MICHAEL W. DEAN

 

By the way, these nifty 10-second shots of the comet I took the other night in our back yard were not taken with a fancy or expensive lens.
It’s a Canon “kit lens” (general-purpose low-end zoom lens that comes with a camera).
It’s the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
Here it is on Amazon, renewed for 115 dollars

Here it is brand new on Amazon for 149 dollars

#CometC2023A3
#Astrophotography #Space #OnlyRealSpace

SO I like to take photos of space. Of things quadrillions of miles away from Earth. It’s not easy, involves advanced equipment and skill. I do it any night when there aren’t clouds / rain / snowing / forest fire smoke / or near / on the full Moon (which makes it hard to shoot anything but the Moon.) I love taking these photos, and I share them.
Here are all my astro photos.

When I post these photos on social media, I invariably get some version of this question (re-posted with permission):

James Lascko: Just jaw dropping!!  Nice work… Forgive this question, but I was wondering… if the Earth is spinning at 1,000 miles at the Equator and the estimated speed of the Earth traveling around the Sun is 67,000 miles per hour… why are these stars and galaxies not leaving streak trails in this picture as the Earth moves for several hours?

The answer (which I’m posting here so I can just link when asked and not re-type it) is:

This mount my scope sits on (the white thing in the below pic) has two highly accurate motors, 1 for each axis, computer controlled, moves with the rotation of the Earth so it’s always on the target I’m shooting.

Here’s a pic from the other night of my setup. This photo is illuminated by the light of the Moon. The mount moves 1 Sidereal day per day, which is the ACTUAL length of a day: 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.0905 seconds. (the fact that it’s not 24 hours is why we have leap days every 4 years.)

I shoot many 2 minute shots, then stack them. Some people shoot longer than 2 min each shot but I get random clouds a lot which means I have to toss out more images if I use longer shots.

Here are photos of my setup, at night, and also during the day (and here are more photos of the making of the AstroHut, my concrete observatory):

 

My new hobby! I played the music. I prompted the videos and edited them together.

and

and

All tech specs here; https://www.astrobin.com/users/BipTunia/

(all other pix below text)

Paid $719 US plus shipping for all, will sell with shipping included within USA for $500 US, firm. Outside USA, you pay all shipping / tariffs.

Will pack well. Selling only because I got a Newt and am loving using that.

Payment will be via PayPal, I’ll eat the fee. I don’t want to this scope to sit on a shelf. It should be used. Contact me before paying.

–Astro-Tech AT80ED: paid $419 for it.

–Astro-Tech Dedicated 0.8x Reducer/ Field Flattener for this: paid 100 dollars for it.

–Zwo EAF (mounted): Paid 200 dollars for it.

Scope is native 560mm focal length, F/7 without Reducer, and 448 mm at F/5.6 with reducer. Reducer can also have a 2″ filter screwed directly into it, eliminating need for filter wheel or filter drawer if you only use one filter (I often used a Duo Ha/OIII filter and a color cam with this, but would work with other filters or mono cam.)

Lenses are in good condition. Electronic Auto Focuser works fine. Also will add in an adapter to use with DSLR / Mirroless, this works well as a telephoto lens handheld for birds / wildlife if you can lay it on something (like a railing or car hood) to hold the weight, or you’re very strong. I used it on a Canon 90D DSLR, and also on a Canon Rebel T4i.

Body has some cosmetic wear in a couple spots (see photos), and my initials engraved into it. Slap a sticker on that if you want. You don’t get princess gear look at well below princess gear price.

This is a working scope, and the sky doesn’t care how it looks in the dark. There is some tape residue on dew shield outside, you can likely clean it off with alcohol, I’m not messing with it.

–80mm f/7 fully multicoated doublet optics using FK-61 ED glass
–Dual-speed 2″ Rack and Pinion rotatable focuser
–2″ and 1.25″ brass compression ring eyepiece holders
–Split tube rings with detachable Vixen-style dovetail for installation on virtually any mount.

Length: 18″ dew shield retracted, 21.25″ dew shield extended.

Weight: 6 lbs 3.2 oz with the rings and dovetail. 5 lbs 4 oz without rings and dovetail. All shown hardware will ship as is on it / with it.

Many photos on AstroBin taken with this same model of scope

Pix taken with the scope I’m selling (not just same model, same actual scope, closer in time to when I started all this):

Orion Nebula, 28 minutes, no filter

Elephant’s Trunk Nebula 472 minutes during moon with Optolong L-Ultimate Dual Bandpass filter

Cygnus Wall with filter