2009/06/19

First formal astronomical photography, but....

D80, 12-24mm@ 12mm, F5.6, ISO800, AWB

Being missed the excellent sky two days ago; I eventually came to Pak Tam Chung, PTC, last night. The sky condition is modest. I brought along with my equipment, Equinox 80ED, HEQ5Pro, Phillips Webcam, battery etc. This was the first attempt to use my own equipment to take some astronomical photos. In fact, I have taken some solar, lunar & stars photos before. However, this time I wanted to use my new HEQ5Pro to take astronomical photos with longer exposure. Finally it sucked due to the failure of the connection lead! The lead was originally soldered by me, but I cannot make it due to the size of the lead was too large to fit into the plug. My lab technician helped to solder it. The lead worked it lab, but sucked in PTC. I guess I must buy thinner size lead in order to make it work.
I was so frustrated last night, and chatted with other stargazers. You know what? I was so green that I only know a bit about the constellations. I can only recognize a few of them. Although I have “some money” to buy equipment, I am not familiar with the sky! It is ashamed that I have an MPhil in Physics, but my knowledge in astronomy is poor. I used to jeer at those owned Ferrari do not know how to drive. I am now owned astronomical equipment, but do not know the sky! I need to gear up myself!
I took some photos last night with ordinary photographic equipment. The AWB of D80 produced a dark sky. Perhaps the sky looks a little bit brown. This was mainly due to the light pollution in particular the artificial sodium lamps. In the third picture, I used Daylight setting in WB, the photo somehow reproduces the brownish color of the sky. So I learned a little about the WB in astronomical shootings.
D80, 12-24mm@ 12mm, F5.6, ISO800, AWB


D80, 12-24mm@ 12mm, F5.6, ISO800, Daylight

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