Telescope Pictures [latest: full moon on 9-Feb-09]

[chin]

Celestron C8 Telescope
 
We acquired a Celestron C8 8" telescope in Spring 2004.

In Jan 2005 I final bought the adaptors to attach the camera to the telescope. All I need now is a clear sky to take picture of the sky.

[chin]

Telescope Photo Test 15-Jan-05

For now some test shots using the telescope.

The picture on top was taken with the telescope, and the one at the bottom is with normal telephoto lens (at F10).

The telescope is equivalent to 2032mm/F10 lens. For the APS-C size CCD on my digital camera, the magnification is abou 100x, if I have the concept right.

For me the most difficult part of using the telescope as camera lens is to focus by hand. The picture on top is quite heavily sharpened in Photoshop.

Nonetheless I am quite happy with the result. The telescope is the ultimate spy lens.

[chin]

The Moon (23-Jan-05)

Today is the day before full moon. I had about 1 hour window to photo the moon before the cloud set in.

Photos taken with telescope at 1/60s. The Celestron C8 is 2032mm at fixed aperture of F10.

At the 1.5 crop factor of my Minolta 7D, I can only capture 3/4 of the moon through the telescope. This picture is the product of two photo stitched together.

[chin]

The Moon (19-Nov-05)

Picture of the moon taken after a nice dinner.

[chin]

Full moon on 9-Feb-09.
元月十五的滿月.

[Reza]

I downloaded Starry Nights Online from Space.com to my cellphone. It charts the sky in your current location. Pretty neat!

[chin]

I downloaded Starry Nights Online from Space.com to my cellphone. It charts the sky in your current location. Pretty neat!

I used to have Starry Nights in my PC, so I can figure out what stars I can see before searching with the telescope.

About 2 or 3 years ago we saw Saturn with our telescope using this method.