Dart Frog's Astrophotography

 Hello! Let's take a look at things not working out.. and not in an obvious way too! On the night I imaged Saturn , I also tried imaging the Whirlpool Galaxy - one of if not THE favorite target of mine! It's not really a difficult target, be it to find or photograph.. I mean, I took a cool image of it years ago back when I was doing pretty much everything wrong! But anyway, I was still waiting for my OnStep kit to arrive and was super curious about trying out the ZWO asi462mm camera, as this was my first time experiencing a dedicated astrocam and I couldn't use it for guiding until OnStep arrived anyway.. I checked, and the Whirlpool Galaxy fit in my FOV just about perfectly!  screenshot from https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/ It wasn't gonna be easy to locate with the telescope, and at that super narrow FOV of course I had to get a really dope polar alignment and had to pay attention so that it doesn't drift out of frame.. But I managed to do that! ...

  Hello!  I've finished imaging for the summer season - unfortunately, I won't be able to image much thru my telescope until the next summer, I go to uni about 350km away from my scope, and due to me living in the middle of a large city there, there is not point to bring my scope with me unfortunately, due to light pollution and buildings obstructing the view.. and now during September, I'm going on vacation and probably won't have any opportunities to use my scope :/ I am however hoping to shoot some cool space pics with just my DSLR and a tripod on the trip! I've learnt a LOT during this summer season, my gear has evolved too! I've captured a lot of data thruout the last several weeks but honestly I haven't really properly edited any of it, so over the next several weeks I'm planning on processing all those images and gradually posting them in here! With that said, I've decided to revisit the target that I opened the season with - the Ring Nebula. ...

Hello! So uhh.. I started writing this about a month ago 😅 but stuff kept getting in the way.. Basically treat this as if it was about 30 days ago haha ----------------------- The other day I was taking exposures of the Whirlpool galaxy all night - trying out the new astrocam still :p Unfortunately I'm having some difficulties with the stacking.. Deep Sky Stacker insists on only stacking at most like 9 subs out of the over 200 that I've taken.. I'm not sure if anything will come out of that or if it's toast.. that happens sometimes! We go next :p However, at the end of the night - I noticed my favorite planet, Saturn, peeking over the line of trees!  I hastily moved my whole setup around a few meters, without polar aligning or anything.. There was a problem though.. of course, I wanted to use my astrocam.. but I had the guidescope mounted! This meant that I had to either switch the astrocam places between the main scope and the guidescope, or hit it blind.. I tried the...

Hello!   Welcome, after a long long time.. Over 5 years and 10 months of no posts.. I haven't been doing astrophotography over the years due to mental health reasons.. but I am now back, and better than ever! MUCH better in fact! I can't believe how many mistakes I've been making in the past! Current situation: I'm currently upgrading my gear, so my setup is quite cursed right now.. I recently bought an Orion Mini 50mm guide scope, a ZWO ASI462MM camera, and an OnStep upgrade kit for my EQ-5 mount. The last one, unforunately, has not arrived yet.. but I really wanted to try out the camera and guidescope! So last night I tried using the telescope by using the guidescope with the cam as basically an electronic finderscope, and then once on target - I moved the camera from the guidescope to the main scope.. which was kind of a problem, because of focusing and the telescope moving ever so slightly! The FOV of my telescope with that camera is super narrow, so hitting the tar...

Hello! Yesterday I got a chance to try out my webcam that I modded for astrophoto. I am on vacation in italy at the moment, the planets are higher in the sky here so I get less atmospheric disturbance. Gotta say, the webcam was a great investment :) I might try again tonight tho, with barlow so I can get a better res :D Mars isn't as good tho, I'll try to get a better one tonight :) Skywatcher 150/1200 on EQ-5 with 1 axis drive Modified Logitech C270 Infrared filter

Hello! Recently I posted an Andromeda pic that I've taken, however, it was very noisy and overall quality of it wasn't as good as I wanted.... so I decided to try again! It turned out waaayyy better this time! Got a much clearer pic :) However I still could get better focus on it... This time I used a new for me post processing program called PixInsight (got the 45 day demo version) and that was a great decision! I could get a lot more detail out of it than just in registax... and also the awesome color! I had a little bt of trouble with color at first tho, however people from "Astrophotography and Co." discord server (invite link at the bottom of this post) helped me out and I was able to get THAT much color :D Enjoy! (I am still experimenting with the watermark, tell me if it's better this time!) 63x45s ISO 1600 Canon 1300D Skywatcher 152/1200 + EQ-5 1 axis motor Location: plot Invite to Astrophotography and Co. discord server: https://discord.gg/NK...

