One of my other hobbies... pic

[slitherjef]

Here is a test shot I took tonight with a modified Canon 20D camera attached to my telescope.

It needs some cleaning up and some other work done to it before it is finished, but I thought I would share it with who ever wanted to take a look.

It is a nebula in Orion called M42 (or the Orion nebula) Located about 1,500 light years away. The camera was hooked up to a telescope at prime focus, exposure time was 60 sec at ISO 800. The telescope was an 80mm Celestron refractor with a focal length of 600mm (basicly a telephoto lens).

I almost froze my ass off tonight taking the exposures.

Click link to see photo:
http://home.comcast.net/~slitherjef/m421min_tinksm.jpg

Once I get things done, I will post a final version of the image. Its a bit of work

Enjoy

 

[ChapStick]

Nicely done! I'm saving money to be able to buy a decent digital camera. For now I've got a little 7.2 Megapixel Sony that can fit in my pocket.. I want a Canon Digital Rebel

 

[Punisha]

I dont really know anything about picture but I like that nebula thing one.looks pretty cool.waiting for your master piece:yes:

 

[Falcon]

What you are doing is continuing a tradition of curiosity going back to ancient men. bravo!

 

[slitherjef]

Hey all, I got around to getting the image processed. It has a few kinks but its all good:

click link to see the edit ->
http://home.comcast.net/~slitherjef/m42large.jpg

 

[Potbelly]

Thanks for sharing! I'm making that my background!

Care to share what kind of telescope you have? I would love to get into this hobby!

 

[slitherjef]

Thanks for sharing! I'm making that my background!

Care to share what kind of telescope you have? I would love to get into this hobby!

Sure thing

I have a couple but the one I used for this was a Celestron 80ED refractor. 600mm at f/7.5

The telescope is mounted to a Celestron ASGT mount

 

[cordoncordon]

That's awesome! The wonders of the universe are boundless. When life is found on other planets, it will truly be a wonder for mankind.

 

[Potbelly]

Wow expensive hobby...haha

 

[slitherjef]

Thanks all... here are a couple more shots from tonight (regular nature shots)

http://home.comcast.net/~slitherjef/novembercontrast.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~slitherjef/depth.jpg

 

[Potbelly]

How did you get started with this stuff? I would like to get started, but the Celestron telescope site is overwhelming, as are the camera sites! I have a simple 5 megapixel Sony Cybershot camera that I bought to carry around. it's very thin with a folding lens, so I'm not sure if it'll be of any use for this...probably not. It's about the size of a playing card.

Are there any sites I can visit to learn more about this? Thanks in advance, and again...awesome pictures.

 

[slitherjef]

I guess I got started in all this stuff because, really I have no "life" per say. I ended up with a cheap digital camera because at the time I thought I was going to be breeding snakes and selling them, but that did not plan out, then on an impuse purchase, a small telescope, I could not see much with it and one thing leads to another.

Of course I could probably use the camera to my advantage... look for girls who want to pose for the camera

 

[Potbelly]

What a coincidence, I have no life either! Yeah I will do some research into this and probably talk to some physics profs around here about telescopes. We have a huge observatory here I MAY be able to use...slim chance though.