View Date : August 4, 2007
Time : 10:45PM – 12:00AM
Naked Eye Viewing : The first object I attempted to locate was Polaris, the North Star. This proved more difficult than I expected as I was unable to make out the Little Dipper. Using Merak and Dubhe as I guide I was able to find it.
Telescope Viewing : I set my sites on viewing the Mizar-Alcor double star in Ursa Major. Both were visible with the naked eye which made them easily viewable with my telescope. At lower magnifications I was able to see another faint star in my field of view. After some research I am guessing that this was SAO 28803 (I have not been able to find a name for it). I tried taking couple of free hand pictures but this was very unsuccessful. I am going to have to invest in a tripod.
Photography : The Moon was in its third quarter phase. It was glowing an orangy-yellow color which unfortunately did not show in any of the pictures I took. I need to play around with my zoom and focus settings some more as the images were not as close as I had hoped. Overall the images turned out to be not all that bad considering my proximity to several street lights. Below are the best of the bunch.
Hi Phil,
Thank you for visiting my site and adding me to your blogroll.I in turn will be doing the same.
I feel your pain of street lights as I have to deal with the same.
I think your images are really nice!.How long have you been into astrophotography?.
What do you have for gear i.e scope,camera,filters ect?.
I will be checking back often!.
Clear skies!.
Andrew
Comment by Andrew — August 6, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
Andrew,
Thanks for the nice comments.
The pictures on my blog are my first attempt at astrophotography. Back in the 80’s I did a little bit of sky watching but I am just now getting back into it. Right now I am working with a Tasco Luminova 578X60mm refractor and a FujiFilm S5200. The telescope is not the best but the price was right (free) to get me started.
Comment by Phil — August 6, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
Your first time???.Wow,very nice work.If you ever need help or have any questions please feel free to ask!.Yeah,a tripod will definitely help you.
Were your images taken using prime focus or were they taken with A- focal projection?.
Comment by Andrew — August 6, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
Actually, all I did was point my camera at the moon and took a whole bunch of shots with different camera settings. As of yet I have not tried to take any pictures using my telescope. I have been reading the about A-focal method and plan to try that once a get a proper tripod.
Comment by Phil — August 6, 2007 @ 1:53 pm