Fun With My Kids...

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

During our dinner conversation, I mentioned to the kids that Jupiter would be closer to earth than it has been for the last 50 years and that viewing should be good, since the fog didn't roll in last night.
After dinner, Colton decided to set up his telescope which allowed us to see the different colored bands and three of the larger moons... It was cool!!!
Bethany decided to take some pictures and while doing so, discovered that her little digital camera lens fit perfectly into the eye piece of the telescope.
I haven't seen her picture of Jupiter yet, but here's one she took of the moon... I think it's pretty cool!!!

[Juneaudave]

Very cool...who would have thought???

[hotrod]

nice!! would like to see how jupiter turned out to!

[mandy]

I thought the moon looked beautiful tonight then I saw that pic and I'm going to have to go look at it again.

[S. Heisley]

I jest hafta ask. Are you pullin' our legs?

That 'moon' has a round circle on one end with lines that look like sections radiating out from it...sorta looks like a picture-doctored peeled orange.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Not pulling anyone's leg...
My hunch is that dot is an impact site and the lines are where debris radiated outward.
I was looking through Colton's telescope at that and even watched Bethany set her little camera into the eye piece and take the picture.

Kevin thought the same thing too...
Check out this pic (Too big to post here) It shows what I believe to be the same crater/impact site with long lines radiating outward, but from a slightly different angle...
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/images-3/the-moon.jpg

[martha24]

Very impressive.
I would never have thought to try and take a photo.

[alffink]

you got it right Dean

The star burst effect around several craters, are called Ejectra Rays
They are the debris ejected by the blast from the meteor/asteroid impacting with the surface

Also while you are observing Jupiter, look just a bit to the upper left, you may find a tiny and very faint but distinctly blue green disk, that disk would be Uranus, 1/3 the size and five times futher away than Jupiter....just about 2 1/2 billion miles

[S. Heisley]

Wow! Thats cool!

[steve smoot]

Thanks for posting pictures, Dean. I need to see if I can use my digital camera with our telescope. I never thought of that...

[alffink]

steve

best if you can preset camera to INFINITY

the auto focus function can try to focus on the eyepeice rather than the image

bigest problem is getting the camera lens to lineup with the telescope optics

there are several products out there now for mounting a camera above the eyepeice....some actually work pretty well as an example, I do not own one myself

Orion SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount

While observing the Moon or planets, have you ever thought to yourself: "If only I had a way to connect my digital camera to my telescope"? Now you can! The ingenious, easy-to-use Orion SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount provides an amazingly affordable way for anyone to begin capturing impressive images of the Moon, planets, Sun (with a proper filter), and terrestrial objects.

The SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount securely couples just about any "point-and-shoot" digital camera, SLR (single lens reflex), or DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera to a telescope eyepiece, and allows adjustment to achieve precise focus and centering for a focal photography. The rubber-lined eyepiece clamp helps prevent any marring or damage to your telescope eyepieces. This versatile mount offers three dimensions of adjustment (horizontal, vertical, and depth) to accomodate almost any camera size or lens position. You can even rotate the camera away from the telescope eyepiece for visual access, without having to remove the SteadyPix Deluxe Camera Mount.

[Corwin C]

As a person who has spent a whole lot of time looking at the night sky ...

Don't overlook using plain old 10x50 binoculars. I'm not talking expensive either, the WallyWorld variety work fine for beginners. They're cheaper, much simpler to point than a telescope, easier to store & transport, more comfortable to use on long gazing sessions and still gather enough light to help a great deal. I have a 4.5" reflector with all the bells & whistles, but seem to grab the binoculars unless I have a real dim or difficult to find target in mind for the evening. You will also find yourself reaching for the binoculars in the daytime to watch wildlife and so on.

Your magnification/light gathering experience with these will be very similar to what Galileo had with his telescopes. In good conditions (no light pollution) I can see the four Galilean moons around Jupiter (check back every few hours and notice how they move), Saturn's rings (right now they're about edgewise ... really hard to see) and the crescent shape of Venus and Mercury (these planets go through phases like the moon.) Also, I enjoy the moon during it's crescent and gibbous phases more than a full moon because the shadows add immense detail that isn't there during a full moon.

Photos are more difficult. The picture that Dean posted is impressive considering how it was done. I have had better luck with film cameras than digital. Loonnnnnggg exposures and a tripod are necessary for most things and a motor drive is almost a necessity when photographing planetary nebulae, the milky way, star clusters, comets and so on unless you want to capture star-trails, meteor showers, satellite and ISS passes, iridium flares, (things that you want to show as a streak in the image anyway.)

I use the website http://www.heavens-above.com to plan my targets for the evening. There's lots of good accurate information there and accounts are free. It also works for any location worldwide. Have accurate latitude and longitude ready for your viewing site and program it in to see times and direction for seeing satellites, iridium flares (very exciting as they only last for a few seconds), and International Space Station passes. I also use Distant Suns (favorite for planets, stars), GoSatWatch (favorite for satellites - remember to update the data when you have access to WiFi), Star Walk, Starmap Pro, and Moon Globe apps on an iPod Touch to find objects in the sky.

Remember to be safe ... through magnification, the sun will blind you instantly.

[zipz71]

Great picture!
Was that just held up to the eyepiece or do you have a mount?

I'd love to see how the pictures of Jupiter turned out.

There is a free planetarium program I use on my laptop that is available here

http://hnsky.org/

It shows you what would be visible from anywhere in the world at any time and any date between the years 1750 and 2250.

What I like is that it doesn't need an internet connection to use it.

[Pizzaguy]

Photos are more difficult. The picture that Dean posted is impressive considering how it was done. I have had better luck with film cameras than digital. Loonnnnnggg exposures and a tripod are necessary for most things and a motor drive is almost a necessity when photographing planetary nebulae, the milky way, star clusters, comets and so on unless you want to capture star-trails, meteor showers, satellite and ISS passes, iridium flares, (things that you want to show as a streak in the image anyway.)

Your right on as far as trying to capture star trails and the like but pictures of the moon actually require a FAST shutter speed. Being as the moon is VERY bright and emits an enourmous amount of light compared to the darkness of the rest of the nite sky. Heres a pic I captured from the street out in front of my house. You hafta use a tripod. This was captured using a shutter speed of 1/1600 of a second. I live in Wisconsin and DO NOT have any oceans to shoot over thou. I'd tell you my secret to capture refletions like this..... but then I'd hafta kill ya!

Bruce

[Corwin C]

Very nice picture Bruce, and yes you are absolutely correct. If you are looking at a bright object the shutter speeds come right up. It's a real challenge to meter though because the full moon requires less than 1 degree field of view. That's pretty narrow for the typical camera. Higher magnification makes it easier.

It all depends upon your target and the effect that you're looking for.