After Hours

Astrophotography: The ultimate geek hobby

By // July 19, 2010, 12:59 AM PST // ensable

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  • Eta Carinae

    Perhaps the ultimate geek hobby, astrophotography combines a love of astronomy, artistic creativity, technology, and patience. The three photographers in this gallery have given their generous permission to use their images to illustrate what is possible when you devote yourself to this very cool hobby.

    This image of Eta Carinae and the following 10 are courtesy of Chile resident Geert Vanhauwaert. (Technical notes are those of the photographers.) Geert's gear includes a C8 (Celestron) telescope with equatorial mount and a Canon 450 XSI camera. According to hubblesite.org, Eta Carinae is one of the most massive stars in our galaxy, 8,000 light-years away, and the surrounding nebula is about 10 billion miles across.

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • M42 Orion Nebula

    Gran Nebulosa en la constelación de Orión

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • NGC 4945 spiral galaxy in Centaurus

    My first NGC 4945 - 20x25 seg exp C8 f/10 + focal reducer f/6.3v

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • NGC 5128 Centaurus A

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy

    Large spiral galaxy in the southern constellation Hydra; 4,8 hour exposure in 96x180seg frames stacked with DSS an processed with PI1.6. This was a 4 day labor due to bad sight conditions (Santiago Chile). Taken with Canon 450 Xsi mounted on C8 with focal reducer and LPR filter.

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • M17 Omega Nebula

    28 frames 5 min canon Xsi, iso 1600 on C8 + focal reducer and LPR filter. Stacked with DSS and processed with PI1.6

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • M20 Trifid Nebula

    3h 56m exposure, canon Xsi iso 800 on C8 + focal reducer and lpr filter. Stacked with DSS and processed with PI1.6.

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • M8 Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius

    60x120Seg, C8 f/6,3 focal reducer and LPR filter Iso 800.

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • NGC 3324 Gabriela Mistral Nebula and Gem Cluster

    16x150 seg, C8 f/6,3 focal reducer, LPR filter iso 800.

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • Tarantula Nebula

    Area de formación de estrellas en galáxia cercana Gran nube de Magallanes. See Geert's photostream on Flickr.

    Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

  • Narayan Mukkavilli telescope set-up

    Narayan lives in Sydney, Australia and shared this photo of a rare night when he was setting up to track two different objects from his backyard. For details on Narayan's experience with astrophotography, see the Geekend post. I have kept Narayan's captions for each shot with his notes.

    Here, you can see the 127 mm ED refractor telescope on a Skywatcher EQ6 mount on the left. On the right is an ED80 refractor telescope piggy-backed on a 130 mm reflector (used as a guide scope for the guiding camera). Guiding software loaded on to the laptop locks on to a guide star and then controls the mount so as to track the star very accurately, allowing long exposures (10 to 20 minutes) to be taken without stars trailing. The laptop is also used to run imaging software that controls the imaging camera (not shown).

  • NGC 3199 Wolf-Rayet Nebula

    ED 127 / QHY8 / 9 x 20 minute subs / EQ6 autoguided. Location: Winston Hills, March 2009

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Eta Carina

    ED 80 Canon 300D (modified); stack of 3 x 300 seconds plus 5 x 400 seconds; ISO 200; suburban Sydney backyard location. March 2007

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • IC-2944 Running Chicken Nebula

    ED 80, Canon 300D Modified; Winston Hills Location; 10 x 5 minutes stacked in IRIS and processed in Photoshop.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • IC-4628 Prawn Nebula in H Alpha

    Conditions: very bright waxing moon last night, setting only late in the morning; location: light polluted Sydney suburb; Scope: ED 80; Camera: Canon 300D-modified; Filter: Astronomik 13 nm H alpha; Mount :CG5 autoguided; ISO: 800; Exposure: 3 Hours and 40 minutes (10 minutes subs); Processing: Deep Sky Stacker.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • M22 Globular Cluster in Sagittarius

    Imaged October 2, 2005; location: Suburban Sydney; stack of 3 images. Total exposure of 25 minutes.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • M45 Pleiades Open Star Cluster (Seven Sisters)

