First Quarter Moon

Nothing special about this image, just the first I have taken with my Celestron Goto 8i SE scope. I am just getting used to it and learning how to use it with a Canon DSLR attached to it. This was taken in the alt-az mode which is a bother if any object in near zenith. The air was quite turbulent with thin clouds passing by so I probably overdid the "sharpness" setting in post-production.

Enjoy!

Northern Skies without guiding test

This image of the northern night sky was taken with multiple short exposures (30 secs) without guiding (just sitting on the tripod) with my Canon t3i and then processed with Deep Sky Stacker. Deep Sky Stacker is a program that will take astrophotography images of the same subject and stack them together to make it look like a much longer exposure. This one was about 8 images. You will see that the trees are blurred but the stars are not ! It helps bring out fine detail in the northern part of the Milky Way. With a little more post production (see next image) I made the Milky Way appear even more, but this was simply a test.

Note: if you click on this first image a larger view will be shown. Then if you use your left/right arrows on your keyboard you can toggle quickly between each image.

Using GIMP Levels:

Comments or questions are always welcomed (well, as least nice ones)!

Overhead View of our Milky Way Galaxy

This shot was the result of 5 - 30 sec exposures taken with a Canon t3i and a 10mm super wide angle lens at ISO 1600. I was out in the evening hoping to catch a Draconid meteor but to no avail. Still, with a few passing thin clouds I was able to capture the beauty of this part of our galaxy. North is to the left, south to the right. (click on the image for a larger view)

Comments or questions are always welcomed (well, as least nice ones)!