The Moons getting bigger.

More photos of the moon, and more learning about Registax.
Really starting to get the hang of it.

It was a nice clear night so I managed to get some decent videos to work with this time.

Pretty pleased with this photo and am really looking forward to getting my hands on my new 127 Mak to see what a telescope of much higher quality can do.

Another Moon (...with the galileoscope).

Went out last night with the webcam and my galileoscope to take some video of the moon.
Was battling a thin layer of cloud the whole time that was getting thicker as time progressed so most of my videos turned out rather useless but that's not a big deal.

Thing is, I think I'm finally getting the hang of the settings in Registax.
Those of you who are familiar with the galileoscope know that its gets mounted on a standard camera tripod and is a right pain in the ass to aim so what I did was I pointed the scope in the right direction and let the moon drift into the fov and than out the other side.

Usually when I do this and process the video in Registax I end up with nasty sharp lines all over the place.
I have since discovered Autostakkert which seems to work a little better for certain videos but in this case I couldn't work out how to use Autostakkert when the video started off with nothing in it (totally black) so I went back to Registax.

The first few attempts were my usual result. Sharp lines everywhere and a pretty unusable image, but I was sure if I played around with the settings enough I could figure it out.

Step in R.o.I.
I haven't used this before but had seen a video of Registax5 and someone using it so I figured it was worth a shot.
So I loaded up my video again, scrubbed through till there was about 1/3 of the moon in the frame and then drew the R.o.I box around it then did my usual routine.
Low and behold, No sharp lines (well considerably less and not prominent enough to ruin the image).
So I went through all my videos this way and managed to get this.

(you can see the loss of detail at the bottom as the clouds got thicker).

I was pretty happy with the result but I thought there could be a faster way, so I looked over the settings some more and found out that in the "stack" tab, if I select "Maximized" it wouldn't crop my video. It would basically make a 'panorama'.
The down side to this is that the edges could end up with less noise as the might no get as many frames stacked, but seeing as I let the moon drift into and then out of my FoV I figured that all the detail was there as long as Registax could align it properly.

Wanting to get this just right I read up about align points a bit more and discovered that its a BAD idea to put points on the edge and how you can change the intensity selection to prevent this from happening.
I also tweaked some settings on the "stack" tab and this was the result.

As you can see, the result is pretty much the same as the first one, but its took a lot less steps to create.
(It did take Registax a lot longer to align and stack though).

All in all, a some what decent image considering the conditions but a lot was learned from the night.

Celestron Firstscope vs The Moon

Decided to take a stab at another lunar image tonight.

Took a bunch of videos and staked them in AutoStakkert and Registack then combined the sharpened images in Microsoft ICE and did a little post work using Photo editor online - Pixlr.com edit image.

Final Result...

Sky-Watcher 127mm Mak

My new Telescope... Almost.
I purchased this yesterday and am just waiting for it to arrive. I should have it by next week.

Can't wait to get my hands on it and see what kinda photos I can get when I have all night.
I'll probably focus on Saturn and maybe the moon for the first few weeks until some of the other planets decide to show up.

I'll make a new post with photos when it gets here.

[note: the amazon link is for the Celestron model. Its exactly the same as the SW version.

Best photos of Saturn yet.

Last Thursday I took my Microsoft Lifecam with me when I went to Stardome.

After the show and the telescope viewing I hooked it up to one of the telescopes we use and recorded some videos of Saturn.

Here are the processed images from those videos.

And here is a video showing the raw video, the video after PIPP processing and the final image.

2nd attempt at processing Saturn.

Had another go at processing one of my Saturn videos.
Tried a few different settings this time.

Photo after Rexistax processing.

Photo after Photoshop processing.

I think the funky colours in the second image is chromatic aberration from the Galileoscope's lens.

The Moon.

After the success I had with PIPP and processing my Saturn videos I decided to have a crack at processing one of my Moon videos.

And here is the processed image.

I think it came out rather well. I might have to do a few more moon photos now.

Galileoscope + Webcam = Saturn on a budget.

A little while ago I managed to capture some images of Staurn through my Galileoscope and a Microsoft Lifecam.

Below is one of those captures.

This was taken without a barlow (as it was hard enough trying to get Saturn onto the sensor to begin with).

