I realized the other day that I don’t actually have dozens and dozens of hobbies. I have just one: picking up new hobbies. So it’s not that I’ve developed a new hobby recently; I’ve only continued to practice my existing one.
It’s been a little over a year since Amber gave me an 8″ Dobsonian telescope, and I’ve really enjoyed it. As much as I enjoy looking at the stars and planets, what I enjoy more is sharing those images with others. When I find something really cool, my first impulse is to find somebody to drag outside and show it to. I decided a few months ago that I should probably start capturing these images so that I can share them with lots of people.
The final piece of astrophotography equipment was delivered by FedEx on Friday. Monday evening was finally cloudless, and I assembled the equipment. Using several doodads (a variable universal camera adapter, a 2x Barlow and a 13% moon filter) I attached the body of my Canon Digital Rebel directly to my telescope, essentially giving the camera a 4′ long zoom lens. Onto that I attach a bulb, so I can take pictures without shaking the scope, and it’s all set. The resulting assembly looks a little silly, but the results are pretty sweet.
Objects in the sky move alarmingly fast. I can snap perhaps a half dozen pictures of a planet before it’s out of the frame entirely.
The moon is really easy to photograph. I imagine that, in the world of astrophotography, it makes me a huge goober for even bothering to do so. But the moon’s landscape is stark, even breathtaking. I expect to take a lot of pictures of the moon.
Planets are not so easy. I’d assumed that the problem would be not enough light but, at 1600 ISO and 1.3 seconds, this picture of Saturn is actually overexposed. Next time I’ll go for a shorter exposure. But if the squint a little, you can totally make out the planetary bulge on the left, the top-to-bottom rings, tilted about 20° to the right, and the gap between the innermost ring and the planet itself.
Stars, galaxies and messier objects are very much not so easy. They require much longer exposures which, in turn, requires the ability to track the telescope along with the movement of the stars (read as: expensive new hardware). In the foreseeable future, I think I’ll be looking at these things, but I won’t be photographing them for your visual pleasure.
I see it’s going to be rainy tonight. Perhaps I’ll use the opportunity to expand my hobbies hobby.
I have a Meade telescope with a motorized base. This also allows for the scope, if oriented correctly, to help in finding planets. (and tracking them) There also is a RJ45 interface for the computer, although I can’t see taking the computer outside to play unless it is summer.
I have always been fascinated with astronomy, and used it to some degree in my former life as a Land Surveyor.
Great post. Great shots. Thanks.
I do not think your telescope or camera is powerful enough, but take a look at the coordinates RA 04 33 34.57 Dec +24 21 05.8. In the visual, the star there is at about a 12.5 magnitude. I have spent this semester studying the system there. While it might not seem like much of a star, being a young stellar object, we believe it may have a companion (that I can assure you will not be visible with your telescope, as it takes a great deal of data reduction to find) that is much less massive, perhaps even being a brown dwarf. There is the possibility that it is a background star, though I am currently of the opinion that it is indeed a companion; I have been going back and forth on this one, there is a lot of information to take into consideration, and even with data that is over a decade old to consider, it is hard to tell.
I ought to be able to spot it with my 8″ Dob — I can generally spot anything down to a 13. Photographing it, though, isn’t going to happen. :)
I’ll be curious to see what comes of the idea that our Sun may have a companion.
With the idea of a “Nemesis” (the so-named potential companion), a theory that has existed for more than 2 decades, I am going to say that I do not think that such a star exists. With a very large proper motion and relative proximity, the only way it could happen would be if it were a very late star, likely a brown dwarf. Though they are difficult to detect, it appears that the scientist who proposed this theory has suggested a direction that the companion would likely be. Currently though, there appears to be no proof for its existence.
Still, time will tell. If we do find Nemesis, I see little reason why it should take any more than 30 years (and that may be an overestimate). Maybe I’ll be wrong on this one.
Sort of in the same vein, in the late nineties, my new year’s resolution was to never again make a new year’s resolution.
And I’ve kept it.
Wow that looks like fun!!! I had no idea you could hook a digital rebel up to a telescope like that. Keep it up and I hope you can post some cool pics to your photostream or blog on occasion.