Big or little Dipper

wildherbalian85 · #1 (**permalink**) 17-10-2009, 07:16 PM

I tested my new camera last night on the stars and got this.... Ok i needed a little tweaking to bring out the best but i was surprised with just how many stars it caught... even i didn't see this many

Anyway i was wondering... is that the big dipper or little dipper i have caught??

Located towards bottom of picture and just left of center - it will help if you view picture in full size.

loripo · #2 (**permalink**) 17-10-2009, 07:29 PM

Centre bottom of the shot? Big dipper - the Plough. One of the few I recognise

wildherbalian85 · #3 (**permalink**) 17-10-2009, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loripo

Centre bottom of the shot? Big dipper - the Plough. One of the few I recognise

Ahh thank you

I was not sure if it was the big or little dipper.

Tringa · #4 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 02:07 PM

Which direction was the camera pointing when you took the photo and what time?

Sorry, but I can't find the big Dipper in there.

loripo · #5 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 04:40 PM

THis is a section of the original image - and it should be this way round

wildherbalian85 · #6 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loripo

THis is a section of the original image - and it should be this way round

Well my camera might have been at a funny angle or even upside down

(it was dark)

Hey what did you use on my photo to bring those stars out more?? Its much better.

loripo · #7 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 06:16 PM

I downloaded it into windows photo Gallery, cropped it and turned it round, Then sharpened it using Paint.net (but I expect other software would do) the sharpening just brightened up the stars... I must have originally turned it round in my head

Google images of the Plough!

carlos_dfc · #8 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 08:46 PM

Nope - sadly not the Big or Little Dipper....

The 'bowl' of the Big Dipper is a trapezoidal shape, whereas the bowl of the Little Dipper is more rectangular.
The 'bowl' in your pic, is trapezoidal - however the Big Dipper's 'handle' has a bend in it, halfway along - the handle of yours curves away, more like the handle of the Little Dipper - It actally curves too much, even for the little dipper.
Also - Both Dippers are pretty-much due North all the time - Not East
Last night at about 10 - the extent of the Big Dipper was spread across the lower/middle area of the sky to the North - The little dipper would have been hanging almost vertically, bowl at the bottom, with the handle curving away upwards and to the right.

How high up were you pointing the camera (low - middle - high ?)
And were you using any 'zoom' at all?
(an estimate of the picture's scale may help with ID)

loripo · #9 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 09:19 PM

Have a look at these...
Ursa Major

wildherbalian85 · #10 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlos_dfc

Nope - sadly not the Big or Little Dipper....

The 'bowl' of the Big Dipper is a trapezoidal shape, whereas the bowl of the Little Dipper is more rectangular.
The 'bowl' in your pic, is trapezoidal - however the Big Dipper's 'handle' has a bend in it, halfway along - the handle of yours curves away, more like the handle of the Little Dipper - It actally curves too much, even for the little dipper.
Also - Both Dippers are pretty-much due North all the time - Not East
Last night at about 10 - the extent of the Big Dipper was spread across the lower/middle area of the sky to the North - The little dipper would have been hanging almost vertically, bowl at the bottom, with the handle curving away upwards and to the right.

How high up were you pointing the camera (low - middle - high ?)
And were you using any 'zoom' at all?
(an estimate of the picture's scale may help with ID)

I'm afraid to say but this is the little dipper... and as was mentioned in the post made by me which followed the post in which i mention it pointing east, the camera might have been upside down or even at a funny angle.

Take a look at chart linked by Loripo -

carlos_dfc · #11 (**permalink**) 19-10-2009, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildherbalian85

I'm afraid to say but this is the little dipper...

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.

The 'bowl' of what you say is the dipper in your pic, is the wrong shape.
As I said further up, the bowl of the real Little Dipper is far more rectangular.
And the 'handle' in your pic is way too short, and curved far too sharply.

I'll superimpose the enlarged portion of your pic onto a star-chart to show what I mean...
Gimme a few mins to do it.....

carlos_dfc · #12 (**permalink**) 19-10-2009, 03:16 AM

Here we go.....

Using sky-mapping software 'Cartes du Ciel'...
I cropped the section of the sky containing the Little Dipper, then rotated it to the same orientation as the enlarged section of your pic....
Also re-sized the image from 'Cartes du Ciel' so that the distance between the two top stars of the Dipper's 'bowl', matched two similarly positioned stars in your pic...

Next, heavily tinted the image from the software in green.
And heavily tinted your image in red.
Then superimposed one layer on top of the other, and switched layer mode to 'lighten' - so that both layers show through each other.
Last of all, slid one layer around to match up the two top 'bowl' stars.
(I actually offset them by a couple of pixels, so that both can easily be seen on the black background)

As you can see from the pic...
Apart from those two stars - the bowls are distinctly different shapes.
And the 'handle' in your pic (red), is too short, and far too heavily curved.
And as well as the stars in the Dipper - none of the other stars in the field match up either.
As Nytecam says, there may be a few hot pixels in your pic, but that doesn't explain the fact that almost all the green stars from the chart, don't have a red 'dot' within a few pixels of them (apart from the two I lined up)

It would be nice to track down what stars they are in your pic, but I'm afraid that little pattern at the bottom isn't the Little Dipper.

wildherbalian85 · #13 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tringa

Which direction was the camera pointing when you took the photo and what time?

Sorry, but I can't find the big Dipper in there.

There is one of the dippers in there but i do not know which.

The camera was pointing east at around 10pm

nytecam · #14 (**permalink**) 18-10-2009, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildherbalian85

I tested my new camera last night on the stars and got this.... Ok i needed a little tweaking to bring out the best but i was surprised with just how many stars it caught... even i didn't see this many

What camera did you use and what exposure duration and ISO setting? I think you may have recorded some hot pixels [amongst the stars] which record as false stars but not sure - keep experimenting