ASTRO: Constellation Auriga

A 10-minute exposure with Canon Rebel DSLR and Tamaron 28-200mm lens (F/4)
working at 28mm.

This image picks up part of Gemini and Taurus.

Here's (http://www.kopernik.org/images/archive/auriga-lines.jpg) a copy with
the constellation lines, main stars, M35, 36, 37 & 38 identified.

George N

George Normandin wrote:

A 10-minute exposure with Canon Rebel DSLR and Tamaron 28-200mm lens (F/4)
working at 28mm.

This image picks up part of Gemini and Taurus.

Here's (http://www.kopernik.org/images/archive/auriga-lines.jpg) a copy with
the constellation lines, main stars, M35, 36, 37 & 38 identified.

George N



See M35-38 as well as a few other NGC clusters. There's a dot in the
right spot for M1 as well. Don't recall any star in that spot so think
it is it. Slightly blue too. Doesn't seem to pick up HII regions
however. Least not the faint ones in the field. Really likes blue
stars though. Is there a way to stop it down. Coma is pretty strong at
28mm.

Rick
--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

"Rick Johnson" wrote
...

See M35-38 as well as a few other NGC clusters. There's a dot in the
right spot for M1 as well. Don't recall any star in that spot so think it
is it. Slightly blue too. Doesn't seem to pick up HII regions however.
Least not the faint ones in the field. Really likes blue stars though.
Is there a way to stop it down. Coma is pretty strong at 28mm.

Rick,

These Canon DSLR's don't do too well at the red end and apparently don't
pick up h-alpha at all. That's why Canon use to sell the D20a for astronomy,
and others have modified the cameras to replace the IR filter. Unfortunately
that can make the camera more difficult to use for 'normal' photography and
voids the warrantee.

I did not adjust colors in this image (or Orion), but others recommend a
RGB balance that increases red a good deal. When I tried I only converted
the background from green to red.

You can adjust the F-stop on the lens - I left it wide open to try and
get some red nebula, but I failed. In the Orion shot you can see M-42 (of
course) and just barely make out the flame nebula. I'm not sure if the
effect you see in the stars are a result of coma or an artifact of RL
processing. I'll have to check the FWHM for color layers.

So far I love the DSLR, but for wide-field shots like this one I think I
can do just as well with good ol' fashion film. However it sure is nice to
not have to take the film in for processing and scanning. Taking a film that
went thru a Celestron Schmidt camera to a drugstore processor is always a
fun time: "Why are the negs so spread out and what are those funny bars
around them??"

George N