MOONSHOTS. Anyone else play with cameras in the dark?

A few shots of the moon and Jupiter taken through a telescope. Another thing I have spent far to much money on in years past - cameras and telescopes. Post yours if you got them.








Jupiter. The dark spot is a shadow from one of its moons as it crossed in front

8/27/07 lunar eclipse



Midnight in the desert (my house)

Antennas on a hill near my friend's place.





Stuff with my laser




That's my friend, Cory. I told him to turn his head from side to side while doing a 6 second time exposure

I will go ahead and mention CHDK for Canon Point and Shoot Cameras here too... The free software that just installs on your camera's memory card (does not change camera's firmware at all), will allow ~64 second maximum exposures (instead of the 15 second Canon allows), plus it allows you to play with the noise reduction "closed shutter" shot used to subtract noise from long exposures (2 seconds or over--you can delay, take one every 5 pictures, etc... Useful for things like night lightning shots where a 1 minute exposure to capture light would normally be followed by a 1 minute exposure to capture sensor noise).

Folks have also written basic programs that allow you to do time lapts+long exposure shots across night and day (movies).

-Bill

Holepuncher said:

Jupiter. The dark spot is a shadow from one of its moons as it crossed in front

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Amazing. It makes me wonder though, how much color is lost shooting through Earth atmosphere ?

Ok... I know this doesn't look that impressive compared to the ones already posted but I'm VERY impressed with this photo... it was taken with my cell phone cam at 7:03 am on 12/13/08. The only thing that I have adjusted with PhotoShop is the size.

Greta said:

Ok... I know this doesn't look that impressive compared to the ones already posted but I'm VERY impressed with this photo... it was taken with my cell phone cam at 7:03 am on 12/13/08. The only thing that I have adjusted with PhotoShop is the size.

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Mistress of the forum, if you are impressed with that one, I've got a private studio full of etchings to show you....

Just kidding.......

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I never did much night photography. Mostly all nature stuff. My wife and I did a lot of butterfly and bird photography, but since both our strokes, we don't do much at all any more..... I have always loved photography......

Rising moon. Color due to atmosphere. Taken by my fujifilm finepix s5100 at 10x zoom.

Great pics folks! What kind of telescope was used to see Jupiter with that much detail?

Rayne said:

Great pics folks! What kind of telescope was used to see Jupiter with that much detail?

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I dont give out my secrets:nana:

The moon shots were taken with an 80mm apochromatic refractor.

The Jupiter shots (plural) were taken with a 6" Mak-Cassegrain telescope. There were 20 shots taken and then they were "stacked" together. Visually looking through the telescope it is almost impossible to see that much color and detail. Atmospheric turbulance destroys the view.

Holepuncher said:

I dont give out my secrets:nana:

The moon shots were taken with an 80mm apochromatic refractor.

The Jupiter shots (plural) were taken with a 6" Mak-Cassegrain telescope. There were 20 shots taken and then they were "stacked" together. Visually looking through the telescope it is almost impossible to see that much color and detail. Atmospheric turbulance destroys the view.

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The 80mm APO would be about 450-500mm & f5? and the Mak about 1,000-1,100mm maybe f11? I used an 80mm Orion for a while with my Canon SLR and I used one of the MTO 1100mm Russians with my Penatx.... That was long ago in a distant galaxy....:laughing:

jusval said:

The 80mm APO would be about 450-500mm & f5? and the Mak about 1,000-1,100mm maybe f11? I used an 80mm Orion for a while with my Canon SLR and I used one of the MTO 1100mm Russians with my Penatx.... That was long ago in a distant galaxy....:laughing:

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Yeah the APO is sitting in my dining room looking pretty except you can write your name in the dust on it. Have not touched it in about 2 years. The MAK is 1800mm. Post some shots!

StarHalo said:

Midnight in the desert (my house)

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Was that shot overexposed to capture the sky or do you have 20000 watts of light in front. Nice view you have

Some very nice shots! I don´t have a telescope or a good camera, just a point ´n shoot digicam. But sometimes you get lucky and get a good shot with such a thing too. Nothing fancy as the great shots above but I like the atmosphere created by the moonlight, the trees and the ähm ....whatever you call those leftovers by planes.....

Eric

Eric242 said:

Some very nice shots! I don´t have a telescope or a good camera, just a point ´n shoot digicam. But sometimes you get lucky and get a good shot with such a thing too. Nothing fancy as the great shots above but I like the atmosphere created by the moonlight, the trees and the ähm ....whatever you call those leftovers by planes.....

Eric

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You dont need a good camera. I have an old Olympus D490 point and shoot and a Pentax K100 DSLR which I believe is considered bottom of the line in the DSLR world. I'm pretty sure I used the Olympus for those moon shots. An slr camera with its lens removed is just easier to affix to a telescope. Nice shot you made. Too bad it wasn't a clear night. Those jet trails would have looked marvelous.

Holepuncher said:

Was that shot overexposed to capture the sky or do you have 20000 watts of light in front. Nice view you have

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It's an 8 second shutter. The front of the house is very nearly as bright as you see it in the image however, as no one else on my street leaves their exterior lights on; the two 100 watt-equivalent coach lights light up this section of the street nicely.

StarHalo said:

It's an 8 second shutter. The front of the house is very nearly as bright as you see it in the image however, as no one else on my street leaves their exterior lights on; the two 100 watt-equivalent coach lights light up this section of the street nicely.

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Looks like you could light up the entire neighborhood. I'm jealous of that spectactular view you have. Go ahead . Rub it in. Tell me you have clear very dark sky's as well.

Holepuncher said:

Tell me you have clear very dark sky's as well.

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It's the middle of the desert 3000 feet up, you can see satellites pass with the naked eye..

Eric242 said:

...whatever you call those leftovers by planes.....

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Pssst.... con-trails... or condensation trails.....

Greta said:

Pssst.... con-trails... or condensation trails.....

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Pssst.... chemtrails.... :tinfoil:

-Bill