Anyone into Stargazing / Astrophotography etc?

UncouthJ

UncouthJ

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Decided I need something to pillage my wallet for sleepless nights.
I've browsed around some forums but they're nowhere near as good as ours... Wondered if anyone here might be able to share some knowledge etc.
Ta muchly
UJ
 
Just started a month or so ago, so not much wisdom to impart, but happy to chat about it!
 
What kit are you using? I only have a little temu scope ATM, essentially a toy. But I have my eye on a celestron nexstar once I've sold some kit to pay for it
ATB
UJ
 
I managed to get a pretty good view of Jupiter during the planetary parade. Unfortunately the scope didn't come with the phone mount it was supposed to, so couldn't get any pics
 
Always look up if outside but not with a telescope or anything.
Saw that amazing Northern Lights display a little while back, saw incredible night skies and stars while in Australia recently. No light pollution and very clear skies, there were absolutely millions of stars visible to the naked eye. It's not bad where I live but not a patch on there.
Tonight I saw what turns out to be fuel dumped from Musk's latest jaunt. All over FB now which is just as well because I was completely baffled by what I was seeing. I have seen his satellites being launched several times too. All just by chance.
 
I bought my son a SeeStar S50 for his birthday in February, so I have been trying to learn enough to try and keep one step ahead of him.
 
This was the first photo we took... Its the Orion Nebula
Stacked_20_M 42_10.0s_LP_20250205-201808.jpg
 
Its a smart scope called the SeeStar S50, its controlled via an app on your phone or tablet. I knew nothing about astronomy, so decided that my son who wanted to learn, needed to not be held back by my inability to help him, so a smart scope seemed the best option to get him started.
 
The basic idea is that you select an object from the catalog then the scope moves to it and starts taking photos and tracking it as it moves through the night sky. Then it stacks all of the images together to decide whats actual data and what is noise, so the more photos you take the better the final image becomes.
 
UncouthJ said:
Decided I need something to pillage my wallet for sleepless nights.
I've browsed around some forums but they're nowhere near as good as ours... Wondered if anyone here might be able to share some knowledge etc.
Ta muchly
UJ
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Have a look on "Stargazers Lounge" (UK) or "Cloudy Nights" (USA) forums. Both are excellent.
 
So the first photo of the Orion nebula was about 10 images stacked together, the tadpoles was over 2000. Some people stack over 10,000 images and they start looking proper professional to my untrained eye! My son wants to be able make postcards to send to relatives scattered around the country, so the images don't need to be that amazing, but hopefully he will keep learning more and more about space, photography and digital image processing all through one hobby.
 
IanA said:
Its a smart scope called the SeeStar S50, its controlled via an app on your phone or tablet. I knew nothing about astronomy, so decided that my son who wanted to learn, needed to not be held back by my inability to help him, so a smart scope seemed the best option to get him started.
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Oh I didn't realise the see star actually took photos as well, awesome!
 
Check out Astrobiscuit on youtube, he's got some cool videos on astrophotography and I find him really quite entertaining.

I did look into doing some astro stuff a while ago, but I really don't need another hobby that'd see me standing in a field at silly hours of the morning 🤣🤣. Plus the cost vs our weather on the west coast of Scotland just didn't really add up for me. I'm in bortle 9 skies at home too, so anything would really need a field trip out of the central belt.

AstroBackyard was pretty informative for gear, though he's in the states. There was an Auzzie guy that was pretty funny too, but can't remember that channel.
 
weepete said:
Check out Astrobiscuit on youtube, he's got some cool videos on astrophotography and I find him really quite entertaining.

I did look into doing some astro stuff a while ago, but I really don't need another hobby that'd see me standing in a field at silly hours of the morning 🤣🤣. Plus the cost vs our weather on the west coast of Scotland just didn't really add up for me. I'm in bortle 9 skies at home too, so anything would really need a field trip out of the central belt.

AstroBackyard was pretty informative for gear, though he's in the states. There was an Auzzie guy that was pretty funny too, but can't remember that channel.
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Yes I've seen some of those, very good resources.
I'm having another go at packing in the booze, so sleep is about to become an unpredictable quantity. I can't run the workshop or shoot in the wee hours so need to find something else...
 
I do my own form of astronomy with a pair of 10x50 binos, just pop out now and then.
Earlier I could see Venus, Jupiter and Mars. Planets not so good for binos, need a good scope but I can't be bothered with one.
Very good at the moment, as well as the planets you'll get a good view of Orion and the Orion nebula. You can see Sirius the Dog Star and the Seven Sisters. I try to find Andromeda too.
But mostly I like to lie on my recliner during meteor periods with a bottle of whisky ;)
Once during a warm August night/morning I was watching meteors somewhat inebriated. I fell asleep holding my glass, next thing I know I get a face full of said whisky, waking me at 4am :)
 
Steve636 said:
I do my own form of astronomy with a pair of 10x50 binos, just pop out now and then.
Earlier I could see Venus, Jupiter and Mars. Planets not so good for binos, need a good scope but I can't be bothered with one.
Very good at the moment, as well as the planets you'll get a good view of Orion and the Orion nebula. You can see Sirius the Dog Star and the Seven Sisters. I try to find Andromeda too.
But mostly I like to lie on my recliner during meteor periods with a bottle of whisky ;)
Once during a warm August night/morning I was watching meteors somewhat inebriated. I fell asleep holding my glass, next thing I know I get a face full of said whisky, waking me at 4am :)
Click to expand...
Love sprawling out in the field watching the showers!
 
IanA said:
Its a smart scope called the SeeStar S50, its controlled via an app on your phone or tablet. I knew nothing about astronomy, so decided that my son who wanted to learn, needed to not be held back by my inability to help him, so a smart scope seemed the best option to get him started.
Click to expand...
They are impressive images for a relatively modest outlay...
Did you do all the image processing on your phone or a tablet too?
 
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