MY TOYS

Was that you waving with the two fingers stuck up, Jiffy??

 

Hi Fern, well, at the moment I'm enjoying just visual astronomy as the field of astronomy is huge and there are a lot of Stars, Nebulas, Galaxy's, Meteors, Comets and Planets to find and gaze in awe at. Also, I find I need "this and that" accessory, [just like photography], to improve viewing and help with the problems you can get while viewing, so it's slowly, slowly, catchee Monkey, as I learn and understand how to use the Telescopes properly. The great thing is that, like on GC, the members of Astronomy Forums are "down to Earth"[pun intended] and answer the daft questions I ask quite happily.
You're right, I do enjoy photography a lot and have been doing it for too many years to mention without embarrassing myself. I could take images with all the Telescopes using my Pentax K5 DSLR, but at the moment I find I'm enjoying just peering through the eyepiece and going
I have a feeling though, that possibly next year, when I've got more knowledge soaked in my brain about Astronomy, Cosmology, etc that I might contemplate astro-photography. If I do, that would mean using what most amateur astronomers use which is a CCD [coupled charge device] camera specially made for astronomy rather than my DSLR. They come in two "flavours", Monochrome and Colour. Most experienced astronomers use the Monochrome type as that type is more sensitive to light than the colour type.
That's where things get complicated as, should you wish to turn the black and white image to colour, and most people do [and just use the monochrome camera to gain the light sensitivity], then you have to use colour filters of Red, Green and Blue, taking shots with each colour and then turn to the Computer to start processing them into one image. Astro-photography is a huge learning curve and is, again, addictive to those hooked on it. But the downside to it is that people seem to spend more time on the computer, processing images, stacking images, layering, interpreting how the image should look rather than being transported to the Stars by the Telescope Most of the images we see from NASA are processed images taken from digital information sent by the satellites and probes and are given "false" colours to present to the Public.
So I might get a colour CCD camera and, despite them being slightly less sensitive, settle for being able to take one shot in colour with possibly a longer exposure time without having to spend too much time on the computer. But, if I do, I'll be showing the shots on here to see what people think. I've got a fair number of books on astronomy, astro-photography, technical books on telescopes and equipment so I'm reading, asking questions, and learning as I go along, and it's fascinating!!. But, every time I look through the Telescope or stop reading one of the books I realise how insignificant I am and how small and fragile Earth is in this constantly changing Universe of ours.

 

Astrology and Astronomy are totally different subjects, mrtibbs!!! I've been browsing through the Astronomy Forums and seen people being banned from the site because they've asked or a raised an Astrology question/subject because Astronomers only believe in Facts rather than Mythology and don't like any connection of the two. Having said that Astrologers use the Constellations to locate Stars, Galaxys and Nebulas because they're known areas of the skies.

 

Hi longk, Fern asked near enough the same question on the previous page:

Hi Fern, well, at the moment I'm enjoying just visual astronomy as the field of astronomy is huge and there are a lot of Stars, Nebulas, Galaxy's, Meteors, Comets and Planets to find and gaze in awe at. Also, I find I need "this and that" accessory, [just like photography], to improve viewing and help with the problems you can get while viewing, so it's slowly, slowly, catchee Monkey, as I learn and understand how to use the Telescopes properly. The great thing is that, like on GC, the members of Astronomy Forums are "down to Earth"[pun intended] and answer the daft questions I ask quite happily.
You're right, I do enjoy photography a lot and have been doing it for too many years to mention without embarrassing myself. I could take images with all the Telescopes using my Pentax K5 DSLR, but at the moment I find I'm enjoying just peering through the eyepiece and going
I have a feeling though, that possibly next year, when I've got more knowledge soaked in my brain about Astronomy, Cosmology, etc that I might contemplate astro-photography. If I do, that would mean using what most amateur astronomers use which is a CCD [coupled charge device] camera specially made astronomy rather than my DSLR. They come in two "flavours", Monochrome and Colour. Most experienced astronomers use the Monochrome type as that type is more sensitive to light than the colour type.
That's where things get complicated as, should you wish to turn the black and white image to colour, and most people do [and just use the monochrome camera to gain the light sensitivity], then you have to use colour filters of Red, Green and Blue, taking shots with each colour and then turn to the Computer to start processing them into one image. Astro-photography is a huge learning curve and is, again, addictive to those hooked on it. But the downside to it is that people seem to spend more time on the computer, processing images, stacking images, layering, interpreting how the image should look rather than being transported to the Stars by the Telescope Most of the images we see from NASA are processed images taken from digital information sent by the satellites and probes and are given "false" colours to present to the Public.
So I might get a colour CCD camera and, despite them being slightly less sensitive, settle for being able to take one shot in colour with possibly a longer exposure time without having to spend too much time on the computer. But, if I do, I'll be showing the shots on here to see what people think. I've got a fair number of books on astronomy, astro-photography, technical books on telescopes and equipment so I'm reading, asking questions, and learning as I go along, and it's fascinating!!. But, every time I look through the Telescope or stop reading one of the books I realise how insignificant I am and how small and fragile Earth is in this constantly changing Universe of ours.

 

It's fantastic, longk, but it's a different field of astronomy where people are prepared to spend hours, days, months on an image. They seem to be interested in putting a mosaic of images together to make one and while it's it's an art it's not something I want to do. Astronomy sites seem be have so many diverse interests to them with some members, even without having a telescope, but only interested in the theories of Cosmology, or some that seem to turn simple procedures in calibrating a Newtonian into some sort of pseudo scientific complicated thinking