Colours of the Night Sky The Amateur Digital

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Colours of the Night Sky The Amateur Digital Astrophotography Piotr Fita Warsaw University, Faculty

Colours of the Night Sky The Amateur Digital Astrophotography Piotr Fita Warsaw University, Faculty of Physics, The Optics Lab The Astronomical Club ALMUCANTARAT This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein translated by Robert M. Sadowski Logo designed by Armella Leung, www. armella. fr. to

What Do We Make Photos of the Night Sky for? • To see more

What Do We Make Photos of the Night Sky for? • To see more • To see in colours • To record the rare events Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

What Can We Make the Photos of the Sky with? With anything we have

What Can We Make the Photos of the Sky with? With anything we have at hand! • The digital compact photocamera • The SLR photocamera (either digital or standard) • The webcamera Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

Digital Compact Photocamera Specifications The simplest model The best model Maximal exposure time ½s

Digital Compact Photocamera Specifications The simplest model The best model Maximal exposure time ½s 10 min Maximal sensitivity (film speed) ISO 100 ISO 400 Maximal aperture size 4 1, 5 Focal length (equivalent to the 36 mm picture format) 35 mm 28 -200 mm 38 -350 mm PRICE ~ € 125 ~ € 500 Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the constellations Olympus C-5060 WZ Festiwal Nauki

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the constellations Olympus C-5060 WZ Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the Moon and planets Canon Powershot A

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the Moon and planets Canon Powershot A 20 with telescope of F = 900 mm Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the rare events Venus in transit across

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the rare events Venus in transit across the solar disc, June 8, 2004 r Canon Powershot A 20 with telescope of author’s own design Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the big star clusters The open star

Digital Compact Photocamera Applications • Photography of the big star clusters The open star cluster Praesepe Olympus C-5060 WZ Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba And many other… Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

The SLR Photocamera (either digital or standard) Maximal exposure time Anyone Maximal sensitivity (film

The SLR Photocamera (either digital or standard) Maximal exposure time Anyone Maximal sensitivity (film speed) 1600 ASA It may have attached lens of any type or be directly attached to the telescope PRICES: Standard SLR camera : € 12 -50 film 1600 ASA: € 10 Digital SLR camera: > € 600 , But this is the best tool for astrophotography! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

The SLR Photocamera (either digital or standard) Applicable to photography of all objects, even

The SLR Photocamera (either digital or standard) Applicable to photography of all objects, even the nebulae The nebulae in Orion The „North America” nebulosity Standard SLR camera EXA Ib Digital SLR camera Canon EOS 300 D The Zenit 135 mm telephoto lens Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita, Andrzej Rzepecki The Astronomical Club Almucantara

The Webcamera In connection with a telescope or photo lens allows to take pictures

The Webcamera In connection with a telescope or photo lens allows to take pictures of the Sun, the Moon, and the planets Festiwal Nauki 2005 Phot. M. Marszałek, E. Chludziński, A. Dwornik, R. Konieczny, G. Mikołajczyk, A. Rzepecki, M. Tokarski, A. Urbańska, W. Warkocki, R. Zięba, The Astronomical Club ALMUCANTARAT Barwy nocnego nieba

The Webcamera After modification allowing for the long exposures it is also suitable to

The Webcamera After modification allowing for the long exposures it is also suitable to take pictures of the nebular objects Festiwal Nauki 2005 Phot. M. Marszałek, P. Fita, N. Domińczak A. Majcher, M. Nowakowski, W. Rutkowski, A. Urbańska, R. Zięba Barwy nocnego nieba The Astronomical Club Almucantarat

The Webcamera Total cost: Camera: ~ € 25 Modification: ~ € 12 (the Philips

The Webcamera Total cost: Camera: ~ € 25 Modification: ~ € 12 (the Philips cameras only) Adapters: € 10 PLN Lens: up from € 9 Very economical method! but the laptop is recommended! http: //ccd. astronet. pl Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1 – the simplest In

