic Cloud at 85mm (47 Tucanae globular cluster visible just above the cloud). Also manged to capture a shooting star and didn't want to edit it out of the image.
5 second exposure.
ISO 3200.

The ever beautiful Orion Nebula at 85mm.
8 second exposure and it shows (slight star trails)
Tried to push my 85mm to the limits with this one.
ISO 6400.

I think I see the citadel.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

So is 5 Seconds the longest you can expose before the stars streak?

With my 85mm, yes.
Any longer and the stars start to trail ever so slightly but you can still pick it up in the final image. The last image of Orion Nebula is a good example. Longer focal lengths like shorter exposure times and one of the reasons why I want to get a star tracker. It will allow me to expose for minutes at a time with my 85mm and most importantly it will allow me to lower my ISO to 800, down from 3200 or 6400. High ISO gives you noise in your images. Longer exposures allows lower ISO = Less noise, meaning better quality images

PhotoPils is a really good app that gives you a guideline on how long to expose for with whatever lens you are using.

 

[Prison Mike]

Look at all that shit up there

Have you ever thought of doing some serious research with neil degrasse tyson think of how much you can teach that man.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

That's nice. I haven't seen a clear night sky for years thanks to light pollution.

You have no idea how amazing it is to just sit under the stars on a clear night in a very dark location away from the city lights. It's something I hope you all get to experience sometime in your lives. No phones, laptops or other gadgets. Just lay back, look up and enjoy.
Remember we don't get to experience this forever and taking time to appreciate this while we are here is priceless.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

You have no idea how amazing it is to just sit under the stars on a clear night in a very dark location away from the city lights. It's something I hope you all get to experience sometime in your lives. No phones, laptops or other gadgets. Just lay back, look up and enjoy.
Remember we don't get to experience this forever and taking time to appreciate this while we are here is priceless.

I just got into amatuer astronomy in the spring, fantastic hobby. I purchased a modest tabletop dobsonion and very quickly my interest gravitated towards getting images. Almost obsessively so. Started out with a cellphone mount, then got a planetary camera.

Trying to get the best quality possible out modest hardware was very entertaining, and I hagevmanaged to get some great shots of Jupiter and Saturn. Including animation of Jupiters rotation!

Along with that I've been trying to learn the stars and constellations. When I started months ago the sky was just nonsense. Stars. Funny how I can look up and pick up constellations relatively quickly now.

And you're right, sitting in the pitch black, in silence and ust soaking in the universe above is cathartic to the max.

 

[Elcid]

That looks beautiful man. Shame you can barely see the stars where I am, I was just lamenting the fact earlier to my wife.

 

[Aarbron]

Those are fantastic images. You almost captured Barnard's Loop too in the Orion shot which is most impressive! Awesome work!

If you want to share your images further, a could idea is to perhaps use astrobin.net which would give you a nice big audience.

Perhaps someone should start a Neogaf astrophotgraphy community thread! Example of one of my images is here:

NeoGAF Photography & Camera Gear Community

Okay guys. I'm a portrait and landscape photographer. But more portraits the last couple years. I hope yall are cool with semi sexy women.

www.neogaf.com

(Don't fret this was taken with an astro camera)


I think you should submit your an image to Australia sky and telescope- get yourself a few free issues .

I have to agree with your sentiment - staying under the stars is an amazing and humbling experience.

 

[Aarbron]

I just got into amatuer astronomy in the spring, fantastic hobby. I purchased a modest tabletop dobsonion and very quickly my interest gravitated towards getting images. Almost obsessively so. Started out with a cellphone mount, then got a planetary camera.

Trying to get the best quality possible out modest hardware was very entertaining, and I hagevmanaged to get some great shots of Jupiter and Saturn. Including animation of Jupiters rotation!

Along with that I've been trying to learn the stars and constellations. When I started months ago the sky was just nonsense. Stars. Funny how I can look up and pick up constellations relatively quickly now.

And you're right, sitting in the pitch black, in silence and ust soaking in the universe above is cathartic to the max.

What planetary camera do you have? At the moment I am using a ZWO device. But I need to more aperture to get better images:

NeoGAF Photography & Camera Gear Community

Kinda get distracted from the PS5 hype, I'm pretty much in A7S III hype now, haha! I was doing a shortlist of potential lenses to get, starting from the first then the last: 1-Sony FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS: Landscape, multi-purpose lens. 2-Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS: Birds, animals, and...

www.neogaf.com

 

[MetalAlien]

Let's mate. Awesome!