As you could see, the blog got updated a bit. From now on, I'll be putting a watermark on my photos, it won't be too big so it won't be a problem I think :) I also have an instagram account where you can see sneak peeks of my photos (not all and without a fancy description ;) ). It's @dartfrog_astrophoto if you wanna check it out :D I am also getting a new webcam in a day or two that I will mod specifically for astrophoto of planets, expect nice Saturn, Mars (the storm is clearing out slowly!) and possibly also Jupiter and Venus soon! That's it for now, clear skies!

Hello again! This time with a bit further galaxy, our neighbour - the Andromeda galaxy! I was waiting the whole yesterday for the night to come. When it got dark enough that the Milky Way became visible, I out my telescope out. Due to incredible amount of mosquitoes, it wasn't an easy task... doing polar alignment was quite a challenge! It also wasn't as perfect as I would want it to, I had to correct the position of the telescope once. I also underestimated how big Andromeda really is on our sky! It took the whole frame! Unfortunately, due to not that perfect polar alignment you can see the effect of it on the sides :/ I'll do it better next time! 112x30s ISO: 3200 Synta 6" on EQ-5 Canon 1300D Stacked in registax and adjusted in lightroom-like progran from Canon. If you want a comparison between what pictures I am taking now and what I was taking a year ago, check out first post on the blog! https://dartfrog-astrophoto.blogspot.com/2017/12/hello-there-on-th...

Hello! Those of you who are following my little science channel (that kinda stopped some time ago, but I'll try bringing it back to life!) already seen the timelapse, but that is not the only thing I have in here! First, the milkyway selfie :D This is a single just a single frame taken from the tripod! I later also adjusted it in a lightroom-like program that came with my camera. I adjusted it to two versions: one with milkyway visible nicely and another with the rest. Then, I connected them together in paint.net getting this image :) I've gotta say, standing still for 30 seconds is hard while being eaten by mosquitoes... 1x30s ISO 3200 Canon 1300D kit lense + tripod Next up: Milky way timelapse! That's the one you could have seen on youtube. This shows 10 minutes of Milky way movement on the sky as well as some meteors. Each frame is 30 seconds and there are 20 frames, all adjusted in that canon lightroom-like program and then put together into a video in vegas ...

Hello! This night was very eventful! We got Mars opposition (closest to Earth on july 31!!), Mars-Moon conjuction and of course, the blood Moon! I wasn't taking pictures of Mars yet. Hopefully the storm will calm down soon so we can see it's surface... Back to the lunar eclipse... it was the longest one on 21st century! However, there still will be more! If you missed this one for some reason, worry not! Just google "next lunar eclipse" and I am sure you'll find out the next one ;) Here are some pictures, taken with phone holded by hand in front of an eyepiece as I didn't bring my DSLR with me :/ but it turned out nice anyway! I remember taking all pictures like that around a year ago... that was horrible..

Hello yet again! Last time for today tho. Here is picture of the ISS I took last weekend! I also used lucky frame method, also because constant hand tracking the telescope after a small point is pretty hard and a lot of images turn out not sharp... This time I used barlow lense and IR cut filter. I also used shorter exposure and higher ISO. Of course Canon 1300D.