I had a few attempts to process them but had no luck so kinda gave up on them... Then the other day I found out about PIPP (Planetary Imaging PreProcessor) so decided to run my videos through it and then have another try at processing them.

I have to say, using PIPP made a world of difference and Registax processed the videos much better than before.

I still have no idea what I'm doing so just basically played around but here are the results.

The only software used was PIPP and Registax.

I have to say, for a $30 telescope and a $75 webcam, the results are rather pleasing.

Milky Way - Take 2

Had another attempt at photographing and processing the Milky Way a few nights ago.
Heres the results.

The Milky Way

Milky Way.

Had another attempt at photographing the Milky Way on Friday after work.

I used a Nikon D200 to take the photos and stacked them in Deep Sky Stacker.

ISO 1600 - Exposure: 9 mins 30 seconds (19 frames)

Heres the result.

Milky Way.

I'm pretty pleased with this image although the gradient (I think its caused by light pollution) is a wee bit of a downer.

Still, The Milky Way its self came out pretty good.

Stardome.

I wen't up to Stardome on Thursday to volunteer as a telescope operator.
I figured it would be a good way to meet some new people who were into astronomy and learn a few things as well as get to look through some other telescopes and compare the quality.

Was a pretty good night. There were 3 telescopes set up. 2 meade (a 10" and an 8" I think) and a tracking Celestron.

All I had to do was point the telescopes at an object and let people take a look.
There was really only Jupiter and the Orion Nebula to look at so it was all pretty simple.


As a bonus the ISS (international space station) just happened to be flying by that night and I managed to see it in the sky.
A couple of people tried to track it by hand in the telescopes and one person even managed to get a glimpse of it.

Pretty sure I'll be heading up there again soon.

Saturn Video.

I decided to take another shot at capturing Saturn on video tonight. After about 30-40 minutes of trying to track it down I finally got it cantered in the view finder. Not an easy task when you're using a standard camera tripod.

Heres the results of the video.

I'm really pleased with this video but as you can probably see, there are some artifacts around Saturn due to the compression used so I'm going to have another go with no compression and possibly using a 2x barlow as well.

Saturn

Last night the sky was pretty clear so I decided to pop out and give my new Galileoscope a real test.

Saturn.

It took me a while to find where I was meant to be looking. Once I figured it out, aiming the telescope was a right pain in the ass with the tripod I am using but once everything was set up I was amazed by the views. Sharp and bright.

I tried to use my web cam to capture an image but I had no luck. Not sure why. Maybe it wasn't bright enough for the camera to pick up or maybe the aim was off and I just couldn't find it while the camera was attached.
What ever the reason, I'm going to have another go at capturing an image next time I am out.

The type of view I was getting from my Galileoscope.
Not my image.

I also took out the Celestron Firstscope out for comparison.
Finding Saturn was pretty simple but once again the ghosting (or blur) caused problems.
I could make out the rings but the image I was getting just want very good. Kind of disappointing after the views I was getting from the Galileoscope.

Galileoscope.

While I was browsing TradeMe one night I came across an auction for a Galileoscope for $30. Without putting much though into it I added it to my watch list and carried on about my business.

Why bother writing about this you may ask? Well the Galileoscope was the other recommended cheap telescope for someone on a very tight budget.
But not only is it VERY affordable but it comes as a kit set so you actually assemble the telescope yourself before you use it.

At the end of the auction, no one had bid on the Galileoscope so with about an hour to go I placed a bid and crossed my fingers... And I won.
A new Galileoscope for $30.

Once it arrived I quickly assembled it and attached it to a basic camera tripod and waited for it to get dark.
Assembly was really simple and I was pretty surprised to find out how basic a telescope actually is.

For $30 this telescope is AMAZING.
Now I'll admit that the only other thing I can compare it to is the Celestron First Scope but wow.
The Moon was extremply sharp and detailed, I got a really good view of Jupiter and its cloud bands and I even managed to track down Saturn and clearly see its rings.
Aiming with the camera tripod was a little difficult but not frustrating.

Apart from the Moon, the views of the planets were vastly superior than what I was getting from the Celestron First Scope.
Deep Space Objects were a different story though. Nebulae and clusters were rather disappointing after seeing them through the FirstScope.

This is probably because the Galileoscope only has a 50mm aperture where as the First Scope has a 76mm.

