Summer Update: March 17th, 2010

So the next night I went out again, and found that a parking lot not too far from home provided me a great view of the western horizon. Same subject matter as last time, but much earlier in the night. I really liked the sunset colors in the pictures, but there wasn't much emphasis on Venus or the Moon, since they are really small compared to the local landmarks from my perspective.

Moon, Venus, and Applebee's

Some good Earthshine bouncing off the dark side of the moon here.

More pics from March 17th, 2010 here

Summer Catch-up: March 16th pictures

So back in March I started taking some pictures just with the DSLR on a tripod with the 75-300mm lens. This was the first night I went out, which included a very young crescent moon. The pictures aren't spectacular, but I was happy to be able to fit Venus and a cool lookin' moon in one shot. (You'll have to open it up to see it in better detail.) I should find a better foreground for the pictures, and probably time it better so that the sunset colors come out.

More pictures from March 16th, 2010 here

What I've learned (focus)

It's darn hard to focus well - I've found that turning on the live view, and then zooming in on the moon works well, but not the best (Auto focus doesn't work). Even looking at RAW pictures, it's not as in focus as I'd like when I zoom in. I guess if I want good pics of the moon I'll attach the camera to one of my ultimate zoom lenses - one of the telescopes. More on that once I try it out.

Any other thoughts from anyone out there?

What I've learned so far (ISO)

May seem obvious if you've done SLR photography before, but to those of us who haven't...ISO determines how sensitive the chip is. ISO 100 means it's less sensitive, therefore the shutter needs to be open longer or the f-stop lower to allow more light in regular photography. In shooting pictures of stars...ISO 100 means you can take longer star trail pictures. ISO 1600 means it'll take less time for the light pollution to kick in and a shorter shutter speed. I hear the trade off in this though is that there is a lot more noise in with a higher ISO because it magnifies each signal the chip in the camera gets, including the random noise that we want so little of in astrophotography. So to summarize, ISO 1600 good for sports and ISO 100 good for astronomy (Yes, a broad generalization, but hey, I'm beginning...) Pictures coming soon...

Why THIS Equipment? (Camera)

Why did I choose the Canon 1000D (Digital Rebel XS)? Here's what I've learned from various sources about cameras:

What Kind of Pictures Do You Want to Take?
What's the Best Camera to Take Them With?
* Scenics - DSC or DSLR
* Planetary - Webcam
* Deep-sky - CCD or DSLR

Canon DSLR's are standard, then Nikon in second
Good points about the Canon 1000D (Digital Rebel XS):
Low noise (Canon is typically better)
High sensitivity
Good signal to noise ratio
Live-view focusing
Dust-reduction
Single-Cable operation

It'll double as a daytime camera that's much better than what I already have (cell phones have more megapixels)
I can start learning to take scenic astrophotos without the worry of telescopes and tracking, etc. and then upgrade to attaching it to a telescope.

So, for a modest $450, it fit the budget well, allowing me to take scenic pictures on a tripod and Deep-Sky images through the Celestron SCT. I'll probably try it through the EON refractor, too, just to see what happens. Most of the info came from http://www.astropix.com/HTML/I_ASTROP/CAMERAS.HTM
I did get a zoom lens as well, which will likely be used.

Needed: T-ring adapter for attachment to the scope
Adapter for >30 sec. exposure

Equipment List

So what do I have to take Astrophotos with?

Canon EOS Rebel XS (a.k.a. 1000D) SLR Digital Camera
18-55mm IS Lens

Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III Autofocus Lens
Canon EOS Camera T-ring for Astrophotography
1.25" Universal Camera Adapter

Orion StarShoot Solar System Color Imager III



Orion StarShoot Planetary Imager and AutoGuider

Orion Sirius EON 120ED EQ-G GoTo Refractor



Orion SkyQuest XT10i Computerized IntelliScope



and an old Celestron SCT that looks a lot like this...

First Entry: Purpose & Introduction

I teach astronomy to high school seniors. I am also an amateur astronomer...a very, VERY amateur astronomer.

I received an email today with some great links for places where students can get pictures without copyright issues. I looked for some pictures of the moon, planets, or stars and couldn't find any that weren't taken by satellites or major research telescopes.

I also just received a grant that allowed me to purchase astronomy equipment for our planetarium. As part of the equipment I purchased both a CCD camera and a DSLR.

I plan on learning astrophotography and then using that knowledge to teach some of my students about it. I will use this blog to track the progress that I make and I guess serve as an information source for others who are learning astrophotography.

For now though, I am just waiting for the go-ahead to order the equipment.

Next post will likely be an equipment list, etc.