Hi Gang,

I just wanna share my last night's hunt. I believe the spot on the left was Io, don't remember though. I was out to collimate my telescope, and to test my new wedge, which I found out was a bit unstable, and I couldn't figure out how to do correct polar alignment. I think the software might not be up-to-date.


Anyway, I hope you enjoy!


Full Wallpaper View: 597x364

Telescope: Celestron CPC 1100 @ F11.
Camera: Canon 550D.
Exposure: 1/400 s.
Seeing: Stable.

nice photo but i don't know how to help you with that alligment

Whoa that is cool! I actually got a telescope for Xmas (a cheap one compared to yours, holy crap that is a really nice one bud, I'm jealous!), and I've had it out at least half a dozen times already  I want to get a universal digital camera adapter to fit on it so I can do this too. Ideally i want to get a T adaptor and T ring so I can attach a DSLR camera to it, but I don't have a DSLR (yet ) so that will have to wait.

Any advice you can give to an amateur? Or resources? Or anything like that? This is the first telescope I've had since I was a kid, so I may as well be a beginner

 nice shot. Thx for sharing this!

cheers

Thanks guys!

Brian, boy do I have some advice for you! In fact, I have so many, I can't really write it all down here. Generally, here's some:

- Be patient. Veeeeryyyyy patient! There are months when I just can't take out my scope once! And there's lots of stuff to learn through experience. So this will really be a virtue!
- Learn the constellations.
- Get a small binocular (7x50). They have a very wide field of view and IMO give you more beautiful views than a telescope generally can!!! I've ven had the fortune of seeing shooting stars and been quick enough to follow them, to see them burn up in the atmosphere and leave a fading trail of dust behind.
- Get your scope out about 30-60 min, so it can cool down to ambient temperatures. This will give sharper views through your telescope!
- Learn your scope very well before you delve into astrophotography.
- Find a dark spot, away from city lights, and enjoy the true beauty of the universe!
- Get some filters so you can view the moon/sun!

- www.cloudynights.com is a great resource, full of knowledgable people!
- dl Stellarium!!!


That's enough for now. If you wanna ask something more specific, fire away!

Btw, here's a link to my super noobyfirst attempt at this astrophotography thing.

Fortunately, I've improved since then, but there's a lot of work to be done!

Thanks! I actually live in a rural area, and I live more-or-less on the edge of town as well, so I have pretty good light conditions on my back porch most of the time. I didn't know about cooling down your scope first, I will have to remember that. I'm looking at getting a small accessory set; it comes with a couple more lenses, a moon filter, and red and blue planetary filters. And thanks a bunch for the link to cloudynights, I've already spent a couple of hours just browsing and reading

I really want to get into this, so I'm sure i will have more questions in the future  but unfortunately the clouds have moved in here, and we're supposed to get a few weeks of rainy weather now 

I picked up an accessory kit for my scope online the other day, comes with a moon filter - if anyone has never seen the moon like this, I strongly urge you too! Everyone that i've showed it too has had to pick up their jaws from the ground (myself included!)

Also i found a cool pdf of the Messier catalog of deep sky stuff, it has starcharts included for easy finding. I haven't had a chance to look for any yet, though. So any advice on searching for deep sky objects?

PS did you ever see my attempt at eclipse photos?

Great photo, Fahad -- I thought I had already posted this a couple of weeks ago but apparently not.

I hadn't collimated my old Celestron C8+ in ages and recently did so, and the difference in clarity was shocking.

Now is a great time to have a telescope.  Right after sunset you have Venus, ultra-bright in the west, and a little east of that you have Jupiter, and later in the evening you have Mars in the west (maximum elevation at around 2AM) -- That will be at opposition and best viewing early in March.

Very cool stuff to look at.  Now you have me thinking of taking my scope out and snapping some photos of this stuff, too!

Fahad, what a great view, thanks for showing...Jan