I have no idea what has me so fascinated by imaging a young moon (taking an image of the moon when only a very small slice of it is lit, a slim waxing crescent or ‘young moon phase’). Once when I saw someone else’s image it just really blew me away. Unfortunately where I am and where I shoot it is very difficult because of trees and light pollution.
Here is a young moon I managed to get on January 3rd which I was pretty impressed with. Sure, I would love to go younger but I was almost shooting in the trees with this as it was. This image was 25 lights of 1/250th sec at ISO 400 stacked and sharpened in Registax 6. You can see plenty of detail, have some fun trying to name the features! You could use my favorite map, the Sky & Telescope’s Field Map of the Moon to see the names of the features.
The really great thing about moon is that you get great detail way out on the edge of the moon which normally is pretty flatly lit. This flat lighting makes details difficult to see. With the edge lighting the rims of the craters, edges of mountains and crevasses really pop out either in an eyepiece or image. Another great thing is it gives you something to image right after the sun dips below the horizon. You don’t have to wait until astronomical sunset for this target!
Hopefully I will be able to get something a little younger when I find a suitable place to image with lower horizons.
Next time you get a chance take a stab at your own young moon image and see if it fascinates you as much as it does me.
More on waxing crescent and the 8 phases of the moon is on Wikipedia, more young moon photos on my solar system astrophotography page.
The Messier Astrophotography Reference is a little surprise for you, as it was pretty much an unexpected book!
When I was starting out in astrophotography I was constantly hunting for images that would give me a good idea of what I would see in my images. The problem was that I was in a middle area where most of the images were either far too nice looking to compare to mine, or far too simple. Even when I found a few, they had not done all of the Messier objects so I really could not do more than a few targets.
This made me decide to write a reference book for the Messier catalog with all 110 Messier objects, example images, size estimates for the most popular telescopes, best times of the year to shoot each target, star charts showing the location, a scientific description of the target and lastly, a set of shoot notes giving my suggestions for shooting and/or processing each target.This should help you find the best Messier objects for you to shoot.
The reference hopefully will be helpful for other astrophotographers in North America who want to shoot some or all of the Messier objects. You can learn more about the book at https://www.allans-stuff.com/mar/ and discuss it at https://www.allans-stuff.com/forum/. Messier Astrophotography Reference is available on Amazon.com or directly at https://amzn.to/2LCIZZR and is available in both print and Kindle editions.
Here is the description from Amazon:
Allan Hall’s Messier Astrophotography Reference takes the task of providing a detailed, practical, visual guide to the night sky’s Messier Objects – all 110 of them – seriously, but not without the author’s trademark approachability and goal of providing home-based astrophotographers at any experience level with the fundamental resources they need to shoot smart.
In North American skies, throughout the year, a series of bright visual bodies, groups, formations, and phenomenon are categorized as Messier Objects. 110 of these are flung across the galactic veil that we see every night. For each star: a cluster. For each cluster: a galaxy. From nebula to clouds to clusters, these astrological objects are striking, nuanced, each with its own sky path and yearly phases. The task of capturing these in images can be daunting for astrophotographers, making Messier’s Astrophotography Reference all the more impactful of a guide.
For astrophotographers: the number of factors to consider when searching out the ideal celestial shot can be daunting. From yearly charts of the night sky’s movements to sizing objects, gauging their depth, and choosing how to capture them, astrophotographers have long relied on fundamental – and luckily unchanging – guides for astrological behavior.
From the author of Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography and Getting Started: Budget Astrophotography comes a uniquely comprehensive book sure to change the way that just about any astrophotographer’s views their discipline.
A question: What do the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, the Owl Nebula, and 108 other striking astronomical bodies have in common with you? For the first time: they’re all accessible. From home. For beginning astrophotographers. Now – finally – with Allan Hall’s Messier Astrophotography Reference – the lessons of Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography and Getting Started: Budget Astrophotography are elevated, targeted, and laid out in an intuitive format meant for providing home-based astrophotographers with a practical road map for all 110 North American Messier Objects in the night sky.
