It was a clear and moonless evening last night so I went out about 15km from the CBD to get some darker skies to see what could be done with my smartphone.
This image mainly shows Scorpius, with Jupiter and Saturn near the bottom of the picture. (The top right is covered by a tree).
There are stars imaged right down to magnitude 7 but what surprised me is that the Milky Way came out so well.
Well done.
Was that just a snapshot, or are you able to somehow vary the exposure time?
Twenty some years ago for one of the meteor showers I drove a couple of km out of town (our town had a whole 3 streetlights, I think, but one of them was near enough to be annoying) and stopped by the side of the road. Waited my 20 minutes for dark adaptation, then watched the sky for a bit. I did wonder what the night time truck drivers thought about the weird woman standing beside a car pulled off the road and shielding her face from their headlights. I could hear them coming from quite a distance, so could make sure I didn’t lose much adaptation.
For Comet McNaught Mr buffy and I and a couple of friends went up to the top of Mt Rouse with a picnic supper and sat there looking at the sky. And listening to the wallabies making grunting noises around us.
buffy said:
And listening to the wallabies making grunting noises around us.
Every damn thing in the bush grunts: wallabies, koalas, wild pigs…
I was in a jumbo half-way between LA and Sydney during a Leonids meteor shower – was pretty impressive watching meteors that appeard to be below the level of the plane.
Dark Orange said:
I was in a jumbo half-way between LA and Sydney during a Leonids meteor shower – was pretty impressive watching meteors that appeard to be below the level of the plane.
Mother Nature’s tracer bullets?
captain_spalding said:
Was that just a snapshot, or are you able to somehow vary the exposure time?
You can set exposure time, max 30 seconds, which is what I used there. I used a timer so that I could press the button and then set the phone down on the top of my car rather than trying to press it without wobbling it.
Dark Orange said:
I was in a jumbo half-way between LA and Sydney during a Leonids meteor shower – was pretty impressive watching meteors that appeard to be below the level of the plane.
That is a bit wow…
I woke early a few mornings ago and couldn’t get back to sleep, wandered outside and saw Venus, so I took a photo with my mobile phone (Huawei Mate 20X) in night mode and it came out fairly well I think.
dv said:
captain_spalding said:
Was that just a snapshot, or are you able to somehow vary the exposure time?
You can set exposure time, max 30 seconds, which is what I used there. I used a timer so that I could press the button and then set the phone down on the top of my car rather than trying to press it without wobbling it.
Never knew you could do that sort of thing with phone cameras/
Dark Orange said:
I was in a jumbo half-way between LA and Sydney during a Leonids meteor shower – was pretty impressive watching meteors that appeard to be below the level of the plane.
Had one come past the plane in the 90’s, it lit the cockpit up, it was so close.
Spiny Norman said:
Dark Orange said:I was in a jumbo half-way between LA and Sydney during a Leonids meteor shower – was pretty impressive watching meteors that appeard to be below the level of the plane.
Had one come past the plane in the 90’s, it lit the cockpit up, it was so close.
I bet they don’t cover that in PIC training.
Dark Orange said:
I was in a jumbo half-way between LA and Sydney during a Leonids meteor shower – was pretty impressive watching meteors that appeard to be below the level of the plane.
That would’ve been amazing from the cockpit!
Here’s a zoom on that same shot except I’ve cranked the brightness and contrast.
This shows the Milky Way better but unfortunately also highlights a striping artefact.
dv said:
Here’s a zoom on that same shot except I’ve cranked the brightness and contrast.This shows the Milky Way better but unfortunately also highlights a striping artefact.
take 1/2 doz shots then stack them.
:-)
This one was using a 10 second exposure in the Night Mode, but it’s an “intelligent” adaptive summation.
Crux.
Unfortunately that mode seems to eliminate the dimmer stars. There’s nothing in that field dimmer than mag 5.
Michael V said:
Dark Orange said:I was in a jumbo half-way between LA and Sydney during a Leonids meteor shower – was pretty impressive watching meteors that appeard to be below the level of the plane.
That would’ve been amazing from the cockpit!
Cool.
Some good shots there.
I have no light pollution to contend with here. Especially in winter there are astronomical views.
I could walk outside now and see stars and planets aplenty.. except for the 8/8 cloud cover
:/
Had a go at another Milky Way shot but unfortunately the sky was bright because of the moon. Might give it another crack in a couple of weeks. I was pleased that the colour of the MW came through though.
So I went out of town in search of darker skies, primarily to have another go at Neowise with a Nikon, but I thought I might as well do a Milky Picture with my phone. Dark sky makes a big difference.
This is my first attempt to photograph something outside the galaxy: the Small Magellanic Cloud.
dv said:
This is my first attempt to photograph something outside the galaxy: the Small Magellanic Cloud.
I’m impressed.
Long exposure, with tracking?
