Easy moon pix!

seabay · Easy moon pix!

As a technophobe, I stick with the quick and easy (rough and ready??) method of astro-photography - ie holding the camera at the telescope eye-piece and going 'click' (sometimes you feel a bit more professional if you say the word out loud as well!).

Here's an example of the kind of results you can achieve, hand-held. Not exactly professional, but really easy and good fun to try!

(image taken with a Sony Cybershot digital camera (DSC-P12) and Meade ETX 70AT (9mm eyepiece)

bhenderson50

really cracking image this - how did you focus the camera? I'm most impressed with your effort!
Bob

seabay

Hi Bob - glad you enjoyed the image. This really is the most basic method of astro-photography - ie: I don't even know how to focus the camera (or even if you can!) I literally just hold the camera up to the eye-piece and click the shutter! It's a bit hit and miss - I usually ditch 8 out of every 10 pictures I take, but then I guess that's the beauty of digital photography.
Emma

Solar B

EMMA
thats another cracker from you of the moon
i was wondering if you could post the partial lunar eclipse
you had published earlier this year
brian

seabay

Hi Brian -

Here's the pic you were asking about, of the 7 Sept 06 partial lunar eclipse, that was published in the November issue of Astronomy & Space mag.
E
(Image taken - as ever! - with Sony Cybershot DSC-P12 digi camera on automatic setting, and Meade ETX 70AT (9mm eyepiece).

Click to see full size image

pbholmes

That's a cool picture.
I saw a full lunar eclipse a few years ago (can't remember exactly when), but I has read beforehand that the moon would appear a dark, rusty red rather than being blacked out.
What I saw agreed well with that description. Sorry, I have no pics of it.
Lets hope for clear skies on March 3rd.

adt175

Nice partial eclipse photo Emma. Have a look for a Scopetronix (www.scopetronix.com I think) adapter for your Cybershot. Lets you couple your camera directly to the eyepiece - I got one an eliminated shaky hand syndrome overnight!
Andy

seabay

Cheers, Andy - I'll have a look a the site - it sounds like a really useful piece of kit - the shaky hand syndrome is definitely a problem with hand-held astrophotography!

Emma