It has been almost a year since I had time to mess with my telescope..

[AZ Maverick]

But I finally got a chance to set up and I'll take some images tonight.
I'm targeting NGC 1491 the 'Fossil Footprint' nebula and I'll update this thread when I get some of images processed...

Here are a couple of images I took last year:

NGC281 he 'Pacman Nebula'

IC 1396 the 'Elephant Trunk'

 

[Jayjay1976]

Dumb question time, but are the stars speckled across the image in the foreground? Or is the nebula transparent and the stars are behind it? I always thought the 'clouds' were millions of really distant stars, so that would make them suuuper far behind the starfield? Great photos btw!

 

[AZ Maverick]

Dumb question time, but are the stars speckled across the image in the foreground? Or is the nebula transparent and the stars are behind it? I always thought the 'clouds' were millions of really distant stars, so that would make them suuuper far behind the starfield? Great photos btw!

Both.
The Elephants Trunk is 2400 light years from Earth and the Pacman nebula is 9500 light years from Earth, some of the stars are in front and some are behind.

 

[day_trippr]

Those pics are beautiful!

 

[hout17]

Beautiful, I haven't dabbled in astrophotography but I do a bit of visual. Nice scope and mount!

What software are you using for processing?

Are you on Cloudy Nights?

I'm currently rocking a Starblast 6i with push too.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Beautiful, I haven't dabbled in astrophotography but I do a bit of visual. Nice scope and mount!

What software are you using for processing?

Are you on Cloudy Nights?

I'm currently rocking a Starblast 6i with push too.


View attachment 748135

Wow. Girthy.

 

[Tom R]

Fascinating stuff.

I'm curious if keeping the telescope isolated from vibrations is a big issue when working with such great magnification? Do passing vehicles affect the image? Are you in the boonies? Or maybe there is some kind of image stabilization?

 

[AZ Maverick]

Beautiful, I haven't dabbled in astrophotography but I do a bit of visual. Nice scope and mount!

What software are you using for processing?

Are you on Cloudy Nights?

I'm currently rocking a Starblast 6i with push too.

Yes, I have a Cloudy Nights account - but it has been several months since I have posted there.

For equipment control and capture software I use:
Sharpcap for polar alignment
PHD2 for autoguiding
Sequence Generator Pro for equipment control and image capture

For post processing software I use:
Pixinsight
Astro Pixel Processor
Photoshop CS4

I don't do much visual anymore - pretty much just astrophotography.
For telescopes I have the above pictured Explore Scientific ED127-FCD100 CF, Explore Scientific ED80, and a Celestron 9.25" SCT.
For a mount I use a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro.

 

[AZ Maverick]

Fascinating stuff.

I'm curious if keeping the telescope isolated from vibrations is a big issue when working with such great magnification? Do passing vehicles affect the image? Are you in the boonies? Or maybe there is some kind of image stabilization?

Yes, vibration can be a problem at high magnification if the mount isn't firmly planted.
No, I'm not in the boonies. I live in town on a cul de sac, but the mount sitting on the ground is very stable and passing cars aren't a problem at all.
The biggest problem is light pollution.

 

[Tom R]

When the power goes out at my house, I light candles and impatiently wait for the lights to come back on.

I'll bet that you set up a telescope to take advantage of the dark skies!

 

[AZ Maverick]

When the power goes out at my house, I light candles and impatiently wait for the lights to come back on.

I'll bet that you set up a telescope to take advantage of the dark skies!

LOL - yeah, that would be nice.
But right now I don't have a portable power supply so my telescope setup is also dependent on house power...

 

[hout17]

Yes, I have a Cloudy Nights account - but it has been several months since I have posted there.

For equipment control and capture software I use:
Sharpcap for polar alignment
PHD2 for autoguiding
Sequence Generator Pro for equipment control and image capture

For post processing software I use:
Pixinsight
Astro Pixel Processor
Photoshop CS4

I don't do much visual anymore - pretty much just astrophotography.
For telescopes I have the above pictured Explore Scientific ED127-FCD100 CF, Explore Scientific ED80, and a Celestron 9.25" SCT.
For a mount I use a Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro.

Nice telescope lineup! I need to look in to grabbing a refractor at some point.

I'm also planning on building a 16" DOB in the next couple years have all the optics just need time to build it!

Can't wait to see more astrophotos!