JudgeMental said:
dv said:
Here’s a zoom on that same shot except I’ve cranked the brightness and contrast.This shows the Milky Way better but unfortunately also highlights a striping artefact.
take 1/2 doz shots then stack them.
:-)
What stacking software do you use?
PS. We have curfew here. I could get arrested if I tried this.
captain_spalding said:
dv said:
This is my first attempt to photograph something outside the galaxy: the Small Magellanic Cloud.
I’m impressed.
Long exposure, with tracking?
6 seconds, no tracking.
mollwollfumble said:
JudgeMental said:
dv said:
Here’s a zoom on that same shot except I’ve cranked the brightness and contrast.This shows the Milky Way better but unfortunately also highlights a striping artefact.
take 1/2 doz shots then stack them.
:-)
What stacking software do you use?
PS. We have curfew here. I could get arrested if I tried this.
Far be it from me to encourage you to break curfew…
dv said:
This is my first attempt to photograph something outside the galaxy: the Small Magellanic Cloud.
:)
mollwollfumble said:
JudgeMental said:
dv said:
Here’s a zoom on that same shot except I’ve cranked the brightness and contrast.This shows the Milky Way better but unfortunately also highlights a striping artefact.
take 1/2 doz shots then stack them.
:-)
What stacking software do you use?
PS. We have curfew here. I could get arrested if I tried this.
Cruel of dv to torment you so :)
The boss lady joined me on a little expedition out past Bindoon for some darker skies, so that made for an unusual date night.
This is the Coalsack Nebula, one of the most readily identified of the dark nebulae and also easy to find because it is right next to Crux.
dv said:
The boss lady joined me on a little expedition out past Bindoon for some darker skies, so that made for an unusual date night.This is the Coalsack Nebula, one of the most readily identified of the dark nebulae and also easy to find because it is right next to Crux.
Jesus those twig-shaped areas are dark.
Rule 303 said:
dv said:
The boss lady joined me on a little expedition out past Bindoon for some darker skies, so that made for an unusual date night.This is the Coalsack Nebula, one of the most readily identified of the dark nebulae and also easy to find because it is right next to Crux.
Jesus those twig-shaped areas are dark.
Oh we got a comedian
I suppose I could claim it was a deliberate effect, with the nebula placed to represent foliage.
dv said:
I suppose I could claim it was a deliberate effect, with the nebula placed to represent foliage.
No, this is what Trump has done to you.
You’re better than that.
dv said:
Rule 303 said:
dv said:
The boss lady joined me on a little expedition out past Bindoon for some darker skies, so that made for an unusual date night.This is the Coalsack Nebula, one of the most readily identified of the dark nebulae and also easy to find because it is right next to Crux.
Jesus those twig-shaped areas are dark.
Oh we got a comedian
Someone had to step up after Boris left.
Peak Warming Man said:
dv said:
I suppose I could claim it was a deliberate effect, with the nebula placed to represent foliage.
No, this is what Trump has done to you.
You’re better than that.
You’re ever the angel on my shoulder, PWM.
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
Spiny Norman said:
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
Was it teapot shaped?
Dark Orange said:
Spiny Norman said:
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
Was it teapot shaped?
Maybe a Tesla Roadster shape, I’m not sure.
Spiny Norman said:
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
You still in GC area?
dv said:
Spiny Norman said:
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
You still in GC area?
There was an ISS pass over the GC on Wednesday at 6pm.
There were no docking events during that week so it wasn’t a vessel associated with the ISS.
There was a Cosmos 1110 Rocket that also passed overhead about a minute beforehand, and kind of in the same direction, but not exactly.
dv said:
Spiny Norman said:
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
You still in GC area?
Yep.
I could probably just look it up on one of the many sites that tracks the ISS, but unfortunately I can’t because I’m lazy.
Spiny Norman said:
dv said:
Spiny Norman said:
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
You still in GC area?
Yep.
I could probably just look it up on one of the many sites that tracks the ISS, but unfortunately I can’t because I’m lazy.
thoughts and prayers
dv said:
dv said:
Spiny Norman said:
Last night, (or the night before perhaps) about 6 o’clock, I watched the ISS go over, seemingly very nearly overhead. But I did also see a dimmer object on the same path but about twenty seconds ahead of it. It’s brightness also varied, sometimes disappearing completely but then coming back a few seconds later.
Any idea what it might have been?
You still in GC area?
There was an ISS pass over the GC on Wednesday at 6pm.
There were no docking events during that week so it wasn’t a vessel associated with the ISS.
There was a Cosmos 1110 Rocket that also passed overhead about a minute beforehand, and kind of in the same direction, but not exactly.
Ta.
It did look like it was on the same orbit, but it can be difficult to judge such things from the ground accurately.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-09-05/september-sky-guide-spring-is-here/12620894
Some good opportunities for photography here.