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1 – the simplest In the main focus of the fixed camera Or „just so…” Advantages: • Simplicity • Saving time • Minimal efforts and expenses Shortcomings: • The blurred star-tracks at the long exposures • Weak objects may remain unrecorded Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Let’s go: Method 1 – the

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Let’s go: Method 1 – the simplest 1. Mount the camera on a tripod 2. Set up manually distance scale to infinity (in the simple digital cameras use the „landscape” mode) 3. Set up the lowest aperture number, the exposure time for a few or even for some tens of seconds, and high sensitivity (film speed) of ISO 200 -400 4. In order to avoid vibrations release the shutter by a remote control cablean electronic pilot, or by a mean of a self-shutter The results? Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1– the simplest Disappointed? The

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1– the simplest Disappointed? The stars are too small? No colours? Let’s make the stars blurred! Olympus C-5060 WZ, focused for the wide range (f = 28 mm) exposure 15 s Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

How to make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1 – the simplest Lyra

How to make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1 – the simplest Lyra Cygnus Sagitta Delphinus Aquila Olympus C-5060 WZ, focused for the wide range, f = 28 mm, ekspozycja 15 s Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba fot. Piotr Fita Klub Astronomiczny Almukantarat

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1 – the simplest How

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 1 – the simplest How to choose the focal length? To make pictures of the constellations f = 28 -200 mm is sufficient While To obtain photos of the Moon, the Sun (with filter only!), and planets The focal length above is required 500 mm Hence the reflex (SLR) camera is indispensable! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 - more difficult Win

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 - more difficult Win the so-called afocal projection, i. e. with camera directly touching the eye-piece lens (of a telescope, psy-glass, binocular…) Advantages: • Big magnification with compact camera • Low expenses Shortcomings: • Worse picture quality than in the main focal plane • Method more complicated than photography in the main focus Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Let’ go: Method 2 - more

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Let’ go: Method 2 - more difficult 1. Set up manually distance scale to infinity (in the simple digital cameras use the „landscape” mode); 2. Aim the telescope (a spy-glass or binocular on tripod) at the chosen object; 3. Apply (attach) a camera to telescope’s eye-piece; 4. Focus the image carefully with the telescope’s eye-piece control screw while observing it at the camera display (or in the viewfinder of the SLR camera); 5. Release the shutter; 6. The focal length, aperture size, and exposure time have to be found experimentally. Results? Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

How to make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 – more difficult Partial

How to make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 – more difficult Partial Solar eclipse, May 31, 2003 Canon Powershot A 20 + spy-glass with magnification 12 x Phot. Piotr Fita Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba The Astronomical Club Almucantara

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 – more difficult Canon

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 – more difficult Canon Powershot A 20 + telescope of 27 cm diametre and focal length 4. 5 m Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita, Agata Karska The Astronomical Club Almucantara

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 – more difficult Helpful

How to Make a Photo of the Sky? Method 2 – more difficult Helpful advices: • To attach a camera to any telescope it is useful to buy (to do it yourself) the special sleeve (F-adapter); • In compact cameras with zoom lens the longest focal lengths (tele) should be set up; • The camera’s lens has to touch the eye-piece of a telescope. Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

With, or Without Tracking? The Earth’s rotation Apparent diurnal movement of the celestial sphere

With, or Without Tracking? The Earth’s rotation Apparent diurnal movement of the celestial sphere The blurred traces of stars on the pictures with long exposure time Only bright objects cab be seen on the pictures with short exposure time Exposure time 13 min Exposure time 15 s Taking pictures of the weak objects requires tracking the camera along the diurnal movement of the sky fot. Piotr Fita Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Klub Astronomiczny Almukantarat

With or Without Tracking? Without tracking Festiwal Nauki 2005 With tracking Barwy nocnego nieba

With or Without Tracking? Without tracking Festiwal Nauki 2005 With tracking Barwy nocnego nieba

