Astronomy and Cosmology.

[Andy Kev.]

Thanks for that. While I know my way around a camera, I'm not keen on fiddling with a computer and photo processing software is baffling at the best of times. Were I ever to get into astrophotography, I think I would be only interested in pics like yours of galaxies and nebulae, so given the foregoing, it's just not going to happen. I could probably get my head around using a telescope with camera both hooked up to a laptop but processing the images would almost certainly be beyond me. So it looks like my role in astrophotography will be strictly that of consumer.

Maybe they'll put the Hubble thing on Ebay once they get a better one. I'd probably offer a grand for that and with that capability, I'd probably even be motivated to learn how to use photoshop.

 

[Jacob]

Lovely. Nice full moon tonight.

 

[Bm101]

I've been at it for twelve years and had an interest in both IT and photography before that, I'd say what I do now is fairly technical and processing the data is as challenging as capturing the raw images.

That said, you don't have to go to the lengths I do to get a few decent images. These two were taken with a camera phone held against the eyepiece of a basic manual telescope.

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Starflyer you should do a talk on youtube. There would be many fascinated souls interested. I'd love to be be bored to death!

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks for the kind offer John, but I don't have the patience to grind my own mirror. If you want to find a good home for it the forum I linked to has a good few members who grind their own.

Thanks Star! The offer is open to anyone of course. I'll contact starlounge too.

John

 

[Steve C]

Nice images Steve, M101 & M51?

Yep start rails are fun too

 

[Steve C]

I've been at it for twelve years and had an interest in both IT and photography before that, I'd say what I do now is fairly technical and processing the data is as challenging as capturing the raw images.

That said, you don't have to go to the lengths I do to get a few decent images. These two were taken with a camera phone held against the eyepiece of a basic manual telescope.

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The processing is half the game stacking and enhancing. Like you have an IT background but this is about all I use the computer for now.

 

[TRITON]

Theres a coincidence, i was watching the hubble vid again just the other day. Clearly we're not alone.

I wonder though if we're considered to be a backwater, or perhaps rural, in cosmic civilization terms..

 

[billw]

If the universe is expanding, what it is expanding into and what was previously there?

 

[billw]

I wonder though if we're considered to be a backwater, or perhaps rural, in cosmic civilization terms..

It's like in films where aliens inevitably abduct people from rural American farms as if those people are literally the dumbest specimens on Eart....ooooooh wait....

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Also remember that dark matter - stuff we cannot see/detect/explain - but is necessary to explain the universe makes up maybe 85% of the universe (Dark matter - Wikipedia).

If I cannot see/detect/explain 85% of my answer, I tend to assume that my calculation is wrong. Coming up with convoluted explanations that "85% of the washing up is invisible, so doesn't need to be washed" tends not to hold water with the other half.

Cosmology is so much better than real life, as reality is tenuous at best.

 

[billw]

If I cannot see/detect/explain 85% of my answer, I tend to assume that my calculation is wrong. Coming up with convoluted explanations that "85% of the washing up is invisible, so doesn't need to be washed" tends not to hold water with the other half.

Cosmology is so much better than real life, as reality is tenuous at best.

Maybe 85% is actually invisible which explains all the cutlery and plates that go missing over the years.

 

[Anthraquinone]

If the universe is expanding, what it is expanding into and what was previously there?

It is difficult to get your head round it at first but the universe is not expanding INTO anything. It is just expanding. Other difficult things to grasp as first are how can it be expanding faster than light - The speed of light is a limit only inside the universe. Or where did the big bang happen - on the tip of you nose and everywhere else in the universe.

AQ

 

[Andy Kev.]

Further to the conversation so far, I typed "Hubble Latest Images" into google and amongst many other quite stunning pics, I stumbled on this:

I find it to be almost hypnotic in its beauty (if beauty is the correct word).