Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Had a nice clear sky last night, so I went out to try some shots of the 'conjunction' - is this close enough to qualify as a conjunction?

Anyway, I didn't actually use my new lens. This was with the kit 18-55 on my T4i - it has the tilting screen which the 7D doesn't.

I shot in full M, and took a bunch of shots, varying ISO, shutter speed and aperture. Most of them are half-way decent. This is a SOOC jpeg, as I haven't had a chance to start messing with the raw files, and wanted to post *something* here instead of just comments on other people's pics.

Let's see... The top left object is Jupiter, way far away on the other side of the sun. The moon is over-exposed in this shot. On the right, we have Venus, hanging very prettily below Castor & Pollux, the twins of Gemini. The bright star below the moon is Procyon, although I was embarrassed not to be able to name it for a guy who came looking.

As you can see, I am far from a dark site. This was taken in the parking lot of a little church, right across the street from me. There are 2 'streetlights' which I have to carefully shade from the lens, but otherwise it worked pretty well.

As well as dozens of this grouping, I also managed to grab some shots of Ursa Major, which was almost directly overhead. I was amazed at how well this all worked - last time I tried, it was bitterly cold, and I just couldn't get anything to work right. Having Venus to use for focus was very helpful, as most of the stars were invisible in the screen. I used Live View, and magnified the image, then just adjusted focus until the 'circle' was at its smallest. Haven't dug too deeply yet, but the stars seem pretty dotty to me. There didn't seem to be any problem with rotation either, at exposures up to 30 seconds.

I welcome any comments, but be gentle with me! I'm new at this... :lol:

Edit: there are 3 star images between the twins and Venus which are not in my original... Not sure how, but the upload process seems to have added them...

The big triangle

(Download)

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

Nice job!

Very pleasing image.

I see some flare from the lights, but I kinda like the added interest :-)

I also like the planes you caught, not jump in your face and slap you obvious, but there to keep your interest :-D

And, just think it is just getting into the weather conditions to do more of this and even get the Milky Way!
:-)

GT

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Nice, Bloke!

And so it begins....
That slippery slope that will drag you into yet more GAS.
You're on your way.

Now for some Star Trails (Free Software) with your new wide angle.
Once you try that you will want an Intervalometer to run the camera taking shots. (But they are inexpensive.)
If you ever want to sleep a full nights sleep again turn back now.

Welcome to the Insomniac Lounge! :-D

BTW, it looks like you have some nice ground composition to work with. But stacking would bring it out as bright as day. Maybe blow out some of it.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Thanks. This was about the brightest of the shots. Not sure what you mean about planes, though. There were a few about while I was busy, but I don't see any in this shot.

I just did some checking, and those 3 'extra' stars *are* in my original, but in most of the exposures they are barely visible. I just checked Stellarium, and they *are* real stars. I was worried that they were some kind of artifact or something.

Got to admit, I had a blast with this last night! I really want to work with the milky way, but it doesn't come up until around 1AM for another month or two. I am not really a night owl... These ones were all shot between about 9:30 and 11. Plus, I would really like to find a darker site, where I am not worrying about street lights and car headlights and stuff. Although, having said that, I now know that I can get results in as little as 10 seconds, without boosting ISO to noisy levels. Most of the time last night I was at 200...

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Thanks. I am not too sure about taking star trails... I would rather do a time-lapse of the stars moving. I already have an intervalometer for the T4i. That is definitely the best camera for this job, as working without the moving screen would really be a pain in the neck! Plus, it means I am not putting thousands of shots on the new 7D, so win-win!

Most of the other shots, which I will be posting ad nauseam, don't show as much ground. Earlier on, I was shooting pretty much just sky. I had actually taken a break from this group, and done some of the Plough, or Great Bear, or whatever cultural name works for you. I was tiring, and I just set up this final shot to close with.

Like I said, this is a long way from being a dark sky site, but I was standing literally about 100 yards from where I sit right now. Given that I am not a late night person, there is something to be said for being right here, and not having to drive back home from darksville...

I am really stunned with how well some of these turned out. I obviously don't have the reach of a scope, or the tracking mount, but it turns out I don't even need the 10-18mm. Of course, it will be real useful in general constellation work.