Hello again! :D Last weekend I wasn't catching any deep sky objects because of the Moon lighting the sky so much. I tried catching some closer things tho! the first one is Saturn - one of my favorite planets! I tried catching it in two configurations: A - DSLR (Canon 1300d)>T-ring>Ir cut filter> barlow lense x2> telescope B - phone (Samsung Galaxy S7)>6mm eyepiece>barlow lense x2> telescope What I did is I recorded a short film and then ran it thru some programs to get the final picture. I did that because the atmosphere is very wavy, you can see distortions all over the place. However, from time to time there is a clear image for a split second that shows details of the object nicely, a frame that shows that moment is called lucky frame. Then I centered the object on all frames and converted the file into .avi with program called PIPP, then I stacked some of the best frames in another program called AutoStakkert!2 and then finally I adjusted wavelets in last...

oh man! I totally lost motivation to write here last time for some reason :/ but worry not! I am back and I have plenty of pictures to share! these are like 2 months old I think? I'll post pictures from last weekend in a different post ;) So here is M53 star cluster! As always a few 30s iso1600 frames, I am not sure about the total exposure tho, I think it was around 5 minutes M64 - The Black Eye galaxy! One of my favorite deep sky objects :p this is just a test picture of it to see how it turns out, 5 minutes in 30s iso 1600 frames. I wouldn't get it that nice in the city tho, both of these two pictures were taken on my plot :) Here is the Milky Way from last month. Single 30s iso 1600 frame. Edited it a bit on paint.net. It turned out great in my opinion! Sorry I don't have more, but my telescope mirror was dirty same with my camera sensor and I cleaned it just last week... I also was very busy, end of school year and stuff... but that's no...

Hi! Been some time since last post... also just realised I forgot to post a star cluster and demo of Black Eye Galaxy that I've taken like 2-3 weeks ago :/ sorry! Will post it shortly! Anyway, you are here for the ISS! So tonight, starting at 10:58 PM there was a very bright (-4 mag!) ISS pass RIGHT ABOVE ME! It literally went thru the whole sky! It got invisible around 1° above the horizon moving towards it, but I stopped recording earlier because of bad seeing conditions closer to the horizon and also because of buildings it was just about to hide behind... These are 3 pretty nice frames I caught, other ones are waayyyy too moved, next time I might try using a laptop maybe or not moving the telescope that much, putting the scope ahead of ISS path. It's way better than the previous try tho! :D Iso:400 Frames: 3 out of 6592 (lel) Barlow 2x Recording in 1080p 25 fps

Hello again! Just a quick update on the region that appeared in the Sun couple of days ago. It's named 2706 and it just produced some serious spots! I see around 10 spots there :D Location: Warsaw Synta 6" with dobsonian mount Samsung Galaxy S7 6mm eyepiece with IR-cut baader filter (+virtual filter) close up view:

Hello again! Nice blue sky did not let me leave the Sun alone, I had to spy it and it's new region! :p Unfortunatelly solarham.net still does not show region number :/ it turned out nicely anyway! Synta 6" on dobsonian mount Samsung Galaxy S7

Good morning! Last night I pointed my telescope at the constellation of Leo again, in hunt for its triplet! These galaxies are easy to find, I got them in frame on 1st try! This time I also got 3rd galaxy in frame, but after a while, it moved out of the picture, that's why it's so grainy... I will definitely take another try on Leo, I want the whole triplet in 1 picture and in nice quality! Also in like a week or two I'll try taking pics of the Black Eye galaxy, so stay tuned! ISO: 1600 Exposure: 100x30s Location: Warsaw

Ayyy! Today, before going to school for 2/3 part of my trail exams, I took a quick look at the Sun! Here are the results :) As far as I know this region does not have a number yet. I'll tell you what number it is as fast as I know it! Localisation: Warsaw Filters: ND-5, baader IR cut + virtual filter for better visibility

Hello there! Yesterday night was nice and clear! I put my telescope in the garden and looked into sky map for something interesting. After a couple of tries on Cigaro and Bode's galaxies (could not target them) I moved onto Leo and I got it on 1st try! I took ~hour of exposure. Unfortunatelly, I lost focus a bit and the photos were taken towards very light polluted part of the sky so it's not perfect... Also, that chinese 128 gigs sd card broke, taking away 2 mins of exp, not a big loss, but it also took flat frames which is bad.... anyway, I will be revisiting leo for sure! Iso:1600 Exposure: 71x30s (after removing bad frames) Location: Warsaw 10 darks No flats (rip) I also applied a filter to it so it's a bit better looking :)

