ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH THE NIKON D70 DIGITAL SLR CAMERA Last updated: 14 June 2005

Sky Astrophotography - Guided
During my 11-12 June 2005 trip to Oracle Observatory I was able to do piggyback guided astrophotography with the D70. The D70 was mounted on my ETX-90 using my JMI piggyback adapter. I manually tracked a guide star using the Rigel System PulsGuide reticle eyepiece and the Scopetronix Microstar II+ controller (no longer available). Tracking was easy and accurate. You can see the set up in this photo:

The camera was set for ISO 400 with Noise Reduction enabled and the "hat trick" method was used for the exposure. Except where noted, the lens was set for its maximum wide angle position (18mm; equivalent to 27mm on a 35mm camera).

The following photos include exposure info and whether stacking was used. I will start with the single frames for each subject and then show the result of stacking and editing using Lynkeos 1.3 for Mac OS X.

Sagittarius and the Heart of the Milky Way
5 minute exposure

Sagittarius and the Heart of the Milky Way
5 minute exposure, 70mm telephoto

Sagittarius and the Heart of the Milky Way
Two 5 minute exposures stacked

Summer Triangle and Milky Way
5 minute exposure

Summer Triangle and Milky Way
One 2 minute exposure and one 5 minute exposure stacked

Andromeda and M31
5 minute exposure

M31
5 minute exposure, 70mm telephoto

M31
One 2 minute exposure and one 5 minute exposure stacked and cropped, 70mm telephoto

I am pleased with these initial results. Next trip to Oracle I plan to do even more piggyback astrophotography, using longer exposures and more frames to stack. Stay tuned...

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