4934

Did they use the amount of fuel predicted?

4935

How long had they been waiting to use Home, home on Lagrange :)

4936

Looks like the JWST will live for ~20 years or so.

“You’ve heard numbers around 20 years. We think that’s probably a good ballpark,” Parrish said, to which he added: “We don’t think fuel is going to be on our mind as far as a life-limiting thing going forward.”

4937

Hey @gruntled, any tips on resources to learn how to get started in astrophotography? Other than shooting the moon and solar eclipse with my 400mm lens, I’m a total noob, but would love to start.

4938

Without a clock drive (something to track the object), your best bet is big bright objects that you can shoot video on and then use stacking software to composite the best images. So the moon - obviously - then after that Jupiter is your best bet, followed by Saturn, and when nearby - Mars. Jupiter and Saturn are great because 30-60 seconds of footage is all you need to put together a top-notch image using tools like Autostakkert and the wavelet feature of Registax to bring it into focus.

4939

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Just the fact that apparently someone (or rather: some cleverly written computer program) can identify that tiny dot as the Webb Space Telescope, makes me feel that I am not even nearly intelligent enough to work in this business. Amazing, and very cool.

4940

That is pretty cool. It’s made easier when you note that the JWST will always be directly opposite the sun, so visible all night, near zenith at midnight, and on the ecliptic. It’s also got a big reflective shield always facing both the Earth and the sun so is always reflecting the sun’s light toward us. And it should have a slight motion relative to the distant stars (approximately 2.5 arc-minutes per hour) that would be unique and characteristic. But yes, it’s literally like seeing a tennis court from a million miles away.

4941

@Editer what’s your (initial) budget?

If you want to use your camera, a lot of people start with a “star tracker” type of mount Camera Tracking Mounts

If you are thinking of moving up to a telescope, you will want a “real” equatorial mount. Easiest to learn by using a small refractor - the pic I posted was taken with a 60mm diameter, 360mm focal length telescope. You can use your existing camera (though I had moved up to an astronomy camera with a cooled sensor when I took that image).

4942

Are we sure that’s a telescope?

image
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Thought I heard a bell :-)

4943

I’m willing to invest a bit, @gruntled… I have some camera equipment I haven’t been using that I could sell. Telescope + tripod + star tracker + CMOS camera? Ideally I’d like to be able both look directly at objects as well as take photos. If anyone else is interested in learning about this, I could start a separate topic so we can keep this one to space news! :)

4944

There’s a Wiki/FAQ on getting started, and in addition to that, every post mentions the equipment and software used to capture their shots.

The ideal solution is to buy this house in Sedona Arizona with a built in observatory so you don’t freeze your ass off in the winter nights.

image

4945

Impressive!

4946

Christ that home is ugly, but I’m almost willing to forgive it for the observatory.

4947

The 12 different styles of window certainly don’t help.

4948

Or you could buy a small house wherever you want to live, and use the savings to build a fully remote-controlled observatory in the desert in Chile. And buy part of a baseball team.

4949

tumblr_nsdrrwCI5B1sqf5tdo1_400

4950

Noice.

4951

Talk about rampant cronyism and failing upwards.

4952

Geostorm!

4953

Ouch.