Still, for $30 I can't really complain.
Theres also a bunch of activities and educational information over on http://galileoscope.org to check out which is a bonus.
I'll have to go have a decent look at it at some point.

New eye pieces.

Shortly after purchasing the Celestron FirstScope I decided (upon recommendations from the internet) to get some new eye pieces.

After much searching I came across http://www.astronomy.co.nz/. So far this website has the lowest/most reasonable prices I have been able to find in New Zealand.
It turns out the website is run by the treasurer of the Auckland Astronomical Society so I felt very confident in the quality of the products I was getting.

I ended up getting myself a new 9mm Plossl eye piece and a 2x Barlow Lens.

4mm Plossl.

2x Barlow.

The first thing I noticed after getting these new lenses was the difference in quality. Things seemed sharper with much more contrast.

The 9mm is a good size for the Celestron FirstScope, giving a decent 55.5x magnification and a nice FoV. Add into that the barlow lens (111.1x magnification) and observing the moon or Jupiter is pretty good with it as well.

My next purchase (from the same shop) was a 32mm Camera Projection Lens (15.6x magnification).

32mm Camera Projection Lens.

This is my goto star hopping lens. I don't even bother with my finder scope anymore. I just pop this lens in and track down my target, then depending on what I'm looking at I'll pop in the barlow lens to give myself 31.2x magnification or I'll switch to the 9mm.

The cool thing about this lens is I can attach a DLSR to it using a T2 adaptor and I'll be able to take some pretty cool photos.

These new eye pieces are pretty much my goto lenses now and I hardly bother with the ones that came with the telescope.

The beauty is that when I eventually upgrade my telescope to something much more powerful I'll be able to use these same lenses in it.

I'm not sure I'll buy any more eye pieces for now as I'm probably better off saving for a new telescope (no point in spending hundreds of dollars on eye pieces when all I have is a small beginners telescope) but I do have my eye on a Superview 15mm eye piece. It will give me 33.3x and 66.6x magnification with a massive FoV. I have a feeling I will cave and pick one up (its only $50) and that will be my last eye piece before trying to decide on what new telescope to purchase.

Jupiter through a webcam.

In my attempt to learn more about astrophotography on the cheap I discovered that a webcam can be used as a decent camera for imaging.
The Microsoft Life Cam Cinema 720p was the recommended camera so that's the one I went for.

I spent about $70 on this from PBTech and proceeded to follow these instructions to modify it for use in my telescope.

I had never modified anything like this before but found the instructions easy to follow and in about 30 minutes and after a few tweaks, I had a camera that fit nicely into my Celestron FirstScope.
I ended up using an old film canister with some masking tape wrapped around the top for housing the camera as I didn't have any eyepiece barrel extenders but it has worked with out any issue, so if you're looking to save a few more dollars thats something to think about.

Jupiter was my first target and after spending AGES trying to find it I managed to grab a few videos and the following image was the result.

Jupiter.

I'm really pleased with the result. I know its not an amazing photo but considering I spent less than $200 to capture it I think its pretty impressive.

It goes to show with a little perseverance, know how and a bunch of luck you can capture some pretty fulfilling images without having to spend thousands (although in saying that, spending thousands of dollars will get you much more impressive images).

I'm quite interested in seeing what else I can capture using this set up.

Astrophotography.

Shortly after getting my Celestron FirstScope I decided to pop out with the digital camera and try and take a few photos. These are the results.

The following were taken using a Nikon D200 and a 500mm lens on a tripod with a long exposure.
I'm pretty happy with how they turned out considering I had no idea what I was doing.

Full Moon.

Pleiades (around the middle of the photo, just above the trees)
and Jupiter (The big bright one at the top).

Close up of Pleiades.

An attempt to photograph the Milky Way.
You can kinda see it but there was a full moon
 and lots of light pollution.
The Southern Cross and Centaurus constellations
can be seen in this photo.

The Southern Cross and the "Pointer Stars".

Close up of the Southern Cross (Crux)

Part of the Orion Constellation.
The Belt, the Sword and the Feet (Saiph and Rigel).
You can JUST see the Nebula in this photo.

Close up of the Orion Nebula.

Navigating the skies.