 

[FreedomOfSpeech]

Cool stuff!

Sadly here there's way too much light pollution to see anything other than the most bright stars.

 

[wolfmat]

What I read: My first few Apostrophs. '''

Great shots, keep it up. Hope you get a star tracker soon.

 

[triplestation]

texting eddie

 

[triplestation]

imagine being a caveman and seeing all of that

i wonder if monkeys give a shit about space

you never see a monkey looking at the sky

 

[Husky]

friend please
please show us the full res

 

[Coolwhhip]

imagine being a caveman and seeing all of that

i wonder if monkeys give a shit about space

you never see a monkey looking at the sky

Stop looking at monkeys.

 

[p_xavier]

How insignifiant are we when looking at so many stars.

 

[wolfmat]

imagine being a caveman and seeing all of that

i wonder if monkeys give a shit about space

you never see a monkey looking at the sky

But https://www.google.com/search?q=monkey+looking+at+sky

 

[Spaceman292]

How wholesome

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

What planetary camera do you have? At the moment I am using a ZWO device. But I need to more aperture to get better images:

NeoGAF Photography & Camera Gear Community

Kinda get distracted from the PS5 hype, I'm pretty much in A7S III hype now, haha! I was doing a shortlist of potential lenses to get, starting from the first then the last: 1-Sony FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS: Landscape, multi-purpose lens. 2-Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS: Birds, animals, and...

www.neogaf.com

I was looking for a ZWO initially but stumbled across a used Neximage Burst for $60 and jumped on that. They are well over $200 here in Canada so I figured I'd give it a shot, the deal was too hard to pass up considering this was my first go at everything.

These were the two best pics I managed to get during opposition of both planets. I used a Starblast 4.5" and the Burst to get these. The Starblast is 114mm aperture, 450mm focal length. Everything was done manually so it was tedious, but the whole process was entertaining nonetheless and I learned a lot. I was brand new to telescopes and planetary imaging!

 

[triplestation]

But https://www.google.com/search?q=monkey+looking+at+sky

they could be looking at a a tree branch or something, a potential new place to climb to

i want to see a monkey stargazing

 

[wolfmat]

they could be looking at a a tree branch or something, a potential new place to climb to

i want to see a monkey stargazing

... goddammit I got nothing

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

You have an amazing new hobby

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Do you know why it's called the milky way?

Cause, right, when the first fella who took the picture of the sky printed it out, he'd been drinking from a bottle of semi-skimmed and his mate said "so you don't spill owt on the picture, i'll put the milk away"

Then the first fella was like "woah, milky way"

 

[Kadayi]

Look at all that shit up there

It's cool to see this stuff. These days there's so much light pollution in the evening it's hard to actually see actual stars most of the time.

 

[Cunth]

Apparently theres one of these dark sky reserves 5 hours drive from me. 5 hours though...

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

Apparently theres one of these dark sky reserves 5 hours drive from me. 5 hours though...

Yeah I've got one that is almost 4hrs away. I want to check it out one day (night?) but that requires a whole a decent amount of planning to do. What a piss off it would be to schlep all th way out there and it ends up being cloudy.

 

[Birdo]

Amazing pictures!

I used to have this hobby until my local council installed white LED lights everywhere, and now I can't even see stars at night.

 

[John Day]

Beautiful shots mate!

 

[Hawking Radiation]

friend please
please show us the full res

You click on the image it takes you to the link to download the full image.

I was looking for a ZWO initially but stumbled across a used Neximage Burst for $60 and jumped on that. They are well over $200 here in Canada so I figured I'd give it a shot, the deal was too hard to pass up considering this was my first go at everything.

These were the two best pics I managed to get during opposition of both planets. I used a Starblast 4.5" and the Burst to get these. The Starblast is 114mm aperture, 450mm focal length. Everything was done manually so it was tedious, but the whole process was entertaining nonetheless and I learned a lot. I was brand new to telescopes and planetary imaging!

Those are incredible images mate. Sold my telescope a few years ago after moving to NZ and planning to get one next year for imaging and not visual. Will try some lunar imaging before moving on to the planets.
Planetary imaging is a whole different ball game and one I have yet to dip my toes into.
ZWO's are incredibly expensive and I'll likely not go that route cause I would need more than just the astro camera.
Good new hobby to have but still love gaming and GAF haha

Thoroughly appreciate all the posts. If I have new images to share in future, I will post them here. Currently weather is crappy here in these parts but hope to go down to the south island Mt John Observatory for a tour and another crack at some of these deep sky objects.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Amazing pictures!

