Argon stretching drops a Horsehead here...

[KapHn8d]

Happy New Year, peeps! :wave:

I have been super busy with work... lots of travel and long hours. Between that and the holidays, I haven't had much laser time... or forum time for that matter. I'm still around. I was stretching the legs on my argon-ion the other day and while admiring the mesmerizing blue, I thought I'd pop in and say hello to my LPF friends and share a photo I took over the Thanksgiving holiday. The weather has been poor here and I've not been back out since, but I know there are a couple of folks who might appreciate the stardust.

Cheers! o/
/c

​

 

[NightExplorer96]

Hey, good to hear from your Kap! Good to hear you are still alive and kicking, and thank you for sharing that picture!

-Alex

 

[BowtieGuy]

Happy New Year to you Clayton!
Glad to hear from you, it's been awhile. Super photo! :kewlpics:

 

[crazyspaz]

Dat picture


More?
Pretty please??!

 

[hakzaw1]

yes -more of the same plzzzzzz

we are long overdue to meet up for lunch-- meet you half way!!

hak

 

[IsaacT]

Makes me wanna take a long drive. Someday soon I need to buy a tracker, but for now I gotta stick with the wide field stuff. Thanks for sharing!

 

[tsk1979]

Happy New Year, peeps! :wave:

I have been super busy with work...

Happy new year to you too. Its an awesome image. A far cry from what I am capable of doing with a Sony A7 and a iOptron skytracker! Someday........

 

[IsaacT]

Couple questions:

1. What focal length was that taken at?
2. Was it stacked? If so, how many lights?
3. Where did you take it?

 

[KapHn8d]

Thanks, fellas!

Len, I'm down for that lunch, buddy... let's make it happen.

IsaacT, here are the answers:
1. What focal length was that taken at? 600mm
2. Was it stacked? If so, how many lights? Yes. 42 light frames and 9 dark frames. 4 minutes each at ISO800.
3. Where did you take it? Huntsville, TX

Cheers!
/c

 

[Sigurthr]

Oooo, beautiful work!

 

[tsk1979]

Thanks, fellas!

Len, I'm down for that lunch, buddy... let's make it happen.

IsaacT, here are the answers:
1. What focal length was that taken at? 600mm
2. Was it stacked? If so, how many lights? Yes. 42 light frames and 9 dark frames. 4 minutes each at ISO800.
3. Where did you take it? Huntsville, TX

Cheers!
/c

Thanks for the info.
When you say FL, did you use a telescope of a DSLR with a 600mm lens?
I am doing to try Orion with 300mm 5.6 lens at ISO 1600

Will use an iOptron Skytracker and shoot around 50 10 second frames at ISO 1600 + 20 darks and 20 flats

 

[KapHn8d]

I used a standard camera lens on a stock DSLR. However, most of the time, I shoot through a telescope at prime focus. It is worth mentioning for the curious that camera lenses are typically described by focal length (ie. 85mm, 135mm, 200mm, 400mm, etc) and not focal ratio like telescopes. Refracting telescopes (which are constructed similarly to camera lenses... with no mirrors, but only optical elements) are typically described by their aperture (the diameter of the largest (front) element for gathering light and the focal ratio (the relationship between the focal length and the aperture). You can calculate the focal length of a telescope (in the "camera lens terms") by multiplying the aperture by the focal ratio. For example, my telescope has an aperture of 130mm and a focal ratio of f/7... so the focal length is 910mm. I wanted to photograph the Flame nebula and the Horsehead nebula with some surrounding nebulosity and starfield in the same frame, so I needed to "back off" a little with the field of view. I did this by choosing to switch to a 600mm focal length instead of using the normal 910mm focal length the refracting telescope would provide. Now, there are other factors that impact the magnification (which is calculated by dividing the focal ratio into the aperture) such as the size and configuration of the CMOS or CCD chip being used... however, since I only have the one camera, the chip size is constant and I change my "zoom" level by changing lenses. I hope that helps!

/c

Thanks for the info.
When you say FL, did you use a telescope of a DSLR with a 600mm lens?
I am doing to try Orion with 300mm 5.6 lens at ISO 1600
Will use an iOptron Skytracker and shoot around 50 10 second frames at ISO 1600 + 20 darks and 20 flats