Astro pictures

[Larry B.]

Here are a few more of my pictures. I hope you like them.

 

[Larry B.]

 

[Quiet Storm]

Thanks! Keep 'em coming.

 

[Daniel Moore]

Those are great pictures, Larry! They're all taking up space on my hard drive now I always wanted a telescope.... :thumbup:

 

[Larry B.]

Those are great pictures, Larry! They're all taking up space on my hard drive now I always wanted a telescope.... :thumbup:

Go for it. You can see the planets with a fairly inexpensive refractor scope. Just make sure you have a sturdy tripod. One that is not sturdy will drive you crazy and you will lose interest. The set up for the sun is very expensive and you should check out the view at an astronomy show in your area before investing in it.

 

[tarsier]

Just catching up on some old threads and looking at your pics. Great work!

:thumbup:

 

[Grim/Don]

Excellent pics! Thanks for sharing.

 

[chart]

Very nice, Larry.

NeedleRemorse, I mentioned it in another of Larry's threads, but you might enjoy Stellafane and being in southern Vermont it is not too far from you. You can camp for a couple of nights, observe, learn about telescopes and telescope making, and have a generally great time.

 

[flava]

Larry, your pics are AWSOME.
I won't even post my own pics of Jupiter, they are that bad.
I used to have a cheapo 3" refractor with a shacky altazimuth mounting plus a regular digital camera on it's own tripod and kinda shooting through the telescope eyepiece... no wonder the results were bad
Please tell me what telescope/mounting/camera are you using so I know what to look for when I buy the next scope (feel free to PM or email me)). I was looking at a big Dobsonian (good price/quality) but hand tracking a planet is not what I like best ... an equatorial movement might help .

 

[Larry B.]

Larry, your pics are AWSOME.
I won't even post my own pics of Jupiter, they are that bad.
I used to have a cheapo 3" refractor with a shacky altazimuth mounting plus a regular digital camera on it's own tripod and kinda shooting through the telescope eyepiece... no wonder the results were bad
Please tell me what telescope/mounting/camera are you using so I know what to look for when I buy the next scope (feel free to PM or email me)). I was looking at a big Dobsonian (good price/quality) but hand tracking a planet is not what I like best ... an equatorial movement might help .

An altzimuth mount is fine for the planets, but it has to be a very sturdy mount. An apo refactor is a must as is quality optics. Any good digital camera will work. I use a Cannon. A Dobsonian is not much good for the planets because of it's central obstruction. It is good for deep sky observing. If you want to view and photograph the planets a top quality Apo refactor is a must. Also an equatorial mount is not necessary for the planets as you don't need long exposure time. I find that the single most important thing is the quality of the optics when viewing the planets. Aperture is only good for deep sky observing. Magnification should be kept to about 60x per 1" of aperture.

 

[Temper]

Wow! Thats fanstastic!

I missed the other pcs of Mars and Jupiter (Too many views on the free site?)

Any chance of posting them again?

 

[Larry B.]

I have a load of pictures. I post some more soon. I forgot which one's I posted before.

 

[Larry B.]

Globular cluster M13. About 100,000 suns.

Dust storm on Mars.

Moon limb.

 

[Temper]

Thanks Larry, wow, these are really facinating. I did a trip in Aus in 01 and on the W coast at night you could almost touch the moon. I wish I had had some decent optics to look at it with.

The pic of the Sun is absolutely stunning. What size do these print out to?

 

[Larry B.]

 

[Temper]

Fantastic stuff, do you have a way to measure the hight of the flares?

 

[Larry B.]

They say there between 25 and 50,000 miles.

 

[Temper]

The mind boggles

Are decent binos (25x80) good enough for the moon if on a sturdy tripod

Ken, you didn't see this question here, go and get me some Orange Sherbet, extra credit if you guess the movie )

 

[Larry B.]

The mind boggles

Are decent binos (25x80) good enough for the moon if on a sturdy tripod

Ken, you didn't see this question here, go and get me some Orange Sherbet, extra credit if you guess the movie )

Binos are good for looking at some deep sky objects. You could see some galaxies pretty good with binos if you could locate them with the binos. As far as the moon and planets go, you need at least 200 magnification to see any detail. When viewing deep sky you need aperature and for planets magnification. I also use color filters on the planets to bring out the detail. The main thing is you need good seeing conditions.

 

[Temper]

The main thing is you need good seeing conditions.

This will have to wait until I move out of smogville then and get to my cabin in the mountains.

Very cool hobby and something I have had some interest in, I dont know though if it would grab me enough to lay down the money it requires, then again cheap-o gear means poor sights right?