MICHAEL W. DEAN

4 hours, 1000 mm, F/4, Bortle 2. 

 

My recent Deer Lick Galaxy Group photo, but with added annotation showing all visible galaxy names.

All PGC and NGC designations are distant galaxies.

“Spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is a foreground galaxy in the same field as the collection, which is also called the Deer Lick Group. It contains four other members, affectionately referred to as the “fleas.”
lol

Also here is my photo with all stars, and with some star reduction. ‘1 hour, 42 minutes.

Quattro 250P 10″. ZWO ASI2600MC. Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro. Full tech specs, higher-rez versions:  https://www.astrobin.com/4qu1mk/

#Astrophotography #Space #OnlyRealSpace

 

By the way, these nifty 10-second shots of the comet I took the other night in our back yard were not taken with a fancy or expensive lens.
It’s a Canon “kit lens” (general-purpose low-end zoom lens that comes with a camera).
It’s the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Here it is on Amazon, renewed for 115 dollars

Here it is brand new on Amazon for 149 dollars

#CometC2023A3
#Astrophotography #Space #OnlyRealSpace

SO I like to take photos of space. Of things quadrillions of miles away from Earth. It’s not easy, involves advanced equipment and skill. I do it any night when there aren’t clouds / rain / snowing / forest fire smoke / or near / on the full Moon (which makes it hard to shoot anything but the Moon.) I love taking these photos, and I share them.
Here are all my astro photos.

When I post these photos on social media, I invariably get some version of this question (re-posted with permission):

James Lascko: Just jaw dropping!!  Nice work… Forgive this question, but I was wondering… if the Earth is spinning at 1,000 miles at the Equator and the estimated speed of the Earth traveling around the Sun is 67,000 miles per hour… why are these stars and galaxies not leaving streak trails in this picture as the Earth moves for several hours?

The answer (which I’m posting here so I can just link when asked and not re-type it) is:

This mount my scope sits on (the white thing in the below pic) has two highly accurate motors, 1 for each axis, computer controlled, moves with the rotation of the Earth so it’s always on the target I’m shooting.

Here’s a pic from the other night of my setup. This photo is illuminated by the light of the Moon. The mount moves 1 Sidereal day per day, which is the ACTUAL length of a day: 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.0905 seconds. (the fact that it’s not 24 hours is why we have leap days every 4 years.)

I shoot many 2 minute shots, then stack them. Some people shoot longer than 2 min each shot but I get random clouds a lot which means I have to toss out more images if I use longer shots.

Here are photos of my setup, at night, and also during the day (and here are more photos of the making of the AstroHut, my concrete observatory):

 

My new hobby! I played the music. I prompted the videos and edited them together.

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