[Theme] Night sky shots

[ColinM]

Coming home tonight, I saw the moon had a companion.
Often it seems to be Venus.

One website told me that tonight it might be Jupiter.
Can anyone advise?
(note, the planet was originally around 19:30 in relation to the moon, but my framing changed this)

D500 plus 300mm PF and TC14, handheld

[Øivind Tøien]

Nice clear shot, Jupiter was easily confirmed in Stellarium.

[Øivind Tøien]

Long time since i last tried M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, now with 500PF on D500, 30sec exposures at ISO 1600 during the narrow slot of dwindling dark around 1:45 am on two different nights, first one at f/5.6, next on at f/6.3, each about 1-2 hours of accumulated 30 sec exposures., the third is a combination stack of the two. Eventually I plan to use a front aperture on the lens - I will initially try an 82mm step-down ring at f/6.1 to minimize diffraction spikes on the stars. Ideally the flat exposures should be done with the hood in place, but existing light panel fit exactly on the front with removed hood and worked quite well in these initial tests. Stacked in DSS and further edited in CNX2. The first is a crop to about 75% of the frame.

[Akira]

Øivind, congrats on your new purchase and these really promising initial results!  Do you plan to add a TC to your  new 500PF?

[Hugh_3170]

Agree - nice camera work and nice processing work here Øivind. 

Øivind, congrats on your new purchase and this really promising initial results!  Do you plan to add a TC to your  new 500PF?

[Nasos Kosmas]

Excellent captures Oivid, I hope this  new lens give you more spectacular images!
Nice capture Colin

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks Akira, Hugh and Nasos. I was pleased that I got this much as it is really marginal here now with respect to the dark.  I have had the 500PF on my want list for a long time, but felt it was too much of a specialty lens to justify the cost, already having the 300PF. However when I recently discovered that the going used prices were at only 50% of new prices, it became too tempting... A search for images from this lens at NG just added to the spell of NAS...  The market prices for high end F-mount lenses have really collapsed. A 300PF goes for $800-$1000. There are quite a number of 500PF offers on ebay, but I ended up getting one in LN- condition at competitive price from an Anchorage photo store (pretty much the only decent one we have in Alaska now, so I liked to support it). It is a beautiful lens - I had it out at Creamers Field last night and was almost shocked at the performance.

I have both TC-14E and TC-20E III, but I gave in to the temptation to try for the newer TC-14E III version, and have a mint copy on way to me from an ebay seller. The TC-14E III used to sell for much inflated used prices due to demand and while a number at the upper price range are still listed on ebay, most sells go at $180-250 these days. However when I tested the TC-14E (1) on the 500PF at Creamers Field I was really impressed by the performance, so I am not sure if the TC-14E III can get much better. TCs are really about the quality of the mother lens, and in the case of the 500PF it is really stellar.

[Erik Lund]

Congratulations on the new lens! Will be looking forward for more images

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for the comment Erik. I had >600 shutter actuations at Creamers, so it will take some time to sort through it all. 

As for deep space night captures I probably have to wait until fall now, as it does not look like it will be any opportunities in the next days and the night is turning to twilight.

[armando_m]

Coming home tonight, I saw the moon had a companion.
Often it seems to be Venus.

One website told me that tonight it might be Jupiter.
Can anyone advise?
(note, the planet was originally around 19:30 in relation to the moon, but my framing changed this)

D500 plus 300mm PF and TC14, handheld

Colin, very nice moon shot ! .. and jupiter

Long time since i last tried M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, now with 500PF on D500, 30sec exposures at ISO 1600 during the narrow slot of dwindling dark around 1:45 am on two different nights, first one at f/5.6, next on at f/6.3, each about 1-2 hours of accumulated 30 sec exposures., the third is a combination stack of the two. Eventually I plan to use a front aperture on the lens - I will initially try an 82mm step-down ring at f/6.1 to minimize diffraction spikes on the stars. Ideally the flat exposures should be done with the hood in place, but existing light panel fit exactly on the front with removed hood and worked quite well in these initial tests. Stacked in DSS and further edited in CNX2. The first is a crop to about 75% of the frame.

Can't wait to see more images taken with the new lens

[ColinM]

Colin, very nice moon shot ! .. and jupiter

Thanks Armando
(though I still can't get my head around the idea of getting shots of the detail and quality of Øivind's galaxy that's a fraction of the size of Jupiter in my image....with almost the same kit as I used!

... I gave in to the temptation to try for the newer TC-14E III version, and have a mint copy on way to me

It will be really interesting to see what differences you notice when you've had a chance to play with this.

I'm guessing that more and more F mount lenses and TCs are coming onto the market as people move to Z mount

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks Armando and Colin. More daytime images here: https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=10948.msg199261#msg199261

Jupiter has considerably smaller apparent size than the Whirlpool galaxy though. It is getting a bit challenging for my tracker at this focal length, but shortening the exposure time works pretty well.

The market for high end F-mount lenses might drop even further. It does not seem quite rational though in some respects. The 500PF with FTZ adapter is still the best way to get to 500mm in the Z-system in this size/weight class. The Z 400 f/4.5 requires the 1.4x TC, and is then f/6.3 and adds length and weight, while apparently being slightly less sharp with the TC than the 500PF +FTZ adapter according to Tom Hogan. The 500PF is the lens that many users that moved to the Z system report that they keep after selling all their other F-mount lenses.

The ZWO astro cameras have too long flange distance to be able to adapt Z-lenses, so the choice was not very difficult for me in considering the route forward.

[armando_m]

Thanks Armando
(though I still can't get my head around the idea of getting shots of the detail and quality of Øivind's galaxy that's a fraction of the size of Jupiter in my image....with almost the same kit as I used!

It will be really interesting to see what differences you notice when you've had a chance to play with this.

I'm guessing that more and more F mount lenses and TCs are coming onto the market as people move to Z mount

Hello Colin,
Nebulae appear much larger in the sky compared to planets, but they are significantly fainter, often requiring multiple exposures to capture fine details. For instance, the Andromeda galaxy spans approximately three times the apparent size of the moon.

Planets, on the other hand, typically appear as mere dots in photographs taken with, for instance, a 300mm lens. To get details they also need multiple exposures but usually would require a telescope with way more reach than a 300 or 500 mm lens.

Cheers

[ColinM]

Hello Colin,
Nebulae appear much larger in the sky compared to planets, but they are significantly fainter,

Thanks Armando. Thats really interesting
Astronomy isn't a subject I have any knowledge about

But I know when I'm looking at something wonderful

[Øivind Tøien]

... It will be really interesting to see what differences you notice when you've had a chance to play with this.
...

The used TC-14E III that I ordered arrived - did some comparisons to TC-14E (1) that can be seen in the old thread for it here:
https://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=1202.msg199348#msg199348