Targets
-
Pleiades Star Cluster:
"If you draw an invisible line from Orion’s Belt to Aldebaran, you’ll eventually reach the Pleiades."
-
Orion Nebula:
"You’ll find Messier 42 in the “Sword” of the Orion
constellation, which are the 3 stars located south of
Orion’s Belt. It may look like just another “star” at first,
but a closer look (even without the aid of binoculars) will
reveal a fuzzy patch. "
-
Rosette Nebula:
To observe the Rosette Nebula visually, you will need to
point your telescope towards the constellation Monoceros,
under extremely dark, moonless skies. A telescope with low
magnification using a wide-field eyepiece is also needed, as
this deep sky object is quite large (its apparent dimensions
are 1.3°).
-
Polaris: useful for star trails, as star trails will circle Polaris.
Camera Prep
General Settings
-
Verify date, time and timezone
-
Mode: manual
-
ISO: 800, 1600, 3200
-
Aperture: wide open, one or two stops down.
-
Shutter speed: see below
-
Image Quality: Raw
-
Image Review: Off
-
Mirror Lockup: On
-
Long Exposure NR: Off
-
High ISO NR: Off
Shutter Speed Calculation
-
Rule of 500: 500 / [focal length of the lens]
-
Trial and error: shoot 1 second, check for star trails. No? Increase to 2 seconds, etc.
-
NPF Calcalator
On Site Prep
- Determine Focus: use 10x digital zoom on display
- Test Photos to determine exposure, ISO and aperature
- Shoot 50 'dark' shots. Cover lens, shoot 50 photos that have the correct settings, but are all black.
Shooting Considerations
- Shoot N light shots by setting intervalometer to shoot N images in a row with 1 or 2 second delay.
- If planning to create fixed stars, reposition camera after N minutes to keep the target in frame.
- Experiment. Lots of small image are ideal. Can create fixed or star trail images in post processing.