Two Galaxies

[Big V]

Took these two shots last night, M83 is a total of 100 minutes and Centauris A is a total of 40 minutes. Each was done with 10 minute exposures at 800 ISO on a 20 inch telescope with a focal length of 4000mm and using the 1DMK111

[biggerry]

yeah i'm jealous! nice pictures....looks like the real thing

[Mr Darcy]

That's one serious telephoto "lens" you have, Great shots. Can't help feeling I'd like a bit more saturation in the first one though.

[robert]

great shots- some of the best i've seen even those over on "ice in space"

I'm still waiting for a good second hand scope to come up, although 20" is beyond my budget!!

Robert

[Frankenstein]

Gorgeous images, truly beautiful.
(I'm actually watching rerun of Lost In Space right now - don't ask why)

Frank

[DebT]

Simply Sensational
DebT

[Marvin]

Great shots Virgs! When are you coming to Canada?

[radar]

fantastic shots, love them both.

André

[colin_12]

These are great as always Big V.
Nice and clear.

[Big V]

Greg, I cant get any more colour out of this as my camera is not modified for deep sky - I simply cant justify hacking a 6 grand camera body to get a little bit of red H alpha light and then not to be able to use it as it was intended. I enjoy pushing the limits with these cameras and given they were never designed for this type of work I am more than happy with the results. As a side note a friend of mine has had his 40D modified and it cost 1200 dollars for the cooling unit, 200 dollars for the infra red filter removed and replaced with the filter that allows a bit more H alpha light through it. This cost more than the camera body and it cant be used during daylight nor can the cooler be used without mains power! Does it give good results? Well certainly better than an unmodified camera does. Is it worth it, well in the long run they all go and buy a dedicated astronomical camera like the SBIG range and he has just placed an order for one - cost 9 grand for something you can only hang off the back of a telescope but boy oh boy do they give great images.

[Raskill]

What great shots! I really enjoy your astrophotography shots. Thanks for posting!

[latch]

Yes, these are lovely shots. I've always wanted to try astrophotography, but it seems that the equipment required is even more expensive than ordinary photography!

[surenj]

Nicely done! personally I like the star trail photos better although I realise these are technically harder to produce.

[Big V]

mmmm now there is a thought - might try and combine the 2 techniques

[andy]

Beautifully inspiring work.

[surenj]

mmmm now there is a thought - might try and combine the 2 techniques

Maybe you could switch off the rotator thingee that's used to keep the camera in position?