Skip to main content

Amateur Astrophotography

Patrick Frank speaking to William Herschel Society 5/12/2014 at BRLSI
Picture of Hersche Nebula looks much better with a modern digital camera on a smaller telescope, similarly with  Orion Nebula.

Ideally use exposure time of an hour in total and at least several minutes to achieve this.
Examples of objects: Andromeda, Heart and Soul Nebula, Pheides, M3

Simple formula devised to maximise image quality:

Dark – from quantum temperature effects on CCD chip
Read – from CCD chip – determines exposure time
·         Use multiple exposures and integrate to reduce other terms

Trick

·         Use short exposures of a couple to a few minutes
·         Align them
·         Integrate
Lights    -              Normal photo x2 or so
Darks     -              with lens cap on to subtract “dark” effect of sensor from integrated image
Flats       -              use a uniform background such as a white T-shirt
Bias        -              rapidly taken darks with same ISO

“stretching” image – concentrated on lower end of spectrum to reduce noise to signal ratioe and increase contrast on interesting objects.


Not sure what this software package is called.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Notes from Energy & Utility Forum 2017

1. Robert Symons, CEO of Western Power Distribution said: “Energy demand could rise by 100% by 2030. Smart grids will be needed to manage electric vehicle charging so that the usage does not exceed the supply capacity at any time during the day.” 2. Spoke to Harry Vickers, Business Development Manager of Camborne Energy Storage, Camborne Capital at the Energy and Utility Forum in London on October 23rd 2017. He told me his company is working with Elon Musk to bring Tesla battery grid storage solutions to the UK. 3. Spoke to Sally Barrett-Williams, Chairman of Energy and Utility Forum on October 23rd, who said subsidies for solar projects had ended and her company’s focus has shifted to energy storage schemes. 4. Spoke to Simon Dowland, PhD, at 13:00 on Sunday 29th October, Simon is now working up in Cambridge at the Cavendish Physics Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, he is working in industry for the company Eight19 Ltd a spin off from a research project to bring ne...

Letter to Wera Hobhouse, MP for Bath regarding lived experience in the UK and her new legislation Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023

  I would like to share my recent experiences with you regarding this legislation, and would ask for some advice on my plans for my recovery from schizophrenia.   I feel that I have not received protection from harassment at work for my protected characteristics: I am an Anglo Indian and from a visual inspection look like the leader of the Indian opposition (to my eyesight), yet I have to deal with comments ranging from ‘I couldn’t tell you were Indian’ to ‘you look like you are from Southern Europe’, or ‘where are you from’ even though to my ear I usually speak in the central Bath accent as opposed to RP.     I have the diagnoses of dyslexia, autism and serious mental health (schizophrenia). I have had my mental health triggered recently by a colleague from Banes council harassing me at work, so I quit my job to focus on studying to become a reflexologist.   I am a Christian having been a member of the congregation at Bath Abbey and getting confir...

Thoughts of Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa at home in their 1 acre garden Grandpa was a scientist but no one paid him too much heed. He was a naval officer, Chief science officer, presumably naval lieutenant or, perhaps commander. I have never found out but I presume to have inherited the rank in British society. He had written about a voyage subsequent to WW2 where his ship promoted most ratings to officer rank, a 20 th century voyage of discovery where everyone made progress on their naval rank post war, so that most of the ships complement ended up as officers at the end of the voyage. This was led by a Rear-admiral so it must have all been legitimised by the mandarins at Whitehall. Grandpa never really approved of their pandering to communist sympathies. How many tweets make a twat again David Cameron? I think he was talking about Nick Clegg. #JokeOfTheDay my grandma thought I was an upper-class twit after I went to Eton. She thought it was more important to get a car and go on dates and make ou...