Moon & Mars (40d + 6' Mak)

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Dejavu

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Grant
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Got some clear skies last night for a change, but the clouds moved in to spoil it not long after I got setup
I wanted to image Mars last night (which I did) because it is the closest its been to earth for two years, and now it will be moving away and will appear smaller. For this Moon shot I used my 40d @ prime focus on my 6" Maksutov Cassegrain (f/12). The image is of two seperate exposures (two halves of the Moon) combined in ps elements.
Moon-23-dec-07e.jpg


I managed to coax some detail out of this image of Mars, not very impressive, but it is only a single image. Focusing was made very difficult because of my scope's image shift, ie when I adjust focus on the scope the image moves. I think I can upgrade my scope's focuser for zero image shift, I may look in to this as its very annoying having an image move off frame when focusing. Also, the air was not steady either.
For this image, I used a Tele vue 5x powermate and an infrared filter (helps produce a sharper image) with my 40d attached to the powermate, and of course the 6' Maksutov cassegrain telescope.
Mars-23-dec-07.jpg
 
Your moon pic is fantastic, plenty of detail.
 
that moon image is very impressive - i like :)
 
:clap:
now thats what these smileys are for
:clap:



very very nice moon shot

md(y)
 
Super shot of the moon. Like it very much.
 
That's a great photo of the moon. I was thinking of going out with my 400mm the other night. I'm glad I didn't bother as it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good or close as this.

I've never used a telescope. How do you take photos through it to get photos like that? Is there some kind of attachment on telescopes or it it a more heath robinson approach of just focussing down a viewfinder...I'm prepared for being flamed if that sounds ridiculous to those in the know!
 
ranarama said:
I've never used a telescope. How do you take photos through it to get photos like that? Is there some kind of attachment on telescopes or it it a more heath robinson approach of just focussing down a viewfinder...I'm prepared for being flamed if that sounds ridiculous to those in the know!
Click to expand...


I've always wondered this too!!

I can never seem to get anything decent of the moon, with my camera (Panasonic FZ30)!




Fantastic pictures though, I'm very impressed!!
 
Thanks for the comments everyone:)

ranarama said:
That's a great photo of the moon. I was thinking of going out with my 400mm the other night. I'm glad I didn't bother as it wouldn't have been anywhere near as good or close as this.

I've never used a telescope. How do you take photos through it to get photos like that? Is there some kind of attachment on telescopes or it it a more heath robinson approach of just focussing down a viewfinder...I'm prepared for being flamed if that sounds ridiculous to those in the know!
Click to expand...

You need a couple of adaptors like these
93419.jpg
and
93625.jpg

The first one is called a T-ring and it connects to your SLR/DSLR, there are differant fittings for Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Minolta. The second image is a T-adaptor which screws into the t-ring, then you just insert your dslr into the telescope diagonal, with the eypiece removed of course. The T-adaptor can take various 1.25” filters as well.
 
very nice moon shot :). the adaptor looks fun, any webites you recomend looking at ?
 
Both shots brilliant! But that moon shot is one of the best I've seen on here!

Fantastic!
 
Google "digiscoping" for sites.

Thinking of getting a scope when funds allow.
 
BigD said:
very nice moon shot :). the adaptor looks fun, any webites you recomend looking at ?
Click to expand...
For buying astro stuff I'd recomend http://www.firstlightoptics.com/ and http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/ and to learn more about astronomy/astrophotography http://stargazerslounge.com/ is a great forum.

laser_jock99 said:
Nice moon shot- and the Mars too (I know how difficult this stuff is.....). Have you tried eyepiece projection photography? It's the only way to increase planetary detail (and also to test your patience to the extreme!)
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Thanks. I've not tried eyepiece projection, but I may use a modified webcam in the future for planetary imaging. I think a large scope, 8' minimum and a modified webcam coupled to a barlow/powermate, or dedicated CCD imager is the only way to get stunning planetary detail. Do you have some images using your eyepiece projection method I could look at?

hypnotic said:
The detail in the moon shot is amazing ... :clap:
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Thanks hypnotic:)

Dark Star said:
Both shots brilliant! But that moon shot is one of the best I've seen on here!

Fantastic!
Click to expand...
Thanks DS :)
 
Wow great moon shot! I'm really after the good moon shot of my own and have only ever used a 300m lens to try and get it... I was amazed at first but after seeing shots like yours I just want to go and buy a 1200-1700mm lens!

A friend on another forum has amazing shots of the moon too but when I checked his lens cost something like £3000 yikes... how much did you spend on your setup and could you get closer and sharper do you think or is that roughly the limit of your tech would you say?

amazing stuff, well done fella :)
 
Great shots Dejavu. I take it you used quite a fast shutter speed to compensate the moon's movement through the telescope.
 
:( the moon seems to have gone in for the night? :(
 
theory said:
Wow great moon shot! I'm really after the good moon shot of my own and have only ever used a 300m lens to try and get it... I was amazed at first but after seeing shots like yours I just want to go and buy a 1200-1700mm lens!

A friend on another forum has amazing shots of the moon too but when I checked his lens cost something like £3000 yikes... how much did you spend on your setup and could you get closer and sharper do you think or is that roughly the limit of your tech would you say?

amazing stuff, well done fella :)
Click to expand...

Thanks theory :)
My HEQ5 Pro SynScan (Motorised Mount & tripod) cost around £675, My 6' Maksutov Cassegrain telescope cost around £440, I also have a 80mm ED Refractor telescope which cost around £415, not to mention all the other little bits n bobs. As for getting closer, yes, you can put a barlow or powermate between the scope and dslr to get great views and images of the moons craters. You certainly dont need to spend £3000 to get amazing shots of the moon :)


Chonga said:
Great shots Dejavu. I take it you used quite a fast shutter speed to compensate the moon's movement through the telescope.
Click to expand...

Yes and No :) The shutter speed was around 1/200 sec (not at my own comp so can't be precise) I also have a motorised mount to track the moon, planets and stars.

You need to use manual mode or shutter priority on your cam for shooting the moon, otherwise you will get overexposed images. Also, you dont need a motorised mount like I have, to get excellent pics of the moon, just an ordinary tripod will do:)
I have excellent pics of the moon using just my 400mm f5.6 L on my Manfrotto tripod.
 
very nice :clap: :clap: :clap:
i'm still waiting for my t-ring coming so I can
use the lightbridge, also going to try one of
them mini-eq1 mounts for widefield shots...
 
Brilliant photo! Get some high pass sharpening + sharpening on that and the detail that comes out is immense!
 
stunning
 
Gosh, that's a wonderful moon you have taken there. Congrats to you. (y)
 
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