Canon EOS 20Da Pictures: Astrophotography
All images and content on this web page Copyright © 2005-2008 Dick Locke.  All Rights Reserved.  Contact and Image Use Information 

The 20Da was the first and only DSLR to be produced with astrophotography in mind.  Even my unmodified 20Da captures the deep red h-alpha objects that other, unmodified DSLRs miss.  This is due to the behavior of the IR filter in "normal" cameras.  For best results serious astrophotographers will have their  DSLR IR filters replaced or removed with other model DSLRS.

Below: Visual Index of (some of) 20Da DSLR Images

Images using a D-SLR camera and Takahashi TOA 130 (a 5" APO refractor telescope).  

Horsehead Nebula	Orion Nebula	North American Nebula with 20Da
M45 with 20Da: 10/28/05 and 1/2/06	M16 Stack	(Elephant Trunk Nebula) IC1396
M81 and M82 with mouseover chart	M33, a Pinwheel Galaxy	NGC 253
First Light M31 image now here	Pelican Nebula	Rosette Nebula
Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster	NGC 1983 (the open cluster) and IC 410 (the nebula) in Auriga	IC 405, The Flaming Star Nebula
California Nebula	IC 2177, Seagull Nebula	Centaurus A, 1/2006
Earthshine on 3.27% illuminated moon, around 33 and 3/4 hours old	NGC 1399 (& Scattered Galaxies with Mouseover Chart)	NGC 1365
M34	Cone Nebula and Christmas Tree Cluster	M78
NGC 1990	Antares and M4 area	Sombrero Galaxy, M104
M16 Eagle Nebula	IC 4628, lower Scorpius	Dick Locke's favorite astronomy links Astronomy and Camera Equipment
IC 443 - Supernova Remnant	Western Veil	Cave Nebula
Heart & Soul	Veil Nebula	NGC 6590 and IC 1284
Helix Nebula	M52 and Bubble Nebula	NGC6559, IC4685, B303 Nebula
M8	Comet Swan and M13	The Flaming Star Nebula
NGC 1983 (the open cluster) and IC 410 (the nebula) in Auriga	Cocoon Nebula	M-27 The Dumbbell Nebula Picture
Astronomy Home	Images Home	Messier Master List

All photos: Canon EOS 20Da (unmodified), Takahashi TOA 130 (a 5" APO refractor), Losmandy G-11 mount.     This camera has replaced my Nikon D100 for most Astrophotography! Here's my current  DSLR Workflow.

- Below: Images from NHAC Neal dark sky observing site, 10/22/2005.

NHAC Neal Site: 12/28-9/2005	01-02-2006 HAS Colombus: The latest and greatest!
M16  5 minutes, ISO 800, no dark or light frames, no in camera noise reduction, 1200 pixels wide, moderate crop of original.  More pix here: M16 Eagle Nebula.  This is the object in the famous "Pillars of Creation" shot.	M8 2.5 minutes at ISO 400, full frame, else same as left.  Do you see the plane? Needs more exposure, but not bad.  Main M8 page.
Canon D20a and Nikon D100 noise comparison here.	Jerry L's Nikon Canon Astrophotography Page
Canon D20a and Nikon D100 noise comparison here. My Current  DSLR Workflow here.	M33 Stack of 3x6 minute and 3x4 minute images at ISO 800, 800 pixels wide, else same data as left.  See the better image image here now.

First Light notes: Looks promising! Nice H alpha (the red stuff) response. 

Images Home

Copyright © 2005-2006, Dick Locke.  All Rights Reserved.
Contact and Image Use Information

Canon info:

Canon 20Da has 6.4 micron pixels
arc sec per pixel = 1.31 at 1000 mm
arc sec per pixel = 1.88 at 700 mm
1000 mm = 39 inches focal length

The Canon 20D's 8 megapixel sensor has a 1.6 crop factor and a sensor size of 15X22.5mm. The sensor is about .89 inches wide with resolution of 3504 x 2336 pixels. Dividing the width resolution by the width of the sensor in inches shows us that we have about 3937 ppi on this camera's sensor.

http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/pixel.html
.62 is the first # on the page...