Shooting the Moon

[Alan T]

Bynx wrote:

Has anyone shot the moon through a telescope? ....

Chester Astronomical Society's 4-inch reflector is stored most of the time in a friend's garage, and he's invited us round occasionally to peer through it. Even from a suburban back yard with intense surrounding street lighting, the views I've had of the Moon and Saturn's rings are most memorable. However I haven'tmanaged to photograph anything directly through it, lacking the necessary optical adapters. So you'd need to invest a fair bit of money, or exercise even more of your well-known ingenuity.

As you know, the Moon is a brightly sunlit object, so there's plenty of light for the little images most of us get, but I fear the effective aperture through a telecope may be very tiny, so the light is spread over a lot of sensor, and high ISO or long exposure may be required. The correct telescope mount allows easy tracking to keep the subject still, but it would need to be motorised, I should think, for many photographic purposes.

Nevertheless, on 8Jun04my friend & I used the seriously high technology shown below to display the Transit of Venus to the students in his son's primary school playground.

The excuse for this post, apart from answering Bynx's question,is that there's a tiny spot on the face of the Sun that's the backside of Venus (obviously very pretty), and Venus sometimes looks a bit like the Moon.

[Bynx]

Thanks for the info and picture Alan. I think the focus of this Challenge should have included anything celestial. Most of us can only get the moon, but anything else is just bonus. The sun is another thing we can shoot if we can cut the light down enough. As for other planets thats for those with telescopes. Im always interested in seeing how the photos turn out when shot through a telescope. Thanks again.

By the way, that looks like a heavenly body standing behind the telescope.

[Mugmar]

Thank you all for the comments. Both shots were taken from the same spot in my front yard, and neither of them were rotated by me.:|

Mugmar

[flutelady]

Great photos, fantastic.

[Bynx]

At almost 62 years of age Im ashamed to say Ive never looked at the moon much. How do you account for the rotation of almost 90 degrees in your two shots Mugmar? I didnt think the moon rotated and the earth only rotates in one direction.

[Mugmar]

Bynx, I have no idea why there is rotation in the moon. Maybe my yard moved in the week between shots:G

Does anyone out there know the answer?? As I stated before both shots were taken from the same location one week apart. I just looked at the originals again and the rotation is the same. I guess it is just one of the mysteries in life:?

Mugmar

[Alan T]

Bynx wrote:

....that looks like a heavenly body standing behind the telescope.

She was the schoolteacher, a very helpful lady. The children's hopping and skipping delight at the projected image was quite marvellous to behold.

I expect many of you will have had my experience of small persons bounding up to you when you're out & about with your camera, saying "Take my photo, Mister!", common even in these paranoid times. I have one lovely recent example from Wrexham Town Centre, but daren't show it for fear of being arrested. This school playground occasion was equally delightful, with joy abounding! This was just before the kids were unleashed.

If we'd had a 20ftx10ftfood box (N.American style jumbo?) as sunshade, and if we could have moved the white screen visible behind the lady in the first shot, we could have given thema drive-in observatory experience.

[Alan T]

Mugmar wrote:

...both shots were taken from the same location one week apart. I just looked at the originals again and the rotation is the same...

The phenomenon I had in mind arises if a camera has no orientation sensor, or if it doesn't work correctly because the camera is tilted strongly up or down.If that happens, vertical (portrait) format shots will appear in horizontal (landscape) format, or vice-versa, when displayed in a computer viewer. The orientation, if not obvious, may remain 90 degrees out.

I have confused myself once or twice like this with my digicams, when peering down holes or up chimneys.

[Mugmar]

I was using a Canon Rebel xt/350D at the time, It does have an orientation sensor in it. both shots were taken in landscape mode then cropped. WithAlan's explanation, the only thing I can think is maybe the tripod was not set at exactly the same angle on both shots. Since there is no horizon or other objects in the pictures, I guess we will never know.:O

Thanks all for the comments and the interesting discussion on earth and moon movement, and telescopes!!!

Mugmar

[Alan T]

Mugmar wrote:

...Thanks all for the comments and the interesting discussion ...

As I hope you know, I'm amenable to being told to shut up when you've had enough !

...but I haven't quite finished yet. I'm working on it!