astrophotos

[rdking647]

last nights photos from my backyard
M33 the trianguum galaxy and M45 the pleaides

[alfredo]

2. Lovely. The first time seeing the Seven Sisters in a tele, it was like diamonds on black velvet.

[mnhtnbb]

7. My dad would show me the Seven Sisters

in his telescope in his backyard observatory when I was a kid. The roof rolled off! After we sold that house when he retired and moved to CA, the new owners put in a pool and converted the observatory to a cabana. Bah, humbug.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. These are so good! And from your backyard, even! Superb shooting, as always. ♥

[AndyS]

4. It is wonderful to see the work of someone who has mastered his craft

as well as you. My hat's off to you.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

5. These are so cool.

I have a long way to go before I can produce astrophotography this good. Bravo!

[rdking647]

8. ive only been doing this seriously for about a year

i dabbled before that but my backyard at my old house didnt have clear views of the sky due to trees.
the hardest part is focusing since autofocus is pretty useless and having a decent polar alignment on a tracking device.

I use something called a bahtinov mask for focusing,they only cost a few dollars and are super easy to use.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

9. I've heard about that mask.

I usually just set my lens to infinity.

Do you use a star tracker as well?

[rdking647]

10. the problem is infinity isnt always acuuratly labeled

the mask makes it much easier. the lens i have comes with one built into the all that great. lens cap.
a star tracker is a must. i have 2,an ioptron skyguider pro which is compact and attaches to a regular tripod. I also have a celestropn avx telescope mount that is my preferred mount. it has goto capability which makes it easier especially in heavy light pollution like my backyard has and my night vision isnt all that great.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

11. Thanks for the info.

I'll be checking with you if I ever get around to getting that star tracker.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Oh, so lovely!