Conversation

Astrophotography attempt today. Neighborhood of Altair of Aquila. With a Canon EOS 10s exposure at ISO 800 (contrast adjusted and resized). No telescope/binoculars Naked eye I can only see the main star Altair due to light pollution (in dark places you can see most of these).
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Here's a 1 minute exposure of part of Sagittarius. The bright object is Jupiter. The galactic center is somewhere there, and there's some fuzziness I think is M8 (the Lagoon nebula). Once I get this thing attached to the telescope it will be a lot of fun.
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Though my telescope doesn't have an equatorial mount to track properly, so except for star trail photos, long exposures will be limited to maybe 5-10s. Bright planets only.
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In general, every hour of experimentation with stuff like this adds $1000 to your equipment wishlist value. Now I have 2 other astro-specific lenses on my list, plus an equatorial mount... this could turn into a very expensive new hobby
Replying to
Have you checked out the Astrophotography Reddit? I’m constantly amazed how their backyard setups are approaching the results of what the professionals were getting out of the biggest telescopes in the mid-90s. Imagine, a Redditor being able to start approaching Hubble quality.
Helix Nebula - Hubble Space Telescope
Helix Nebula - Photograph from r/Astrophotography subreddit.
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