On 8 Jan 2024, at 20:20, Marco Alpert marco@alpert.com wrote:

M33 Galaxy in Triangulum: https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia: https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg

NGC 1499 California Nebula in Perseus: https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu

On Jan 8, 2024, at 12:20 PM, Marco Alpert marco@alpert.com wrote:

Although this has absolutely nothing to do with Pentax, since Larry brought up astro-imaging, I can’t resist showing the initial results of something that has really reenergized my passion for astronomy. Although I’ve owned a couple of really nice telescopes since the early 90s (which were great for visual observation when I lived on top of a not-too-light-polluted hill and could just roll the scopes out to the driveway to observe), since we moved to the Sacramento area, the combination of light pollution (around Bortle 7 for anyone who knows what that means), and the increasing difficulty of lugging them out to set up had pretty much ended observation for me (and I was never particularly interested in the intricacies of astrophotography).

Then, a few months ago, I acquired a small, inexpensive, “robotic” scope for what is called EAA (electronically assisted astronomy) that promises the ability to visually observe in light-polluted areas (albeit on the screen of a phone or tablet) as well as offer much simplified photography. Here are a few of my first results:

M33 Galaxy in Triangulum: https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia: https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg

NGC 1499 California Nebula in Perseus: https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu

This little gizmo has only a 50mm (~2 in) objective (which is tiny for deep sky objects) and has the ability, controlled by a phone or tablet, to automatically find and slew to whatever object you tell it to and begin taking a series of 10 second exposures. Let it keep doing this as long as you want and watch the object appear on the phone or tablet with more and more detail as the successive exposures are stacked and processed. I did do some post-processing on these, but as I have exactly zero experience with astrophotography, it’s pretty primitive compared to what’s possible.

So, a telescope with a built-in computer-controlled alt/az mount, a digital astro-camera, auto-focuser, dew heater, multiple filters, small carbon-fiber tripod and a fairly nice case, for about $500.

We truly live in the future.

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Although this has absolutely nothing to do with Pentax, since Larry brought up astro-imaging, I can’t resist showing the initial results of something that has really reenergized my passion for astronomy. Although I’ve owned a couple of really nice telescopes since the early 90s (which were great for visual observation when I lived on top of a not-too-light-polluted hill and could just roll the scopes out to the driveway to observe), since we moved to the Sacramento area, the combination of light pollution (around Bortle 7 for anyone who knows what that means), and the increasing difficulty of lugging them out to set up had pretty much ended observation for me (and I was never particularly interested in the intricacies of astrophotography).

Then, a few months ago, I acquired a small, inexpensive, “robotic” scope for what is called EAA (electronically assisted astronomy) that promises the ability to visually observe in light-polluted areas (albeit on the screen of a phone or tablet) as well as offer much simplified photography. Here are a few of my first results:

M33 Galaxy in Triangulum:https://flic.kr/p/2pgYEEb

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia:https://flic.kr/p/2prm5Qg

NGC 1499 California Nebula in Perseus:https://flic.kr/p/2prkrFu

This little gizmo has only a 50mm (~2 in) objective (which is tiny for deep sky objects) and has the ability, controlled by a phone or tablet, to automatically find and slew to whatever object you tell it to and begin taking a series of 10 second exposures. Let it keep doing this as long as you want and watch the object appear on the phone or tablet with more and more detail as the successive exposures are stacked and processed. I did do some post-processing on these, but as I have exactly zero experience with astrophotography, it’s pretty primitive compared to what’s possible.

So, a telescope with a built-in computer-controlled alt/az mount, a digital astro-camera, auto-focuser, dew heater, multiple filters, small carbon-fiber tripod and a fairly nice case, for about $500.

We truly live in the future.

%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email topdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.