Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Oct 28, 2005 0:39:58 GMT -6
Fellow Adler crew member Jeff sent me this astrophoto recently using a homemade tracking set-up.
He describes the shot...
"Joe,
I was planning on going camping for the Persied Shower in last
August. I even built a barn door tracker for the event. In our year
of drought, the weekend of the meteor shower also brought
thunderstorms, so I stayed home and did some woodworking.
Here is a five minute test exposure I took of Cassiopeia on a ski
club canoe trip. In the photo you can see the tree blur as the bdt
moves the camera. The halo of light at the bottom is pollution from a
streetlight. As you can imagine, ski club camping trips are not
really conducive to astrophotography. However, I had just finished
the bdt I wanted to test it before the meteor shower. This one of
only two photos I've taken with it.
Keep me informed of your excursions. I would also like to try for the
Persieds next year as the peak, August 12th is on a Saturday. If you
would like to assemble your rag-tag group, that would cool.
Jeff"
========
He tells me that he operates the tracker by turning the knob every 30 seconds with good results.
I like stuff like this, and homemade...even better!... ;D
He describes the shot...
"Joe,
I was planning on going camping for the Persied Shower in last
August. I even built a barn door tracker for the event. In our year
of drought, the weekend of the meteor shower also brought
thunderstorms, so I stayed home and did some woodworking.
Here is a five minute test exposure I took of Cassiopeia on a ski
club canoe trip. In the photo you can see the tree blur as the bdt
moves the camera. The halo of light at the bottom is pollution from a
streetlight. As you can imagine, ski club camping trips are not
really conducive to astrophotography. However, I had just finished
the bdt I wanted to test it before the meteor shower. This one of
only two photos I've taken with it.
Keep me informed of your excursions. I would also like to try for the
Persieds next year as the peak, August 12th is on a Saturday. If you
would like to assemble your rag-tag group, that would cool.
Jeff"
========
He tells me that he operates the tracker by turning the knob every 30 seconds with good results.
I like stuff like this, and homemade...even better!... ;D