From your bedroom desk to nights in the field, Messier Astrophotography Reference represents a condensed, intuitive resource. In it, each Messier Object is highlighted with a photograph and a rich entry of details, context, sizing, yearly shooting charts, and more. Hall’s approachable tone makes for a clean narrative in which the goal is the keenest understanding of these objects, their “characters”, movements, obstacles in shooting, and points of interest.
As a companion piece for Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography, this book takes on a natural supplementary role. Further developed by its author to be a full standalone resource on its own, Messier Astrophotography Reference is comprehensive, targeted, and brisk. From sizing your shot to deciding on your range of depth – Hall takes readers from step one to the final shutter snap; giving them the tools to interpret their experience with the Messier Objects.
For anyone with practical astrophotographical ambitions; whether they’re gathering supplies and waiting for that first shoot or experienced astrophotographers ready to delve into a comprehensive Messier Object guide, Allan Hall’s Messier Astrophotography Reference is essential.
I just purchased an Orion G3 Mono and thought I would write this mini Orion G3 Monochrome CCD review.
As many of you know I am pretty fascinated with spectroscopy, or the use of the spectrum of light emitted by or reflected off an object to determine its chemical makeup. I have been working on this with a DSLR for a while and it does a fairly good job for just getting my feet wet. Unfortunately the filters on the sensor of a DSLR skew the results pretty badly towards the red end, and the sensor is too sensitive to certain colors (trying to make up for the way the human eye sees).
I had been told that the way to do it with more accuracy is to use a monochrome CCD. One of the more popular ones to start out with in these types of spectroscopy seems to be the Orion CCD cameras including the Orion G3 Mono, so I bought one. Some nice advantages are that this camera is only about $499 retail (cheaper on Amazon) so it is fairly inexpensive as far as CCDs are concerned, it is very small and light weight, it has cooling built in so the images have less noise than an uncooled camera, and it has a 1.25″ threaded nosepiece so the grating filter I use will screw right onto it.
I plan on redoing all my spectral images with the Orion G3 Mono and comparing my results from it to what I achieved with my DSLR. It will be interesting to see how close they are. I may even leave the DSLR images up so you can see the comparison for yourself.
The first few runs with the camera have proven hopeful. I am not too sure I like the software which comes with it so I am going to try it with my standards imaging software and see what happens. More to come!
You can get more information, read more reviews, or purchase this monochrome CCD.
Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography is finally here! As some of you may know I have been working on a book that expanded on my original 19 page cobbled together booklet from over a year ago. Now, about a year, more than 220 pictures, 61,000 words and 346 pages later, the ultimate astrophotography how to is finally finished and ready for sale. If you are thinking about getting started in astrophotography, this is for you.
You can find out more about the book here: https://www.allans-stuff.com/leap join the discussion board for the book here: https://www.allans-stuff.com/forum and if you like, purchase the book here: https://amzn.to/2J8K1hR It should appear on all the Amazon websites (US and Europe for now) within 5-7 days but is available on the link above for immediate shipment. Thanks to everyone who made this possible! I hope you all enjoy the book.
The book covers everything you need to know to get started including topics such as general astrophotography equipment, DSLR astrophotography, astrophotography software, and much more.
Here is the description directly from Amazon:
A primer and a fully-formed, practical format for entering the world of long exposure astrophotography, Allan Hall’s Getting Started: Long Exposure astrophotography brings the rewarding pursuit of stellar imaging to your bedside table. With academic flare and his signature approachability, Hall utilizes a suite of formats to provide readers with everything they need to begin – and develop. From charts, images, purchasing guides, walkthroughs and detailed descriptions, this Getting Started title is an in-depth resource for today’s astrophotographer at any level of their discipline.
Leading up to an incredibly useful list of the first twenty-five objects an astrophotographer might image with long exposures, this Getting Started title also offers a range of equipment advice and grounded descriptions of why certain phenomenon occur – as well as what they will mean for you and your shoots.
