If you look at my Crescent “Nebula” images from last June when I really
started, you’ll see just how bad I really am! There are only two images so far
that I consider “nice”. But I feel I’m ever so slightly better today than back
then. Although I forgot to check my focus again last night before starting the
imaging run! So I still make that mistake! But I did catch it after the first
image came in.
And focusing turns out to be a lot harder than everyone makes it sound: "Well,
just minimize the FWHM. It’s that simple.” What they don’t tell you is the
reading will bounce around from 0.3 (a sharp star) to 2.2 (a donut) from frame
to frame. And every time you touch the focus knob jitters the whole thing! So
you kind of end up telling yourself this set of random numbers feels a little
lower on average than the previous set of random numbers so I must have turned
the knob in the right direction. Hopefully!
Anyway, my point is there’s a lot of assumed knowledge in the literature and
the forums. So please don’t feel you’re interrupting to ask questions, to rant
about what went wrong last night, or to share your successes and failures. I
probably don’t know the answer to most of your questions but I’ll share what I
think might be happening.
Besides, this forum seems to be mostly me ranting about what went wrong the
night before and Bernard posting beautiful images to keep us motivated. And
until they all vote to kick me out for boring them, I’m going to keep talking
about my journey.
Mike McDonald
mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Mar 17, 2019, at 2:31 PM, Diane Hakala <diane.hakala8033@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ok Mike! Thanks for the encouragement. But I’m way behind. I just got an RI2
for video to get my feet wet and learn some concepts. I just don’t want to
interrupt. Just know that I’m lurking and loving all your pics and
information!
Diane
On Mar 17, 2019, at 2:19 PM, Michael McDonald <mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
No! Don’t go away! Us newbies need to stick together! :-)
I’ve only be doing this astrophotography thing for 7-8 months now. This
month’s Messier Marathon will be my second time I’ve taken my rig out of the
backyard! The first time was last October for the All Arizona Star Party. I
got nothing out of my telescope on that trip due to one blunder after
another on my part. I did get one image of the Pleiades taken with my Canon
DSLR and a 200mm lens on a StarAdventurer “mount”. It actually has a bit of
blue nebulosity in it, a first for me! I considered the trip a resounding
success! Astrophotography is teaching me to count my “wins” wherever and
however I can! :-)
You can see just how new I am by looking at my (bad!) images here:
http://www.mikemac.com/Astrophotos/ ;<http://www.mikemac.com/Astrophotos/>
Mike McDonald
mikemac@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Mar 17, 2019, at 1:28 PM, Diane Hakala <diane.hakala8033@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Bernard,
You don’t know me. I’m in the Phoenix Astro Society, and am just
investigating astrophotography. I just wanted to say thanks; this is very
helpful information. I’ll go away now :-)
Diane
