Milky Way

Playing with a bit of high iso, long exposure, wide-field astrophotography tonight before the moon comes up. Shot from my driveway.

I don't have a tracking mount, so there is some movement in the stars.

View all photos taken: Tuesday, 8th September 2009, This photo: 7:54pm

Comments

  • accesser said:
    Pretty neat for a basic setup then, Space pics are fun in the way they make you wonder about what could be.
  • David de Groot said:
    I can see why people get hooked on this sort of thing. Makes you wish for a tracking mount, etc to get some crisp clear images without star movement.
  • bradchiplin said:
    Absolutely love this kind of thing.
    Looks great. It's a little bit more special that you can achieve a shot like this from your driveway.
    Nice one :)
  • James Lagden said:
    Very nice Dave. How much is one of those tracking mounts then?
  • David de Groot said:
    Indeed :) I've been itching to try to capture the cloud since I saw one of Mel's shots from out west. Checked outside tonight while walking the dogs and found it was a) clear and b) the moon wasn't up yet, so I grabbed my kit and wandered down below the tree line for a couple of shots :)
    I'm not even going to check as I know they're way out of my budget.
  • benefit of hindsight said:
    what, no tracking mount? tsk
    ;-p
  • David de Groot said:
    Gunna buy me one David ? ;-)
  • [ Kane ] said:
    Very cool mate, are you going to invest in a star tracking pod?
  • David de Groot said:
    As much fun as that'd be, I don't have those sorts of funds available :P
  • thebookfreak58 said:
    Very nice Dave. The night sky is just so beautiful!
  • benefit of hindsight said:
    lol - sure, David, next time I'm over in Brisbane
  • David de Groot said:
    Indeed it is Tim :)
    You realise, I'll hold you to that :P
  • benefit of hindsight said:
    you gonna buy my plane ticket then ?
  • David de Groot said:
    I promised no such thing :P
    However, I will feed you and give you somewhere to stay if you do make it here ;-)
  • stpnwolfnr said:
    Nice!
  • allan_niels3n said:
    Very nice David. you could build your own tracker www.canonblogger.com/2009/08/17/how-to-build-a-star-tracker/
  • dtmateojr said:
    lovely. i miss my home town. we used to see part of the milkyway galaxy during summer. this very thick band of stars stretching across the entire sky.
  • David de Groot said:
    Hmmm, thanks for that link Allan. I reckon I may have most of those parts already...
    Yeah it sure is. I want to get a bit better at this so when I head out west I can take full advantage of the clear sky.
  • David de Groot said:
    Neat eh ?
  • baar_01 said:
    Nice. I've got a couple of shots like this. It's something different and no where near as time consuming as startrails :P
  • David de Groot said:
    Indeed - although looking at a home-made star tracker, it'll be more work than star trails.
  • photo by Alison said:
    way cool, David!
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks Alison :)
    'twas pretty neat eh ?
  • chooks! said:
    Good work David :) I like that bit on the right.
  • Tecknogr▲fick™ said:
    it's a beautiful, david! neat!
  • Peter Hegarty said:
    Hi Dave, for these wide-field shots you can do without a tracking mount. Use a high iso and keep the shots to 10-15 seconds and use the fastest lens you have. Take 20-50 shots then download "DeepSpaceStacker" (freeware) and let it stack the shots....
    You will be amazed :)
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks Tim.
    Thanks - sure is pretty :)
    Ah cool - ok. I shot this at iso1600 for 30 secs, so 15 sec at 3200 ? What do I do about noise ? Dark frames ?
  • Peter Hegarty said:
    Yep, leave the camera setup (to get the same temp) stick the lens cap on and wrap a bit of cloth around the end of the lens (just in case) and take as many darks as you can. DSS gives you the ability to add darks which it then subtracts from the light images.
    I wouldn't worry too much about going higher than ISO 1600 tho cause your skies are quite dark, try it and see what you get... The trick is getting alot of frames - like I said, you'll be amazed what stacking can do :)
  • 6element said:
    Nice one!
  • David de Groot said:
    Cool - now I just need time to do it. This working thing sure gets in the way of doing interesting things ;-)
    Thanks :)