It sucks that we get such dark nights so early on Winter evenings, when it is painful to stand there shivering. It was a bit cool last night, probably around 50-something, but not unpleasant. I threw on a jacket, and I was standing there for over an hour all told. I just have to wait until it is so late to do it! I want to work with the Milky Way, but it would be early morning before it rises. By July, it will be coming up a decent hour, but it will be lighter even later... *Sigh*

Ok, I couldn't resist... Here is another one from last night. Again, jpeg SOOC. There are some versions of this with much higher ISO/longer exposures to bring out more of the field stars, but I like this one. M81 (the Whirlpool) is theoretically in there, but I can't see it in any of them. The surface brightness is too low, I guess. Oh, and seeing just *where* it is in the sky, I now understand why there has been such a rash of photos taken of it recently. It was pretty much straight up!

Ursa Major

(Download)

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

I circled the 2 planes that I found.

It looks like you captured Paesepe (open cluster) too!

The Milky Way is getting higher every day, pretty soon it'll be in your sweet spot! :-)

From your locale, it looks like Tuscarora State Forest gives you nice dark skies to the South. Although I have NO idea what the area is like :-) Maybe you can get some images to share :-) :-)

GT

(Download)

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Nice work Bloke,
Craig

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Ok, I see the planes now. I hadn't noticed them before. There were a few buzzing around while I was busy, but most of them didn't come through my field of view.

Not sure about Praesepe, though. It is in the field of view, but I really can't make it out. My monitor is between 2 windows which both have bright sun streaming in, so I don't have the greatest view right now.

There are several state forests around, but if I get into the trees enough to get away from headlights, I think the trees will block most of the view. Also, there are so many little towns around here, there is *always* at least one polluting the sky with their streetlights. I think the glow on the horizon there is from Greencastle, which is about 6 miles away, but there are several smaller 'districts' between here and there. I had a friend who's back yard had a great sightline, if not exactly out of town. I had her permission to just drive up at some strange hour of the night and set my stuff up. She just sold up and moved out of state a couple of weeks ago!

I'm going to be doing some looking. At least I know I can get some results from here if need be!

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

It's encouraging when you get better results than you were expecting!

I have Los Angeles to my South :-(

I have to drive a long way to get away from the light pollution of 11,000,000 people! :-/

Great job and keep it up!

GT

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I live 170 miles from LA and have to deal with it's LP (light pollution) to the South East too.
Craig

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Nice Shot before I go any further.
I live in Albuquerque and I would love to have the sky I see in your shot. I cannot see the Milky Way at all and have to drive a minimum of 20 miles just to see it. I can see Ursa major but not much of Ursa Minor.
I think you will be able to get some nice shots once you get settled in.
Very nice first post and as Sonny pointed out, beware of GAS.
;)

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

LOL

me thinks it is too late for him!

I KNOW it's too late for me :-D

GT

GTinSoCal Loc: Palmdale, CA

I can't "see" the Milky Way from here either, but the camera catches more than the eye can see! ;-)

If anybody wants to come out for the Perseid meteor shower this year, I have a group site at Joshua Tree :-D

GT

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

""If anybody wants to come out for the Perseid meteor shower this year, I have a group site at Joshua Tree""
Keep me in mind, it is always foggy in Aug here at the Central Coast.
The Moon will be a little problem in it's last quarter. But right now I'm game GT. And Sonny lives out there too.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

We don't have anything as big as LA around here, but there just seems to be little towns and villages every mile or two... When I lived in Delaware, there was a park a few miles out of town, and except for the lights from the town itself to the East, all other directions were pretty dark. Didn't have a camera back then, but spent many hours in a lawn chair with a pair or binoculars.

I did a bit of work on my stuff from last night, and on a couple of the raw files I *can* see Praesepe. It's not exactly obvious, and I probably wouldn't even have noticed it. I can also see that even on the 10 second exposures, I am getting some trailing from the stars. You have to zoom in pretty close to see it, but it's there. I took so many variations of length, ISO and aperture, I really need to study them to see what combination gave the best results.

The biggest problem most times will probably be focusing. Last night it was easy, with Venus and the moon just hanging out there. When I was trying for my U. Maj. shots, though, I couldn't see *anything* on the LCD screen. I had to take a couple of test shots, and keep adjusting the camera position - which is why it isn't exactly central on the frame. I guess I would have to take test shots like that to close in on focus, before even figuring out what I am looking at.