First star party

Last Saturday night I went on my first star party. It was a small one, with only 15-20 people present. But I had a lot of fun, despite the cold temperatures in the wee hours of the morning.
I learnt a few important things on this occasion:
1. if people say to dress warmly, then you should listen to them. There is definitely a big difference between night temperature in the city and in the fields, even in summer. 2-3 warm jackets are a good idea, an extra pair of trousers, some gloves even...
2. hot tea / coffee is not only welcomed... it's very welcomed. A sip of a hot beverage can make a whole lot of difference. And if it happens to energize you, all the better. The purpose is to stay up as long as possible and take as many photos as you can.
3. buy a flashlight. one of those that you can wear on your head and has two settings: white light and red light. Red light is extremely useful and does not affect your night vision.
4. bring extra batteries - I didn't actually need one this time and I don't even have one at the moment. But it's a thing to remember and invest in. Also applicable to extra memory cards.
5. food is needed - one item on the list I got right :)

I took a lot of pictures that night and I saw a lot of shooting stars. I'm gonna have to find some time in the next few days for post-processing these photos. I can't wait to see what I'll be able to produce.

The Big Dipper revisited

With a little help from a friend from the "Canon DSLR Digital Astro" yahoo group, I managed to tweak my image a little bit. I think it looks better :)

The method I used can be found here: http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/b.macdonald/gallery/Stars&DSOs.htm. It was a bit tricky at first, but I nailed it in the end (at least at for my current level of absolute beginner).

Thank you Chuck for your help, and thank you Blair for writing the tutorial :)

I've also worked on another photo - The Scorpio. The entire constellation is not visible, only the head and the heart - Antares. This image was taken from my balcony so there's a lot of light pollution. Pretty much the same settings as before.
I've lost a little of the red of Antares in post-processing, but I'll correct it as soon as I know how.

Here it is:

If I thought taking astro-images was a bit hard, well... post-processing seems equally hard. But I'm not giving up :D

The Big Dipper

One of my first tries in taking constellation pictures : The Big Dipper. Right now it's unprocessed because I haven't found a way to process it and be satisfied with the result. Actually, I like the raw file better than I do the processed image.
I'm still reading about how to prcess images, so hopefully I'll come back to this shot soon and post a processed version.

This picture was taken in the center of town, in a park, with a Canon 450 Xsi camera and a tripod.
Settings: ISO 400, 10 sec exposure and f/4.5 with an 18-55 mm lens.

You can see Alcor and Mizar clearly :) I don't have great eyes, so this is the first time I see the two :)

This is the first image I actually processed with a special stacking software - DeepSkyStacker. It's a great and easy to use program, but I still have to discover all it's functionalities.
This image is the result of stacking several pictures I took with my Nikon D90 camera and a telephoto lens. Because I didn't know at the time I would need dark and flat frames, I didn't take any. So this is the result of stacking only light frames (the images).
Now I have to discover how to keep the color in the final picture ;)

Saturn and Porrima

My latest photo - unedited.
I know it's not much, but for someone who is just starting, it's a lot :)
Saturn is on the left and Porrima (the second brightest star in Virgo) is on the right.

Flowers

Today I want to share with you some flowers :)

Japanese rose

Paradise flower

The Zodiacal Light

The following photographs of the zodiacal light were taken on La Palma island

The Pleiades, Cassiopeia and Andromeda Galaxy

Pleiade - Cassiopeia - Andromeda Galaxy

One of my first attempts at astrophotography.