I used to have this hobby until my local council installed white LED lights everywhere, and now I can't even see stars at night.

Thanks and yeah they put in place every possible measure to curb light pollution in this town where i took these images. This was taken from a dark sky reserve but it sucks that light pollution just ruins the night sky.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

You click on the image it takes you to the link to download the full image.

Those are incredible images mate. Sold my telescope a few years ago after moving to NZ and planning to get one next year for imaging and not visual. Will try some lunar imaging before moving on to the planets.
Planetary imaging is a whole different ball game and one I have yet to dip my toes into.
ZWO's are incredibly expensive and I'll likely not go that route cause I would need more than just the astro camera.
Good new hobby to have but still love gaming and GAF haha

Thoroughly appreciate all the posts. If I have new images to share in future, I will post them here. Currently weather is crappy here in these parts but hope to go down to the south island Mt John Observatory for a tour and another crack at some of these deep sky objects.

For now planetary and lunar imaging has been great but I want to get into deep space astrophotography next. I need tracking equipment, dslr the works. I got these images all manually. As in get everything set up, record for like 8 seconds as the planet crosses the frame, pause, reset the telescope, record for 8 seconds etc etc until I have like 5 minutes worth of footage. Then process and stack everything.

My biggest achievement thus far has been capturing the rotation of Jupiter.

Because everything I've got is manual, no computerized tracking or anything, it took me hours. Then I chipped away at all the files for like a week, the whole time not even knowing if it would work. I was jazzed when it spit out the gif and it looked half decent!

You should try going for andromeda next. Or split the rad double star in Alberto, one star is orange and the other star is a searing blue.

I took this with my cellphone, it would look epic using the equipment you've got!

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Very cool OP, keep on posting anything you snap. Good stuff sir.

 

[Husky]

You click on the image it takes you to the link to download the full image.

The 1200x800 is full res?

 

[Aarbron]

Another shot, WIP though. Not 100% happy with the colours (from a mono camera with RGB filters).

Eta Carinae Nebula, one of the gems of the southern Hemisphere sky. (image res reduced from 4k+, anyone recommend a good image hosting site for high res?)

 

[Stouffers]

I wish I could afford this hobby. I wonder how much my pets are worth.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Beautiful. Are these photographs taken in a place with near to no light pollution?

 

[Aarbron]

Beautiful. Are these photographs taken in a place with near to no light pollution?

Mine are usually taken just in the backyard. I live in a "red zone", so a fair amount of light pollution.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Mine are usually taken just in the backyard. I live in a "red zone", so a fair amount of light pollution.

Interesting. I’ve been curious how feasible this is if you live in a decent sized city.

 

[Aarbron]

Interesting. I’ve been curious how feasible this is if you live in a decent sized city.

Definetly doable. There are limits to what targets are achievable though. For example, the Horsehead Nebula (dark nebula) is a very tough target from my location. With substantial acquisition time (or perhaps more aperture) I can do it, but the light pollution is an ever present problem.

Galaxies, bright star clusters, certain nebulas, planets are all doable. The results will not be as good as a dark sky site, but will definitely impress. I will upload a few more images today or tonight to show some examples.

Interestingly, a way around the light pollution is is to get into narrowband imaging where the light wavelengths aren't affected by light pollution.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Another shot, WIP though. Not 100% happy with the colours (from a mono camera with RGB filters).

Eta Carinae Nebula, one of the gems of the southern Hemisphere sky. (image res reduced from 4k+, anyone recommend a good image hosting site for high res?)

Lovely shot, awesome composition for the "wavey colour fabric" for lack of a better term.

Also what about DeviantArt - The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community for large image hosting?

 

[mango drank]

My biggest achievement thus far has been capturing the rotation of Jupiter.

Are those some moons orbiting on the left? That's incredible if so.

I second the call to get some shots of Andromeda.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

Are those some moons orbiting on the left? That's incredible if so.

I second the call to get some shots of Andromeda.

Yeah that's two moons in orbit. That was captured over 3hrs or so, quite a bit of movement for such a short amount of time.

 

[carlosrox]

Really, really cool.

I'd love to do this kinda stuff as well. At the very least I've wanted to either have, or have access to telescope to see some cool stuff but being able to nab photos like this would be even more amazing.

Cool pics.