Hello from Sydney Australia !
I'm a total beginner at astronomy, and astrophotography in particular, so I am very happy to find a place like Astrobin where I can connect with others.
I always wanted to have some fun with astronomy, so finally bought a small telescope last year.
I quickly realised I chose a hobby that was complex, time-intensive and expensive,
not unlike owning a boat, except astronomy requires you to stay up all night in the freezing cold,
whereas owning a boat requires you to stay up all day in the soaking wet, often floating backwards down the river.
So - I've been on a very steep learning curve trying to understand all the technical jargon and how to operate my equipment.
The first obstacle was buying a mount that had a big 'N' printed on it, and instructions telling me to point it North and to find the Polar Star.
It took me a while to realise I was upside-down and living in the wrong hemisphere,
and that all the images in my astronomy book were taken north of the equator and therefore the wrong way up.
I finally managed to get my head around things like RA and DEC, the difference between a SSO and a DSO,
it took a while to work out what the ecliptic is, why objects zoom around on it more-or-less, but not always,
what a meridian flip actually meant (had to learn what a meridian was first), why DA/DEC always point in the same direction but Alt/Az don't,
and why Polar Alignment is so important and how to do it properly, particularly when I can't see the SCP from my backyard because of all the trees,
and why Isaac Newton still looms large in everything to do with the way the universe hangs together.
Then there were the back-focus, image circles, reducers, Barlows, optical paths, field flatteners, pixel size, sensitivity, noise and filters,
focussers, guide scopes, mono vs colour, filter wheels, resolution, image registration, normalisation, stacking and adjustment,
not to mention trying to understand why I couldn't open a FITs file on my computer - but now I can.
I spent a couple of months experimenting by imaging the trees in the back yard before I had the courage to take my gear outside,
which I finally did last August. I spent hours setting everything up to make sure it was all 'just right'.
It's hard to describe the feeling of sitting there waiting for the sun to set and the stars to come out,
doing a real polar alignment for the first time, then hitting the 'GoTo' button to swing my scope to a specific target,
and then to press 'start' to begin the imaging sequence. It was a bit like going on a first date.
Thankfully, capturing all those images of my trees seemed to pay off, and everything went more-or-less according to plan.
This was actually the first picture I ever took, a fuzzy blob called Saturn.
I got a picture of Saturn - how fantastic I thought that was !
Then I realised I needed to learn about how to focus on planets, rather than trees.
and that Saturn is really, really small when you look at it through a little telescope like mine.
So - I thought I'd try something bigger.
Amazingly, my first 'proper' image turned out pretty well, take a look at it here ...
M8 = NGC-6523 Lagoon Nebula + M20 = Trifid Nebula.
It was even published in a book on astronomy, so I was very encouraged to carry on.
I started getting the hang of things, and discovered that getting your focus just right does make a difference.
At least my picture of Saturn was an elliptical blob now, rather than a round blob,
and yes, it did actually look like the pictures you see in books !!
So - I began looking around to join some online groups, to learn from others and share experiences.
I discovered Astrobin only yesterday ... I was amazed to find such a fantastic resource for amateur astrophotographers.
I registered right away, and have been busy today learning how to use the site and posting up a few pics.
Please take a look at them here and let me know what you think
And finally ...
Many thanks to Salvatore for building such an amazing site - and for his super-quick and encouraging responses to my 'how do I do x' beginner-style questions.
Clear Skies,
Gary (Sydney, Australia)
I'm a total beginner at astronomy, and astrophotography in particular, so I am very happy to find a place like Astrobin where I can connect with others.
I always wanted to have some fun with astronomy, so finally bought a small telescope last year.
I quickly realised I chose a hobby that was complex, time-intensive and expensive,
not unlike owning a boat, except astronomy requires you to stay up all night in the freezing cold,
whereas owning a boat requires you to stay up all day in the soaking wet, often floating backwards down the river.
So - I've been on a very steep learning curve trying to understand all the technical jargon and how to operate my equipment.
The first obstacle was buying a mount that had a big 'N' printed on it, and instructions telling me to point it North and to find the Polar Star.
It took me a while to realise I was upside-down and living in the wrong hemisphere,
and that all the images in my astronomy book were taken north of the equator and therefore the wrong way up.
I finally managed to get my head around things like RA and DEC, the difference between a SSO and a DSO,
it took a while to work out what the ecliptic is, why objects zoom around on it more-or-less, but not always,
what a meridian flip actually meant (had to learn what a meridian was first), why DA/DEC always point in the same direction but Alt/Az don't,
and why Polar Alignment is so important and how to do it properly, particularly when I can't see the SCP from my backyard because of all the trees,
and why Isaac Newton still looms large in everything to do with the way the universe hangs together.
Then there were the back-focus, image circles, reducers, Barlows, optical paths, field flatteners, pixel size, sensitivity, noise and filters,
focussers, guide scopes, mono vs colour, filter wheels, resolution, image registration, normalisation, stacking and adjustment,
not to mention trying to understand why I couldn't open a FITs file on my computer - but now I can.
I spent a couple of months experimenting by imaging the trees in the back yard before I had the courage to take my gear outside,
which I finally did last August. I spent hours setting everything up to make sure it was all 'just right'.
It's hard to describe the feeling of sitting there waiting for the sun to set and the stars to come out,
doing a real polar alignment for the first time, then hitting the 'GoTo' button to swing my scope to a specific target,
and then to press 'start' to begin the imaging sequence. It was a bit like going on a first date.
Thankfully, capturing all those images of my trees seemed to pay off, and everything went more-or-less according to plan.
This was actually the first picture I ever took, a fuzzy blob called Saturn.
I got a picture of Saturn - how fantastic I thought that was !
Then I realised I needed to learn about how to focus on planets, rather than trees.
and that Saturn is really, really small when you look at it through a little telescope like mine.
So - I thought I'd try something bigger.
Amazingly, my first 'proper' image turned out pretty well, take a look at it here ...
M8 = NGC-6523 Lagoon Nebula + M20 = Trifid Nebula.
It was even published in a book on astronomy, so I was very encouraged to carry on.
I started getting the hang of things, and discovered that getting your focus just right does make a difference.
At least my picture of Saturn was an elliptical blob now, rather than a round blob,
and yes, it did actually look like the pictures you see in books !!
So - I began looking around to join some online groups, to learn from others and share experiences.
I discovered Astrobin only yesterday ... I was amazed to find such a fantastic resource for amateur astrophotographers.
I registered right away, and have been busy today learning how to use the site and posting up a few pics.
Please take a look at them here and let me know what you think
And finally ...
Many thanks to Salvatore for building such an amazing site - and for his super-quick and encouraging responses to my 'how do I do x' beginner-style questions.
Clear Skies,
Gary (Sydney, Australia)