With or Without Tracking? The mount with tracking can be: • Done by yourself

With or Without Tracking? The mount with tracking can be: • Done by yourself Vademecum of the Amateur Astronomer, Internet – the „barn door” type mount • Purchased Meade, Celestron, Orion, Uniwersał Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

With or Without Tracking? Drive Hand Electric Mechanic Digital (Orion, Uniwersał) (Meade, Celestron) For

With or Without Tracking? Drive Hand Electric Mechanic Digital (Orion, Uniwersał) (Meade, Celestron) For the astrophotography purposes the mount has to be equatorial (paralactic), and not azimuthal! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

The Computer Picture Processing The computer picture processing makes up to 70% of the

The Computer Picture Processing The computer picture processing makes up to 70% of the digital astrophotography! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

The Computer Picture Processing Golden rule of the digital astrophotography: Take as many as

The Computer Picture Processing Golden rule of the digital astrophotography: Take as many as possible identical photos and add them all together 20 photos by 15 secs each = one photo exposed by 5 minuts! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

The Computer Picture Processing Golden rule of the digital astrophotography: Take as many as

The Computer Picture Processing Golden rule of the digital astrophotography: Take as many as possible identical photos and add them all together Advantages: • Noise reduction • Increasing sensitivity • Pictures with long effective exposure time with no tracking! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba IRIS

Superposing × 23 Adding Visualization Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita,

Superposing × 23 Adding Visualization Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita, Andrzej Rzepecki The Astronomical Club Almucantara

Visualization • Blurring the star images • Removing the background • Lowering the contrast

Visualization • Blurring the star images • Removing the background • Lowering the contrast • Sharpening the pictures of the Moon and planets Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

Correction Removing the dark frame single exposure dark frame = Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy

Correction Removing the dark frame single exposure dark frame = Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

Correction Removing the dark frame Galaxies M 81 and M 82 Festiwal Nauki 2005

Correction Removing the dark frame Galaxies M 81 and M 82 Festiwal Nauki 2005 Webcamera with F = 50 mm lens Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

Correction The blurred pictures Richardson – Lucy’s algorithm The Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) Festiwal

Correction The blurred pictures Richardson – Lucy’s algorithm The Little Dipper (Ursa Minor) Festiwal Nauki 2005 The standard SLR camera with F = 135 mm lens Phot. Piotr Fita Barwy nocnego nieba The Astronomical Club Almucantara

Correction Removing the regular structures Filtering with help of the Fourier transform M 31

Correction Removing the regular structures Filtering with help of the Fourier transform M 31 Galaxy The webcamera with F = 135 mm lens, photo made in the B band Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba Phot. Piotr Fita The Astronomical Club Almucantara

How To Do It? Superposing Adding Visualization Correction and many other options… The IRIS

How To Do It? Superposing Adding Visualization Correction and many other options… The IRIS program http: //www. astrosurf. org/buil/us/iris. htm IRIS is freeware! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

Other programs • Astrostack http: //www. astrostack. com/ • Tele. Auto http: //www. teleauto.

Other programs • Astrostack http: //www. astrostack. com/ • Tele. Auto http: //www. teleauto. org/index. En. php Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

Knowledge • A webpage dedicated for the digital astrophotography: http: //ccd. astronet. pl •

Knowledge • A webpage dedicated for the digital astrophotography: http: //ccd. astronet. pl • „The CCD Observatory at School” (incl. A practical manual of IRIS program) http: //www. cft. edu. pl/~tomsow/ccd_pl. pdf • Homepage of the EU-HOU Project http: //www. cft. edu. pl/astro/ Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

Shopping • Delta Optical http: //www. deltaoptical. com. pl • Astrokrak http: //www. astrokrak.

Shopping • Delta Optical http: //www. deltaoptical. com. pl • Astrokrak http: //www. astrokrak. pl • Uniwersał http: //www. universe. com. pl • Website i-sales Allegro http: //www. allegro. pl Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba

You can take nice photos of the sky almost with any camera! Good Luck!

You can take nice photos of the sky almost with any camera! Good Luck! Festiwal Nauki 2005 Barwy nocnego nieba