Find us on Google+ Astronomy Box: September 2012

30 September 2012

Lunar 9 - RC8 First Lunar Light

Here's a sneaky first light of my new 8" Ritchey Chrétien telescope. 
Torrent of posts to follow, I promise.



OTA: 8" Ritchey Chrétien
Camera: Nikon D3100 14.2mp
Mount: HEQ5
Exposures: 125
Exposure: 1/350sec
ISO: 100

3 September 2012

Lunar 9 - Foreground Detail

When imaging the moon, and especially at high magnifications, you really notice how fast the moon is travelling across the sky. When tracking the moon on a mount with the suitable tracking rate it's fine, but what about if you want to capture a shot of the moon rise with some terrestrial detail silhouetted against it?

That's when you only have a matter of minutes to take your shots, because that moon will be clear of the horizon so quickly. This is where that pesky culprit, moon glow, actually plays a helpful role. Before the moon actually starts to peak over the trees you will see the pale glow on the horizon first, giving you a little extra time to set up your scope.

I was learning all this on the fly, and was a little late adjusting my camera settings so all I was able to come away with was the following image. 


Next time I'll know to be ready, but these types of lunar photos offer huge scope for the imagination. Pardon the pun.