Seeing as I'm new to astronomy I figure I would talk a little bit about how I have been finding my way around the skies so other people who are just getting started might get an idea of how other people with little knowledge are doing it.

At first I had NO idea what I was doing. Finding the moon is simple enough and Jupiter is bright enough to spot with the naked eye... I was aware of the odd constellation such as Orion and the Southern Cross but that was about it.

How was I meant to find interesting object to look at with my new telescope?
Well, I started off by googling star charts.

Stardome has a monthly update with interesting things to see and even has the star charts to go along with it, but I took one look at the charts and had no idea what I was seeing. It was a bit overwhelming.

My next stop was the Apple App Store where I went looking for an augmented reality app (one that lets me use my phones camera and overlays the planets onto the display).
I found one called "Planet Finder". I have't really had much use for this but I do pull it out every so often to find the moon during the day time or when its a crescent and not so easy to spot.

I have found that after using the app for a while I don't need it as much as I have learnt the path the Moon and Jupiter take from my back yard and can now find them with ease. I suspect I will be pulling it out again when I'm viewing from a different location or looking for another planet such as Saturn.

I also got an app called "Star Map". This is my bread and butter app. I was a little reserved at paying $20 for the 'pro' version but I eventually bit the bullet and spent the money. And boy was it worth it.
I use this app EVERY time I'm out. Its excellent.

It lets me enter the specs of my telescope and will simulate the view I should be seeing and will even draw a line from a bight star to what ever you are looking for to help with star hopping. This is VERY useful as the Celestron Firstscope inverts the image and all your movements are backwards which can be pretty confusing.

I may do I full in-depth review a bit later when I'm full educated with the app but for now I can't recommend it enough.

One last piece of software I use a lot as well is called "Stellarium".
Its free planetarium software. I would recommend giving it a download and checking it out.
I have spent hours using it to decide what I should be looking for and what time of the night I should be out.


I hope these recommendations help you to find your way around the night sky.

Getting started.

Hey all, I have recently been getting into astronomy over the last month and have decided to create a place where I can share my experiences, photos, observations and and general thoughts.

I work as a professional DJ which means I keep irregular hours and have a lot of free time. Usually I just spend my nights watching TV or checking out music but recently I have been thinking to myself how it would be good to actually get outside and do something more productive. Astronomy seemed like a good idea as I was already up at night and would allow me to keep updated with music while I was looking at the stars and educating myself with the sky.

I started looking into telescopes and was overwhelmed with what was out there and the cost of some of them. I was unsure if I was going to stick at astronomy or it was something that I would give up on after seeing the moon a few times so I wasn't wanting to spend a lot of money. Unfortunately, with telescopes, you get what you pay for, so there wasn't a lot of choice for low budget telescopes.

After some research I decided on the Celestron FirstScope.
There were a few reasons for this.

• It was cheep and available in New Zealand.
• It has a good sized primary mirror for its price.
• It is a dobsonian style telescope which makes it easy to aim
• Its small and light so I can just grab it and take it out when there is a clear night. No set up.
• It was a highly recommended 'cheep' telescope. I would often read about how it had quality optics no usually found on a telescope of that price.

I went ahead and purchased one off Trade Me for about $130 with an accessory kit. If I was to do it again I would probably avoid the accessory kit. The extra lenses are ok but the finder scope is rubbish and I have already gone out and bought a new 9mm plossl eye piece which I am using more than any of the included lenses.

I would highly recommend upgrading the eye pieces if you intend to stick with stargazing for a while. Its a very good investment.

I have been taking this scope out just about every clear night since I have got it and had some amazing views of the moon and various deep sky objects but jupiter has been a little hit or miss. On occasion I have been able to see the cloud bands but not very often.

The telescope its self is slightly out of collimation which is causing some kind of 'ghosting' with bright objects.

Not a problem with the moon as its so large and not a problem with Deep Sky as they are not super bright but jupiter looks like its got some kind of motion blur on it. Not great.

Still, Its fun finding it and having a look.

As well as the telescope, I have been taking the digital camera out and trying my hand at some very basic astrophotography. I'll post some of my results in another blog but here is one to give you and idea of how basic I'm talking.

An attempt to photograph the Milky Way.

Well, I guess thats about it for an introduction. I'll make a few more posts soon to show the images I have captured and talk about some new things I have purchased.

Until next time.