Hello! Last night was very clear! I decided to put my telescope out on paralactic mount, I also found out I can barely fit it in my small garden, so now I can take pics more comfortable way (I don't have to be right next to my telescope all the time). I tried multiple objects waiting for Whirlpool Galaxy to get from behind the building, I hit M109, Black Eye Galaxy and some other galaxy (I don't remember the name) that was pretty close to Black Eye Galaxy, but all these were too dim. Once Whirlpool showed up, I immediately pointed my telescope at it, luckily I got it right in the middle of frame on the 1st try (it's hard for me to target something right above). As it was so high, the seeing conditions were great! I took ~1 hour of exposure, in 30 second photos, then I also took new dark frames and flat frames. Today in the morning, I stacked it up and this is the result! I hope you like it! :D I am very happy with it, tho I didn't get any color, I'll try longer expo...

Hello there! Today when I was coming back from school, I checked solarham.net to see if there are any spots on the Sun... and there are! A lot of them in fact! Once I got home, I immediately out my telescope out (with ND-5 filter of course) and tried to take a pic of them. I also tried looking thru the eyepiece this time (I had problems locating the spots on the camera screen) and it looked amazing! I started with 25mm eyepiece, then moved to 10mm one and finally to 6mm. It turned out that phone+eyepiece setup worked better than DSLR.... I'll probably buy myself barlow lense so I can take pictures of solar system objects in higher resolution. After a little bit of editing (removing dust, putting higher contrast etc.) this is the effect I go :) 6mm eyepiece + Samsung galaxy S7 automatic settings

Hello! In Last post I said I will try catching ISS again soon and I did! Today, for the first time I tried catching it thru my telescope and I succeed! As for the first time I think it turned out great! Of course it's nothing like the other pics of ISS but still good for begginning! :D Those are two best frames I got :) Camera: Canon 1300d (not phone! Turns out I get similar quality and zoom with DSLR on full res as with my most powerful eyepiece and phone!) ISO:1600 Exposure:1/1600s Location: Warsaw Here are two best frames and reference picture from mobile app Star Walk 2 (very useful!) Here is worse frame, but it shows structures of the solar panels nicely:

Hello everyone! Last time I decided to finally start my youtube channel about SCIENCE! It will be mostly astronomy still, but I don't wanna limit it only to that :) There also might appear tutorials/vlogs about astrophotography, might be worth subscribing! :D There are alread 2 vids waiting for you: one about spring equinox and one about Tiangong-1! Hope to see you there! Link to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIWevJ2me2PtsDKfpxrN5sg Also: I would try catching ISS thru telescope today, but 20 minutes before it passing, clouds came and now whole sky is covered with them :/

Hello! Today, I caught ISS! In the picture, you can also see Orion basically touching the horizon and also Pleiades on the right. This picture is made out of 3 pictures: two parts of ISS and also part with me in here as I wasn't fast enaugh to set everything up that so I can take it in 1 pic :/ ISO: 400 Exposure: 2x30s ISS, 1x30s me Location: Warsaw Thre was another appearance of ISS on my sky around 11:16 PM but over very light polluted area of the sky and also very low... I might try to catch it again tomorrow! maybe I can get the whole thing in 1 shot!

The weather from the morning stayed the same! :D After the Sun went under the horizon, I put my telescope out once again, Venus and Mercury were on the western sky! It turned out, I had to carry my telescope almost 200 meters! Otherwise, the buildings were hiding the planets :/ also, my dslr had to small zoom in the telescope, so I had to use this old, bad method... holding phone in front of eyepiece :p It turned out pretty well! (at least for Venus) I've been waiting to see Venus again for like a year... I'll probably mod a small webcam soon so I can catch better, more stable pics ;) more planets are coming to the night sky soon! Eyepiece: skywatcher 6 mm Phone (camera): Samsung Galaxy S7 (I don't have anything to mount it in front of eyepiece so I just held it in my hands) Mercury (a bit out of focus): Venus: Venus going down just a bit above the horizon: