Jeff USN Photog 72-76
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- Joined
- 22 Nov 2023
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- Location
- Walpole Massachusetts USA
- Name
- Jeffrey Padell
- Image Editing
- Yes
Astrophotography has been called the rabbit hole of astronomy. Why, well it can suck you in as many people find they always want more, more equipment more dark skies more time
I am starting this thread to give people who are interested in dabbling in creating astrophotos with a DSLR a place to find out information and ask questions. I am not an expert but I have been doing Astro and Solar photography for at least 20 years or more. I started from my backyard with a camera and a tripod, there were more bad images than good images for sure.
When I first started I could see the Milky Way from my backyard and took some images of it, then they built a major mall 300 feet away and a factory 600 feet away and the "automile" in Norwood MA started getting more dealers. Now I cannot see the Milky Way on the darkest nights in fact I really can't see a complete constellation, sometimes the Big Dipper but it is hard to see all the stars. My skies are Bortle 7.5 to 8 (Bortle is a sky darkness scale).
That being said there are filters that can be purchased to cut light pollution, although be away with the new LED lighting in many streetlights it is in the same wavelengths as many deep sky objects.
My progression in AP was first from my backyard with a SLR, 36 shots and no stacking images, man how many satellites there are up there to ruin images.
Next I joined an Astronomy Club in Rhode Island and was able to set up at their observatory
then I got into digital and what a difference.
I still do Solar and Lunar from my backyard and have purchased 8 telescopes and 3 mounts (tripods on steroids) DID I mention about the Rabbit Hole?
Currently with my mobility issues and liking my sleep I am using a remote subscription observatory called SLOOH. Most of my imaging is now done using their telescopes remotely over the net. They have observatories in the Canary Islands, Chile and soon Australia. They also have a solar scope. There are other amateur hosting facilities but they are much more expensive and the advantage of SLOOH not just the cost but the fact that you can watch a live feed from each telescope even if you are not imaging and you can see the scope slew (hence the facility name SLOOH) to an object and then the object appear and become finalized. You actually control the scopes and tell it what to image, even just a blank area of sky. One thing to warn you about besides it becoming addicting is that they don't guarantee a good image every time it is just like you using your own gear with satellites, clouds, moonglow, planes, wind rain etc. Other subscription scopes you tell them what you want to image and when they have enough people who want it they will take the image, may be 30 days later. SLOOH you can point the scope at the same time you are observing.
Slooh has 7 scopes in the observatories, a 20" 2- 17" 2- 14" 1- 11" and a 90mm all available to use. The 60mm solar scope shows the sun every day that it is clear and you can watch it and even take snapshots with it although you don't control that one.
I will be adding posts to this thread, don't want to overdo a single post.
Check out my Astro and Solar images on my flickr site: www.jeffpadell.com or www.wx1usn.com (both go to the same place
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmpadell/albums
I am starting this thread to give people who are interested in dabbling in creating astrophotos with a DSLR a place to find out information and ask questions. I am not an expert but I have been doing Astro and Solar photography for at least 20 years or more. I started from my backyard with a camera and a tripod, there were more bad images than good images for sure.
When I first started I could see the Milky Way from my backyard and took some images of it, then they built a major mall 300 feet away and a factory 600 feet away and the "automile" in Norwood MA started getting more dealers. Now I cannot see the Milky Way on the darkest nights in fact I really can't see a complete constellation, sometimes the Big Dipper but it is hard to see all the stars. My skies are Bortle 7.5 to 8 (Bortle is a sky darkness scale).
That being said there are filters that can be purchased to cut light pollution, although be away with the new LED lighting in many streetlights it is in the same wavelengths as many deep sky objects.
My progression in AP was first from my backyard with a SLR, 36 shots and no stacking images, man how many satellites there are up there to ruin images.
Next I joined an Astronomy Club in Rhode Island and was able to set up at their observatory
then I got into digital and what a difference.
I still do Solar and Lunar from my backyard and have purchased 8 telescopes and 3 mounts (tripods on steroids) DID I mention about the Rabbit Hole?
Currently with my mobility issues and liking my sleep I am using a remote subscription observatory called SLOOH. Most of my imaging is now done using their telescopes remotely over the net. They have observatories in the Canary Islands, Chile and soon Australia. They also have a solar scope. There are other amateur hosting facilities but they are much more expensive and the advantage of SLOOH not just the cost but the fact that you can watch a live feed from each telescope even if you are not imaging and you can see the scope slew (hence the facility name SLOOH) to an object and then the object appear and become finalized. You actually control the scopes and tell it what to image, even just a blank area of sky. One thing to warn you about besides it becoming addicting is that they don't guarantee a good image every time it is just like you using your own gear with satellites, clouds, moonglow, planes, wind rain etc. Other subscription scopes you tell them what you want to image and when they have enough people who want it they will take the image, may be 30 days later. SLOOH you can point the scope at the same time you are observing.
Slooh has 7 scopes in the observatories, a 20" 2- 17" 2- 14" 1- 11" and a 90mm all available to use. The 60mm solar scope shows the sun every day that it is clear and you can watch it and even take snapshots with it although you don't control that one.
I will be adding posts to this thread, don't want to overdo a single post.
Check out my Astro and Solar images on my flickr site: www.jeffpadell.com or www.wx1usn.com (both go to the same place
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmpadell/albums
