Into the Light, Into the Past * by Canon DSLR Challenge

Canon DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Challenge 36: Into The Light (Hosted by Cindy Diaz) >> Challenge 36 : Eligible Gallery > Into the Light, Into the Past *

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26-FEB-2005	John Pane

Into the Light, Into the Past *

Pittsburgh, PA

This is my first attempt to take a picture of the Andromeda family of galaxies. The light from these galaxies light travelled for 2.9 million years before reaching the camera. Thus, in looking into this light we are also looking into the distant past.

Canon EOS 20D ,Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II, 2x extender
stack of 34 exposures of 30s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso800 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto

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Please do not delete, update, or otherwise edit others' entries
* Submitter retains all copyrights *

Photogenix		07-Mar-2005 01:33
Really impressive that you took this image without an aid of a telescope. I love astronomy and pictures like these really gets me going.

Canon DSLR Challenge		03-Mar-2005 04:10
Very cool capture, and it sounds like a lot of work went into it :). --Melanie (mlynn)

Guest		02-Mar-2005 02:06
Earl, The mount is a Celestron CG-5. There is a computerized version of this mount, sometimes referred to as a goto mount. Mine is the simpler version with dual axis motors and a simple control box. John

Canon DSLR Challenge		01-Mar-2005 18:38
John, Thanks, it is helpful. Can you tell me bit more about the equatorial mount and clock drive. At least enought that I might be able to do some ebay searching ;) Thanks again, -Earl Waud

Guest		01-Mar-2005 04:08
Earl, Thanks for your comments. Your interpretation is correct. I had the camera mounted on a tripod with an equatorial mount and clock drive. This kind of equipment is normally sold with a telescope, although I bought mine without a telescope, used. It rotates the camera around the earth's polar axis, to counteract movement of the stars due to the earth's rotation. Without this, even a single 30-second exposure would have shown star trails with the 400mm lens. My setup is not high-precision and does not track the stars perfectly. However, it is good enough for a 30-second exposure, and then each of these individual shots can be aligned during the stacking process. I use a Macintosh program called Keith's Image Stacker for the stacking. There are several for Windows too; one is called Registax. The stacking could also be done manually in Photoshop, but this is tedious for a large number of images. I hope this was helpful. John

Canon DSLR Challenge		01-Mar-2005 02:53
This is very cool. I love images of space and planets etc. and I have always wanted to be able to take images of this type of subject myself but lack the know how to do so. You say you stacked 21 images that were each 30 second exposures. Do I understand correctly? That would seem to mean that it took about 10.5 minutes of taking the pictures. Do you have to adjust the camera to "track" the stars during that time? What do you use to stack the images? Any insight you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks and nice work! -Earl Waud

cindyd		28-Feb-2005 20:04
I had no idea 400 mm could capture something like this! Impressive. And I love the thought of looking into ancient (to ancient to comprehend really!) light. Thanks, Cindy

Guest		28-Feb-2005 12:57
Thanks for the comments Rob and Frank. I did do a lot of work on this image, including Noise Ninja, to try to cut noise without losing detail of the galaxy. Unfortunately, I was not able to reduce the noise more than this without loss of detail. I realize the result is technically flawed. Maybe it is the best I can do with such simple equipment and in a relatively light polluted suburb. One thing I did not do is dark-frame subtraction, which might have helped with noise reduction. Next time! John

Guest		28-Feb-2005 08:30
Great shot! Looks like a lot of work. You might want to run it through levels and curves, knock down some of that noise and still maintain the image of the galaxy.

Canon DSLR Challenge		28-Feb-2005 02:25
That is stunning John, without a telescope as well, you must be well away from the city lights. Did you think to noise ninja it? Rob