    Imaged from Linden, Blue Mountains on night of Dec 30/31 2005; one hour of total exposure-10 minute subs at ISO 800.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • NGC 253 Sculptor Galaxy

    One of the nicest galaxies to image. Stack of seven eight minute images. Location: from Sydney, October 2005.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • NGC 6144 Globular Cluster and Antares

    Telescope: ED80; Mount CG5 (autoguided); Camera: QHY8; total exposure=5 mins x 6 + 3 mins x 25; Capture: Nebulosity; Processing: DSS/Photoshop.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • The Dark Tower in Scorpius

    Cometary Globule in Scorpius; 200 minutes of exposure; telescope: ED80; Mount: CG5(autoguided with PHD); Camera:QHY8; Location: Suburban Sydney, May 2008.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Corona during total solar eclipse

    July 22, 2009; Location: near Hanzhou, China; Canon 450 D , EF 75-300 MM zoom lens on fixed tripod.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Diamond Ring during Total Solar Eclipse

    July 22, 2009; Location: near Hanzhou, China; Canon 450 D , EF 75-300 MM zoom lens on fixed tripod.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Moon in June

    98 or 99% full; What else to do when there is cloud everywhere but the near full moon peeps through from time to time? ED 80; Canon 450D; stack of 9 frames

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Gabriela Mistral Nebula region

    A favourite object, imaged with the ED 127/QHY8/Baader 7 NM H alpha Filter; 4 x 20 min subs before the cloud rolled over; location: Winston Hills, April 2009.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • The Horse Head Nebula in H alpha

    Location :Linden Blue Mountains; Dec 2009; Camera: QHY8; Telescope: ED80?Mount:CG5; Filter: Baader 7nm H Alpha; 12 x 10 minutes of exposure

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Lagoon Nebula

    Crop from the widefield image of the Lagoon nebula showing the nebula in close up.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Linden Observatory in the Blue Mountains

    Night sky with Canon 450 D on a fixed tripod. 20 x 20 seconds at ISO 400.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Small Magellanic Cloud - NGC 346, NGC 371, NGC 395, NGC330

    Clusters and nebulae in the Small Magellanic Cloud; ED80; CG5 autoguided; 10 minutes x 6; Canon 300d(modded); Location: Wymah Resort, near Albury NSW-Border, August 2008.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Omega Centauri

    5 min subs; QHY8; ED80; Winston Hills; an old image reprocessed grey scale as I was unable to get the colour balance correct.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Orion Nebula and the Running Man

    Imaged from Sydney, October 1, 2005; Canon 300D; ED 80 autoguided on CG5 mount; stack of one 10 minute and one 20 minute frame.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Barnard 72 Snake Nebula in Ophiuchus constellation

    ED 127; EQ6 mount; HY8 with Baader UV/IR filter; 3minutes x 35 sub frames; Location: Winston Hills. Because of horrendous light pollution, could only go 3 minutes for each sub. Even then had extreme gradient to deal with in processing. Really this is a dark sky target.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Solar Edge

    Solar prominence imaged in H alpha with a webcam. Coronado PST TouCam/K3CCCD CG5; July 2008.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Star trails over Wymah Retreat, August 2009

    10 minute image at ISO 1600 at Wymah Resort near Albury-Border; Star Gaze 2009; Canon 450 D, kit lens at f/5 fixed tripod

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • Sun

    Sol May 18 2008; our nearest star. Canon 300D (unmodified); 2x Barlow; Coronado PST; CG5 Mount.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • M17 Swan Nebula

    100 minutes of RGB exposure (5 minute subs at ISO 200) combined with 90 minutes of H alpha(10 minute subs at ISO 800); Canon 300D (modified); ED80; CG5 Autoguided; Location: Winston Hills, August 3 and 8 2007.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

  • NGC 3247 "The Whirling Dervish" Nebula

    World premiere! I think this to be the first amateur image of this object which most catalogues list as an open cluster (NGC 3247 is the official name), so I take the liberty of naming it the Whirling Dervish Nebula. As an image, not the greatest-will revisit, had tracking and camera was not perfectly square;did what I could in processing but it hurts the image in the end. 3 hours in H alpha, 1.5 hours in RGB; telescope: ED127; camera: QHY8; mount: EQ6; Baader H alpha 7 nm( for H alpha); Location: Winston Hills.

