Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Oct 10, 2009 8:02:10 GMT -6
I recently acquired a nice Celestron 5" Mak, GEM, tripods and other astronomical equipment thru being "at the right place at the right time". More on the scope and bounty later....
But I took the opportunity on a clear, but very cold Chicago early morning to test out the optics. Not a great fan of the Mak, as I find one has to always refocus, but this one is nice and very portable...
In light of the LCROSS impact of yesterday, I took shots of the Lunar South Pole usig my Canon Powershot S3 on a 58mm t-mount adapter clamped on a 25mm eyepiece and using the on-board zoom on the camera...
No evidence of the Booster or LCROSS probe...
The pics are a little grainy, as I neglected to change the ISO from 400 from an earlier shoot.
I also grabbed some shots of basins and highlands...
Now, they are not as sharp as I would expect, but I did take apart the Mak to clean it and perhaps the secondary mirror isn't aligned. I also noticed a great deal of atmospheric turbulance.
Included in the bounty of goodies...was a Celestron Hand controller and the GEM had tracking capibilities...it should make for better imaging in the future.
Venus, Saturn and Mercury were up, but I could only get a bead on Venus, (showing 1/2 phase) and Saturn. Her rings showing slight separation.
Might try some more this evening, but winter astronomy has arrived in Chicago...and I'm not prepared.....
But I took the opportunity on a clear, but very cold Chicago early morning to test out the optics. Not a great fan of the Mak, as I find one has to always refocus, but this one is nice and very portable...
In light of the LCROSS impact of yesterday, I took shots of the Lunar South Pole usig my Canon Powershot S3 on a 58mm t-mount adapter clamped on a 25mm eyepiece and using the on-board zoom on the camera...
No evidence of the Booster or LCROSS probe...
The pics are a little grainy, as I neglected to change the ISO from 400 from an earlier shoot.
I also grabbed some shots of basins and highlands...
Now, they are not as sharp as I would expect, but I did take apart the Mak to clean it and perhaps the secondary mirror isn't aligned. I also noticed a great deal of atmospheric turbulance.
Included in the bounty of goodies...was a Celestron Hand controller and the GEM had tracking capibilities...it should make for better imaging in the future.
Venus, Saturn and Mercury were up, but I could only get a bead on Venus, (showing 1/2 phase) and Saturn. Her rings showing slight separation.
Might try some more this evening, but winter astronomy has arrived in Chicago...and I'm not prepared.....
