Heat wave here in New Hampshire, almost reached fifty yesterday. Nights are balmy, only dropping into the low thirties. Thirties degrees, heck, this time of year I can hang out looking at stars for hours without a jacket in thirty degree weather. Even the cat starts getting interested in the outdoors again when it gets above thirty.
I've been working on my astro-photography technique. Getting the telescope lined up, balancing it on the equatorial mount, and taking the time to get eyes well adjusted so as to stand a chance at focusing microscopic dots in the dim viewfinder.
The first two photos are from last night. Top one is of open clusters 884 and 869, just off of Cassiopeia . Not far from Cassiopeia at the moment is Comet Machholz, featured in the second photo. Both were taken using the 70-200mm f/2.8 mounted piggy-back on the telescope to take advantage of the equatorial tracking motor.
The third photo is of the Orion Nebula from a couple nights ago with the D70 mounted on the end of the telescope. Didn't get the polar alignment or something right so there's a bit of driftage. Still, it's a cool part of the winter sky and I'm happy to get some shots of it.
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Nice to see you're still trying to get the mechanics down on your astrophotography. You've exceeded what I've been able to do!
I especially like the photo of Machholz -- that's a keeper! The weather here has not been as cooperative, with clouds almost every day, so I haven't had the chance to see the comet. Oh well!
Still thinking of magnifiers to help with focusing -- I'll let you know how that goes.
Hey, good to see you Colin!
I'm getting there. Just realized last night that I haven't been leveling the tripod and our deck definitely has a tilt to it. That and shooting from a deck isn't the firmest of foundations to use.
This spring I'm thinking of making a more permanent observation area, maybe a little shed with a solid (and aligned) mount inside and a roll-off roof.
Awesome shots! I love the Orion nebula -- that is way cool How long are the exposures? How did you attach the camera to the scope?
Top photo and comet were taken with the camera riding piggy back on top of the telescope, the telescope itself (it's optics) wasn't used.
Top photo: 200mm, f/2.8, ISO 400, 74 secs
Comet: 200mm, f/2.8, ISO 400, 229 secs
The Orion Nebula was taken with the D70 body attached to the telescope (using a t-mount) which means no camera lens and no telescope lens, just the big hunk-o-glass at the end of the telescope feeding down the tube right into the D70 sensor.
Nebula: 1000mm, f/8.3, ISO 200, 146 secs