Though founded in the clarity and precision of science and photography, astrophotography can nonetheless be one of the most artistic and even sensual crafts, as well as one of the most daunting. A road map is essential when pursuing a rich experience imaging and cataloguing the night sky. Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography, with over 200 illustrations, images, charts and graphs bolstering its clear and instructive text,
takes readers from practical equipment purchases, savvy preparations, and understanding of heavenly bodies, with the proper – and smart – ways to capture their expansive sight, intimate motion, and breathtaking portraitry.
From purchasing your first astrophotography telescope, hooking up your camera, taking long exposure images, and finally processing that finished image, this book is rich with provisions and tips. Hall expertly balances his own procedures with general and inclusive guides from set-up to software recommendations.
So, if you have ever wanted to take photographs of glowing nebulae, spiral galaxies and shimmering star clusters, this is the reference you want on your desk as well as with you out under the sky.
A journey begins, with Hall exploring in-depth details of field rotation and focusing methods, as well as explaining not just the what and how, but the ever important why. So you won’t just follow instructions for multiple image stacking, you’ll understand the effect and craft of it. And the descriptions of atmospheric phenomenon affecting imaging won’t end there, but lead you to experiments in which you can observe and understand.
For today’s astrophotographers, access is key. Encouragingly, there is more than ever in many ways. From the quality of equipment that you can purchase to the ready availability of software and meteorological information, it’s a photographer’s dream in many ways. Let this unprecedented scenario work for you, whether you’re looking to take your first photos or enhance your development as a long-exposure cosmic curator.
From start to finish, Allan Hall’s Getting Started: Long Exposure Astrophotography is your comprehensive resource, taking you from entrance to expertise in the rewarding field of astrophotography – with a focus on the long exposure element that makes for such memorable, lifelong pieces of photography.
A short while back I decided I wanted another EQ goto mount so I picked up a lightly used Orion SkyView Pro telescope mount (SVP). Why the Orion SkyView Pro?
1) Carries more load than my Orion SkyView Deluxe, so better suited for my 127mm refractor
2) Tripod, weights and hand controller interchangeable with my Orion Sirius in case anything happens
3) Uses same interface, drivers and cables for computer control so I am already set up to use it with my laptops
4) OK, yes, I am kind of an Orion fanboy, but with their good products and excellent customer service, it is hard not to be.
After purchasing the polar scope separately and installing it in the Orion mount, I felt as if I was using the younger brother to my Sirius mount. Setup was fast and easy as the mount worked exactly the same as the Sirius but is lighter. This allowed me to be setup and running, including polar alignment, in about 15 minutes.
Running the mount is again, much like the Sirius mount. Since this is an EQ-5 based mount much like Celestron’s CG-5 I expected it to have much more in common with it than the Sirius, and indeed the motor covers, external cables and polar scope covers make it similar in appearance, but not so much in function. While the CG-5 is a capable mount, it has earned the nickname of “coffee grinder”, and if you ever hear one slew, you will understand why. The Orion SkyView Pro goto on the other hand sounds just like the Sirius, quiet and smooth.
Accuracy is exactly what you would expect given it has the same controller, excellent. Load capacity seems higher than listed by Orion (as it is for virtually any Orion mount) and I would have no problems running the Orion SkyView Pro with more weight than a CG-5. The tripod is only 1.5″ tubes as compared to the CG-5 which I believe has 2″ sections, but as with my Sirius mount once the mount is at it’s minimum height (which is always where you want to image from) stability is not an issue at all. If for some odd reason I needed to image from a fully extended position, then I might consider replacing the tripod with the 2″ version from the Atlas.
There are some things I do not like about this mount, starting with the rear cover for the polar scope. This cover just “fits” on, not really snapping, and not screwing, into place. Even looking in its general direction makes it fall off. Heck, while slewing if a cable brushes it, it comes off. Come on guys, I will pay the extra quarter, put some threads on it!