    Photo Credit: Narayan Mukkavilli

    See Narayan's Flickr photostream.

  • Thomas Shahan and his Celestron C8 telescope

    Thomas is an artist and photographer from Oklahoma, specializing in the very big (astrophotography) and the very tiny (insects and spiders). Check out his amazing work at ThomasShahan.com. By his kind permission, here is a lovely set of his astrophotography images. Captions and technical notes are his own.

    I'm currently using a 1970's orange tube Celestron C8, a 500mm refractor camera lens, and a Pentax SMC 50mm f/1.7 prime lens for my astrophotography.

  • Evening Moon

    Taken with a 500mm refractor lens.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Full Moon

    Close to a full moon actually. Once again a composite of several eyepiece projections taken through a 1970's Celestron C8. Original composite is 6000 pixels wide. Bad seeing conditions and moon was low in the horizon.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Gibbous Moon Through a Celestron C8

    A composite and slight HDR of about 8 different photos taken with an old 1960's Asahi Pentax Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 prime lens wide open through the eyepeice of my late 70's Celestron C8 orange tube. The original composite is nearly 7,000 pixels wide. I attempted another higher resolution composite that was around 10,000 pixels but turned out to be too big of a task for me.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Orion Nebula

    I have re-uploaded the photo as I added a few longer exposures to the stack, which now consists 64 photos stacked ranging from 30 seconds at iso 800 to 55 seconds at iso 1600. So the photo is now (hopefully) more detailed, somewhat smoother, and possibly slightly brighter.)

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Milky Way

    Taken at the Tulsa Astronomy Club's Star Party on the 4th of July, though a few of the exposures used were taken on July 5th, technically. The bright, purplish area at almost the dead center is the Lagoon nebula, and the little nebula right above it is the Trifid nebula. This is a stack of four, ~250 second, iso 800 exposures taken with a 50mm lens set to f/4 mounted to my Pentax *ist DL, piggybacked on my old 1970's Celestron C8 telescope. I did a pretty rough polar alignment, but the tracking seemed to work out well enough. I was planning on taking several more photos in order to reduce noise and increase detail, but some clouds rolled in and made any more photos impossible.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Saturn on March 19th, 2008

    Taken through a 1970's Celestron C8 with a 2x barlow and a Phillips Toucam. 400 frames or so stacked. Kind of grainy, but it's an improvement over my last attempt.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Sunspot Group 960 on the Sun, June 3, 2007

    This is how it looked through the telescope (though the sun is white, not orange.) Taken using a full aperture Baader solar filter on my 1970's Celestron C8 telescope. Hydrogen alpha is obviously much more exciting, but much too expensive (this was taken in the normal light spectrum).

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Venus through Celestron C8 on June 24, 2007

    Venus isn't too exciting, but this is my best image of it to date. About 10 frames stacked in Registax.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

  • Summer Milky Way Full Frame at 50mm f/1.7

    One untracked, 30 second, iso 1600 shot at f/1.7. Only processing was vignetting correction, and increased contrast and saturation. I'm not sure how accurate the colors are but it still looks nice. Expect some tracked, wider field of view, less noisy Milky Way shots soon.

    Photo Credit: Thomas Shahan

    Check out Thomas' Flickr photostream.

Eta Carinae

Perhaps the ultimate geek hobby, astrophotography combines a love of astronomy, artistic creativity, technology, and patience. The three photographers in this gallery have given their generous permission to use their images to illustrate what is possible when you devote yourself to this very cool hobby.

This image of Eta Carinae and the following 10 are courtesy of Chile resident Geert Vanhauwaert. (Technical notes are those of the photographers.) Geert's gear includes a C8 (Celestron) telescope with equatorial mount and a Canon 450 XSI camera. According to hubblesite.org, Eta Carinae is one of the most massive stars in our galaxy, 8,000 light-years away, and the surrounding nebula is about 10 billion miles across.

Photo Credit: Geert Vanhauwaert

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Selena has been at TechRepublic since 2002. She is currently a Senior Editor with a background in technical writing, editing, and research. She edits Data Center, Linux and Open Source, Apple in the Enterprise, The Enterprise Cloud, Web Designer, and...