(Viewed 772 times)

[katodog]

Finally a chance to get some scope time in. The weather has been absolutely lousy lately. These pics were from Sunday night at my inlaws house in Apple River Canyon, outside of Galena. If you can see, there is a star on the upper right, and another one can be seen on the lower left by the point. Obviously these would be flipped and mirrored, since they were done with a reflector. They aren't the best quality, but hey, I'm an amateur, right? Enjoy

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Kdog,

Any time at the eyepiece is good and I agree that the conditions have been awful. I'm hoping for some clear skies Thursday evening to set up by the Adler.

You point out the two stars in the field and it brings up a pondering, for which I haven't found an acceptable answer yet. although some have attempted to set my mind staright.

Now...How come - if the heavens are full of stars in every direction - that we don't observe lunar occultations quite regularly? Considering the Moon paints a wide swath as it traverses the sky, there should be countless of stars, (regardless of magnitude), that should be covered and revealed at any given time... #dunno#

I also see in your lunar shots the central obstruction of the secondary mirror. Tell us again what scope you are using and the equipment you use to image. What was the exposure on the shot?

But I think they are cool, and the capture of the two stars even more so!... #Thumbsup#

[katodog]

The telescope is a 6" newtonian reflector that I bought on Ebay for $150. It's actually built pretty good, and the equatorial mount is pretty solid. The camera is a Fuji Finepix S5000. It has a 10x optical zoom, which is awesome for astro pics (as long as it's focused good). The eyepeice was a 32mm Celestron Plossl (from their basic eyepeice set). The settings on the camera were for a 2 second exposure, and was zoomed about 3x optical. The sun was just going down, so it wasn't totally dark out. The secondary always shows up in pics during the day or when it isn't totally dark. I tried to use filters, but they always produce different results, If I get rid of the secondary shadow, I end up losing something else, like picture quality or sharpness. I have to admit my skills aren't that great, and my equipment is not the best, but I try. Usually, I can get rid of the secondary shadow by zooming in more, but thos pics would not have shown the stars.

I'm quite sure the answer to your question is simple; when the moon is of any substantial size, the brightness of it washes out enough area around itself to block out any nearby stars that would be visible. I think the only factor that allowed these pics was the fact that the moon was in a crescent phase, which would cut down the lightwash it would project.

At least that's what I think.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Kdog,

A sweet price for such a nice scope.

On your camera,

Focusing on a digital view screen via the telescope focuser is usually rough, especially if it's still light outside. I have found, as odd as it may seem, that holding the camera lens perfectly centered over the focuser does not provide the best shots. It's when I have it skewed off-center, (mostly by accident), that I can focus better on screen and and image is sharper. Perhaps the same effect would occur if I would stop down the aperture in front, but I haven't tried that yet.

But my 60mm finder scope on the main tube has a lens cap that has a secondary hole with cover. When the aperture is capped and I use the smaller opening (20mm?), I get a much cleaner and sharper image visually and photograph(ly).

I have found that when using anything lower than a 25mm (32mm - 40mm), has a larger tendacy to show the secondary in contrast. Does a higher mag help eliminate the obstruction? And are you handholding to the eyepiece?

the brightness of it washes out enough area around itself to block out any nearby stars

Yes, true, but my pondering about having occultations all the time still remains open. Regardless of the magnitude of the star and observability, I feel that the Moon should be hiding stars left and right at any given time...if not naked eye, then telescopically. Maybe it does occur every night with the monster reflectors.

[katodog]

I have perfected the skill of focusing. I zoom to the full optical power of the camera and focus. It keeps everything sharp and stays that way for any power zoom. I know that many people use the off-center approach, but so far I've had no problems with the zoom method. The problems I usually run into are either my fault (age and stupidity set in), or it's the secondary shadow. One of these days I'll try a polarized filter, but I think the camera is just too sensitive to the light.

The apeture cover for the 6" has a small opening for solar observation that I used for both solar and lunar photography, and the results were either the same or there was not enough light gather. When I've used a solar filter, I got the same results. If it's too bright, the secondary shows up.

I'm sure it's just me. But oh well, I still like my pics.