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Carl C
02-20-2008, 08:54 PM
Is anyone else watching it? I set up the telescope but don't have any imaging equipment so these pics were taken by holding the cam to the eyepiece.

rtgogo
02-20-2008, 09:33 PM
Very nice! Thanks for reminding me!

Ed Donnelly
02-20-2008, 09:53 PM
We are making a party out of it.
The kids are on the telescopes
Wifey is making hot chocolate
I am freezing my (Eye)balls off........................Ed

Morgan's Cloud
02-21-2008, 07:02 AM
Was too cloudy to see it out here ... :mad:
But on a slightly related note , did the US Navy succeed in shooting down that satellite on first try ... ?
Can't have all that highly classified spy equipment , oops , I mean dangerous fuel raining down on us ... :tongue:

Carl C
02-21-2008, 07:30 AM
Was too cloudy to see it out here ... :mad:
But on a slightly related note , did the US Navy succeed in shooting down that satellite on first try ... ?
Can't have all that highly classified spy equipment , oops , I mean dangerous fuel raining down on us ... :tongue: Yes, a direct hit, but they're not sure if they destoyed the "dangerous fuel tank".:smash:

MOP
02-21-2008, 07:32 AM
I watched down here in CR, we had very light cloud cover which eventually turned to a red hue eveloping the moon. I was a really cool effect, down in this delightful warm place.

mikev
02-23-2008, 09:46 AM
I took a bunch of pictures that night here is the link.
Lunar Eclipse Photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/19308705@N04/sets/72157603969721239/)

Carl C
02-23-2008, 06:08 PM
Nice, did you use a CCD or a camera adapter? I don't know which way to go but I'm leaning toward an adapter to connect my old canon slr film cam. Why no pics of saturn? It was right near the moon and looking good. Here is a crappy pic.

mikev
02-26-2008, 03:03 PM
Nice, did you use a CCD or a camera adapter? I don't know which way to go but I'm leaning toward an adapter to connect my old canon slr film cam. Why no pics of saturn? It was right near the moon and looking good. Here is a crappy pic.

Its a digital cannon SLR with a 300mm telephoto lens on a tripod. saturn is the star to the lower left in the zoomed out pictures. i have a set of lunar pictures picutes i took through the telescope with and eyepiece adapter lunar photos (http://flickr.com/photos/19308705@N04/sets/72157603969777717/) my telescope does not have tracking so i cannot shoot much more than the moon. if you have tracking and want to do deep sky stuff go for a ccd camera if you dont buy a digital slr that way you can use it for other stuff as well. i am really into amature astronomy and have friends that know alot more than me about photogrpahy so ask away and if i dont know the answer i can get one for you.

Carl C
02-26-2008, 04:11 PM
So you took the moon pics directly with a camera and telephoto lens. I have a tracking telescope but would need to change to an equatorial mount for time lapse pics. I mainly want to photograph the moon and planets with a fairly fast shutter speed. Orion makes a camera mount for only $28. You know, I'm into astronomy too but I tend to go to sleep early and get up early. In the summer it's not completely dark here untill after 11 pm and by then I'm tired. In the winter I'm standing out in the freezing cold and the eyepieces fog up. I invested over 5 Gs in my scope and eyepieces and bino-viewer and I only set it up about once a year:(. I guess this is not a good hobby for me or I would invest in top notch imaging stuff.

mikev
02-27-2008, 09:59 AM
What kind of scope do you have? If you spent that much you should be able to take some nice pics with just a camera adapter to attach your 35mm to your scope. With the moon and planets you wont take long exposures were field rotation will come into play and equitoral mount isnt necessary. You can go digital either with an slr camera or ccd that way you can take a bunch of exposures without costing you a dime in developing and It adds up quick becuase 60 to 70 percent of the ones you take are not worth saving. If you want to shoot deep sky stuff ccd camera will be better but can be done with the slr. I like the slr camera becuase you can use it for other stuff not just astronomy but if you already have a good digital camera thats not an issue. either way if you get some good imaging software (it usualy comes with the ccd cameras) you can take deep sky photos just shoot like 100 short exposures so you dont get field rotation and stack them.

Carl C
02-27-2008, 10:50 AM
What kind of scope do you have? If you spent that much you should be able to take some nice pics with just a camera adapter to attach your 35mm to your scope. With the moon and planets you wont take long exposures were field rotation will come into play and equitoral mount isnt necessary. You can go digital either with an slr camera or ccd that way you can take a bunch of exposures without costing you a dime in developing and It adds up quick becuase 60 to 70 percent of the ones you take are not worth saving. If you want to shoot deep sky stuff ccd camera will be better but can be done with the slr. I like the slr camera becuase you can use it for other stuff not just astronomy but if you already have a good digital camera thats not an issue. either way if you get some good imaging software (it usualy comes with the ccd cameras) you can take deep sky photos just shoot like 100 short exposures so you dont get field rotation and stack them. I have a Celestron NexStar GPS 11. I have a Teleview Binoviewer that cost a grand alone and some high end eyepieces and star diagonal. This stuff costs as much as boat parts. I don't really want to image the faint fuzzies since my pics will never come close to those I have that were taken by the Hubble. The possibilities with this scope are endless but I just don't use it much. I really recommend a bino-viewer if you don't have one. You said you're really into astronomy; I assume you have a scope or two?

mikev
02-27-2008, 12:06 PM
I have a 10" Meade dobsonian telescope love it easy to use very portable and inexpensive for the aperture. great for observing but cannot do any imaging accept the moon and sun with it (using solar filter of course).