Astrophotography

nmonks · Nov 7, 2006

Good idea, but the Moon and eclipse pictures were done with a refractor mounted on a non-track alt-azimuthal mount that didn't even have slow-motion manual controls (specifically, a Televue 76 on a Telepod tripod). There's a lot you can do with a plain vanilla mounting.

Cheers,

Neale

johnny.t. said:
Good pics. I must get a tracking mount for mine(8" newt) just got to convince the Mrs to let me blow more cash on 'toys'.

johnnyjtaylor · Nov 7, 2006

I had those nice planet shots in mind!!! I have got pics of saturn by gaffer taping me camcorder to the eyepiece and then registaxing the results but they where nothing compared with yours. :good:

My newt is on a dobsonian mount so theres no chance of moving it atall whilst trieing to take pics.

nmonks · Nov 7, 2006

Please take a look at the gallery on my web page (see link below): my first Saturn pictures were useless! Even now, most aren't that good. You basically need to keep doing it night after night, hoping for that one night where the air is perfect. Saturn is so small that you need massive magnification to get any detail, and getting nights where x200 is viable just isn't that easy. Jupiter is many times easier.

Cheers,

Neale

johnny.t. said:
I had those nice planet shots in mind!!! I have got pics of saturn by gaffer taping me camcorder to the eyepiece and then registaxing the results but they where nothing compared with yours.