Astrophoto thread (your own photos please)

[Messierhunter]

Thanks guys! I actually did all that with a very cheap refractor (riding piggyback on a not-as-cheap LX200).
http://www.telescope.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=9948&type=product
Most people just use this scope as a guidescope, but with the proper filters (such as a UV/infrared and Astronomik UHC nebula filter) I've found it to be quite useful on a budget. As long as you have a decent mount, a good camera can pull out very nice shots with it. Color fringing is a small price to pay considering the cost.

 

[Kyle]

Well the ST-7 died, so I've replaced it with an SBIG ST-2000XCM. Some quick and dirty shots from the first light test last night; due to some technical glitches I wasn't able to get appropriate calibration images (no flats or bias frames on these, just a single dark frame subtraction), and due to weather there's only about 20 minutes of light on the Horsehead and Rosette nebulae. Still, I'm quite happy with the camera's performance.

Holy crap, these are jaw-dropping.

I just modified my old PowerSeeker EQ to fit a DSLR instead of just the 70mm telescope, plan on motorizing it soon. My other DSO attempts have been done with just a cheap tripod.

 

[Messierhunter]

M81 and M82:

 

[SolarLiner]

M83:

Sorry ...

 

[Messierhunter]

The Lagoon Nebula this morning (1 hour of light with an ST-2000XCM and Astronomik UHC narroband filter, green channel filled in using old SLR data I took a couple years ago):

 

[Kyle]

And here's my humble Moon and Sol shots.

 

[Messierhunter]

Sorry, one more, narrowband version of the Lagoon (copying the blue channel containing OIII and H beta to fill in the green rather than use the noisier SLR data).

 

[TMHLIVE]

I just wanna say really cool pictures to all of you. Amazing work.

 

[Messierhunter]

First light test for a new f/6.5 focal reducer which allows me to use the ST-2000XCM with the main 8" LX200 telescope instead of just the wide field refractor. I was only about to grab 20 minutes of light before clouds, and I need to shoot new flat field frames, but the camera/telescope combo works great with this setup.

 

[Messierhunter]

The Sombrero Galaxy:

1 hr 10 minutes of light with the 8" LX200 @ f/6.5 and SBIG ST-2000XCM

 

[Messierhunter]

The Pillars of Creation:

 

[Messierhunter]

First light test for a new f/6.5 focal reducer which allows me to use the ST-2000XCM with the main 8" LX200 telescope instead of just the wide field refractor. I was only about to grab 20 minutes of light before clouds, and I need to shoot new flat field frames, but the camera/telescope combo works great with this setup.

I collected a ton more light on this target last night. Finally had perfect weather and excellent transparency. 4.3 hours of light @ f/6.5 with the ST-2000 and 8" LX200 Classic using 10 minute subs this time:

 

[Messierhunter]

Comet C/2012 K1 Panstarrs:

A portion of the North America Nebula:

 

[Kyle]

Here's a Moon shot from last Friday. I've been learning some new processing tricks.

 

[Messierhunter]

Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565) last night.

 

[SolarLiner]

My first astro picture ever, with a simple telescope and my Galaxy S3 Mini (with Camera FV-5)
This is a GIMP'd version packing the 5 decent shots I took:

EDIT: Re-orientated pic

 

[astrosammy]

Totally got lost up there yesterday. I used my shortest eyepiece, 240x magnification. The polar caps of Mars, bright and dark red areas.
Saturn, really showing off with his rings right now, and a small dot next to it, Titan...

When I moved to the moon, I noticed something was different. I never used this eyepiece for the Moon.

What a view! I never felt so close to it.

I knew that I was somewhere in the south-east, so I checked a map of Mare Tranquillitatis to find out the name of the big crater I saw.
Theophilius, north of Mare Nectaris.
I just HAD to find Tranquillity Base, so I moved north and found three craters from the map, Dionysius, Ritter and Sabine.
Just a tiny 100km jump and I found it. Next time I'll try to take some images. A global mosaic, or at least one of the terminator.

ISS also made two great passes:

Galaxy S3 Mini (with Camera FV-5)

That's the same setup as I'm using. Twilight is also great, you can use it to get the screen way darker than with the normal brightness slider.
And with some foil I converted the dark-adaption destroying flashlight into a useful red flashlight.

 

[Swigert]

I got a few snaps of the upcoming full moon for June. My first space pictures, so be nice. :lol:

What do you think? Good for my first time? (Telescope used: Orion Observer 70mm EQ, photographed with my HTC Incredible)

 

[orb]

What do you think?

I think it's gonna hit the Earth. Each following picture presents it bigger and bigger. :lol:

 

[Swigert]

I think it's gonna hit the Earth. Each following picture presents it bigger and bigger. :lol:

I noticed that too. Prepare for impact. :rofl: