Algol Loc: Georgia

Here we come to the extreme depths of the solar system. Saturn at almost a billion miles away. Uranus and it's moons at 2 billion miles distant and finally Neptune and it's moon Triton at over 3 billion miles away.

Saturn


Uranus Aug. 8, 2004


Uranus Sep. 11, 2004


Neptune

globetrekker Loc: Bend, OR

I guess DOF not a concern at those distances. lol

Thanks for posting.

Algol Loc: Georgia

Reckon not, ha, ha, but on a more sober side, when the Voyager Spacecraft made it;s flyby of Neptune, the scientists had to increase the exposure for the on-board cameras. Seems like even in broad daylight there wasn't enough light from the sun for the normal exposure range. Then they had to program the camera to stay centered on the planet as it moved through space during it's flyby. Now to make matters worse, the radio signal from over 3 billion miles out becomes so diluted due to the extreme distance that it's strength was less than a 3 watt light bulb! Then, to compound matters even worse they (scientists) had to retrofit their computers as they had advanced here on earth but the on-board computer was still decades old. And to think we as astrophotographers have such problems as we have, I salute the scientists at JPL and NASA.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Nice... Saturn is always a wonderful sight!

Algol Loc: Georgia

Thank you Bloke for the comment and looking at my images.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

One of the astro shots I found the most amazing, was the photograph of Curiosity taken as it was zooming down towards the surface of Mars, shot from an orbiting satellite just as the chute was opening! Talk about exact timing...!

janko Loc: coastal Maine

Algol,
Thanks for the posting. I only have an 8 inch Dobsonian. Hope to move up someday but I still enjoy observing.
Best regards,
Janko

satcomsta Loc: SoCal

Algol, that almost make me feel like tearing down the gazebo and rise up with a bigger telescope. Man those images are amazing. Thank you for sharing. And for the knowledge you share.