Next, for those of us that really use our equipment, the little rubber coating on the bottom of the tripod feet is a real pain in the rear. Why, you may ask? It eventually comes off. Not all at once mind you, but a little here and there. This messes up your leveling (if you always set up in the same place, once leveled you can lock the legs and never have to level again, until the rubber starts to come off one leg). Save some hassles later, remove the rubber coating as soon as you get this mount.
Lastly, I do wish the polar scope was lit although I generally set up right at dusk so that is not too much of a problem.
Overall the Orion SkyView Pro is an excellent goto mount that I would highly recommend for both visual and lightweight AP work. My only serious complaint is that it is a little too expensive when there are very capable alternatives such as the CG-5 or VX from Celestron. If you could get the SVP, CG-5 and VX mounts for the same price, it is a no brainer for me, the SVP rules the roost. Unfortunately for Orion you can still get the CG-5 from High Point Scientific for $549 new making it a much better overall deal.
Once High Point’s inventory is gone however, the Celestron VX series is showing a price of $799, just $50 less than the SVP, so in that case, I would splurge and take the Orion SkyView Pro over the VX, if for no other reason than how the SVP works with EQMOD and computer control.
Tis the season to be jolly, freeze your rear off out in the cold, and spend way too much on astronomy releated presents. Oh yeah, and to celebrate Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa / Ashura / Etc. What better way to celebrate when you are an astrophotographer than to image the Christmas Tree Cluster, NGC 2264:
This is one you need to spend a little time with, in my case 36 200sec (2 hours) images were combined with 25 darks and carefully stretched in Pixinsite to create a wonderful image full of colors, dust clouds and dark lanes. Notice the Cone Nebula over on the right side. I would love to spend more time on this target and get some more detail out of it, there is way more here than I had originally thought.
Sometimes there are targets that just really surprise you, the M78 nebula is one of them. In the charts and books I have it just looked really plain and boring. Granted, in none of the images I had did anyone really put much time and effort into the target. Described as a diffuse nebula, and in most images showing only two small amounts of nebulosity much like this (35 minutes total data):
With almost nothing there but too little wisps of dust, can you blame anyone for not putting much time on the Messier 78? I certainly didn’t want to waste much time here. Then I say something a little above the largest portion of nebula in the above picture that made me wonder.
I set off one night to see what I could get. I started off with M78 on a single really long exposure, fifteen minutes as I remember. I then stretched the heck out of that image right there in the field immediately after taking the exposure. The quality of the image was horrible because I had stretched it so hard that the diffuse nebula of Messier 78 finally started to pop out. I decided to reduce the exposure time to something that would reduce the noise a little and give it a lot of exposures.
After getting home and getting some sleep I decided to see what I could get out of the M78 images I had taken. I was amazed. The more times on target I added, the better the image looked and the more detail that came out. I decided to go out again that night and get some more time.
This target really lends itself to as much exposure as you can get on it. With just about six hours of data and some careful stretching you can get this out of a DSLR image of the target:
That image took 70 300sec exposures, and as you can see, could use even more. Next year I hope to at least double that amount of time and see what else I can get to come out. I have had one serious AP guy (way above my pay grade, that’s for sure) tell me he thinks this is the best DSLR image he has ever seen of this target. While I am flattered, I think I can do much better, it will just take a lot more time. Looking close at the dust lanes you can see there is a lot of detail that is just barely starting to emerge from the noise.
Here is a young moon I managed to get on January 3rd which I was pretty impressed with. Sure, I would love to go younger but I was almost shooting in the trees with this as it was. This image was 25 lights of 1/250th sec at ISO 400 stacked and sharpened in Registax 6. You can see plenty of detail, have some fun trying to name the features! You could use my favorite map, the Sky & Telescope’s Field Map of the Moon to see the names of the features.
so I bought one. Some nice advantages are that this camera is only about $499 retail (cheaper 
