Moon watching.

[YL3GDY]

Actually, on that subject, does anyone have tips for shooting the moon with a standard digital camera? I have one with a decent zoom function (x10) so I should be able to get a good picture.
Problem is, no matter what I set the exposure to (I can set it ISO50 to ISO1600, but not the shutter speed unfortunately) all I get in the output image is a big white blob, no features can be distinguished

In almost any digital camera is possibility to manually set exposure. It may be not user-friendly, but anyway it must be in the manual.
The exposure when shooting sky will be about tens of seconds and higher(up to hours) with f/5.6 on ISO-200. Anyway, it's recommended to set ISO speed as low as possible to minimize digital noise. And, of course, tripod use is a compulsory!

 

[Andy44]

One of the problems with shooting the moon is that if your camera is automatically setting the exposure level, your light meter will see lots of dark sky and compensate for it by increasing the exposure level. The soultion for this is to use manual mode, and set the aperature and shutter speed manually, purposely stopping the exposure down to keep the bright moon from washing out.

I got good shots of the moon using a 35 mm film camera, and I went through an entire roll of film using defferent aperature and shutter speeds to make sure I would get at least one good exposure.

One thing I learned is that it's better to use a fast shutter if you can, because the Moon is moving across the sky pretty fast, especially if you are using a telephoto lense or shooting through a telescope. Fortuanatly, the moon is bright, so this is not a problem. A steady tripod is a must, however, and try to shield it from wind too.

 

[tblaxland]

Last night the Moon and Saturn were in conjunction. I set up my telescope with my three year old son and we had about half an hour of viewing before the clouds and rain rolled in. We then retired indoors and read "[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Picture-Puffins-Anastasia-Suen/dp/0140565981/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208322178&sr=1-3"]Man on the Moon[/ame]" (an Apollo 11 story). Overall, a very pleasant evening.

BTW, Brighton Beach was right on the terminator!

 

[YL3GDY]

When shooting the Moon, I have used 1/200 sec exposure with f/5.6 aperture using standart 200mm lens.Then I have it normally exposen, and without blur.

Anyway, on long exposures you'll see sky rotating. Unless it's your idea, it's better to use an automated mounting. E.g., you mount your camera on a telescope, point it to the Moon, turn on automatic seeking, and shoot through telescope's optics, or directly from standart lens.

 

[Tex]

I've got an Orion 10" dobsonian I enjoy dragging out occasionally in the fall and winter when its clear and dark. The moon is always fun to look at being so close. Definately my favorite thing to observe in deep space is the Orion Nebula. Looks very nice.

 

[ryan]

You can see the orion nebula from your telescope? I can barely get anything.

 

[myles]

How a bout watching the ISS? I have a telescope but haven't tried it, I just watch it go bye with my own eyes. It has gone by about everyday! My telescope might not even zoom as good:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

 

[agentgonzo]

Actually, on that subject, does anyone have tips for shooting the moon with a standard digital camera? I have one with a decent zoom function (x10) so I should be able to get a good picture.
Problem is, no matter what I set the exposure to (I can set it ISO50 to ISO1600, but not the shutter speed unfortunately) all I get in the output image is a big white blob, no features can be distinguished

It sounds like you're over exposing the photo. As stated, you need to set the exposure length manually (1/200th of a second is a ballpark mark for the moon). I'd shoot on iso400 or something like that - you want a short exposure as the moon will move across the field of view.

Get the camera on a tripod and use a remote shutter release or timer function on the camera to trigger the photo to minimise camera shake. This is what you can expect on a standard digital camera (taken on my Canon S3 at 12x optical zoom). Taken at last year's lunar eclipse:

As for what I've seen through my telescope, I have a 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain with a focal length of 2032mm (Celestron Ultima 2000).

I was out just the other night observing Saturn. Always takes my breath away. I could see the banding on the planet, the rings and the shadow of the planet on the rings and the shadow of the rings on the planet. The Cassini division was also visible as well as Titan, Enceladus, Dione, Tethys and Rhea. I've also seen Mercury, Venus, Mars with it's polar ice-caps just visible early this year, Jupiter and the 4 moons (still waiting to see a transit/eclipse) and Uranus. Haven't seen Neptune and Pluto is probably beyond the limit's of the scope in my location. Saw Comet 17p/Holmes earlier this year.

Splitting binary/mulitple stars is always fun, especially if they are strikingly different to eachother (Castor and eta orionis). The double-double (epsillon-lyrae) is always fun.

Nebula and galaxies are pretty and I want to start imaging them (have just bought an SLR). M13 (great cluster in Hercules) never fails to take my breath away, as does the ring nebula in Lyra. Andromeda is too faint in by urban skies to show the veins on the galaxy though. And of course the famous orion nebula (M42) and the horsehead nebula, and a few more.

 

[silent_protagonist]

17P/Holmes finally persuaded me to pull out my old Meade model 4500 4.5" Newtonian. Since then I've been having fun with it.

I haven't been able make out any detail in Mars yet. (My rickety mount really limits my ability to focus at high magnification.) Saturn however is spectacular. I can't make out the Cassini division, but I can at least see the gap between the rings and the planet itself, and at least four moons (Titan, Dione, Rhea, and Iapetus; I ought to try again and see if I can catch Enceladus, now that it's become so interesting). I've only stayed up late/early enough to catch Jupiter once so-far; the seeing was pretty bad though (not to mention dodging tree branches) and I couldn't make out any cloud detail. I was able to clearly see all four moons though and even make out some color from Io. The Moon of course is spectacular. And it was fun watching Holmes evolve over several nights.

As for DSO's, nebulae and globular clusters for me are mostly just blurs, with the notable exception of the Orion Nebula, of course. And I was able to make out the hole in the middle of the Ring Nebula, which was cool. Open clusters like the Double Cluster and of course the Pleiades are pretty spectacular; and I've been able to split a few doubles pretty easily, of which Albireo (B. Cyg) is my favorite. (I'll have to give Epsilon Lyrae a try, I didn't know about that one.)

 

[FordPrefect]

Just to give an impression what serious hobby astronomers are able to do these days:

BIG Moon mosaic created from dozens of single frames, by Mario Weigand.

http://www.skytrip.de/monvid203c.htm

:blink:

here's the related thread (sorry, german only)
http://forum.astronomie.de/phpapps/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/511836#Post511836

 

[TSPenguin]

I think my post in another thread makes sense here.
Since the topic is very strong here, I'll post some details.
The pictures where made free hand with a Canon Powershot A720 using ISO 80 and 1/160th second exposure time. Zoom was 6x and F=4.8.
All owners of Canon cameras should check out CHDK! (!!!)

 

[Salamander]

how about a little competition?

who get's the last shot of the moon before new moon, and/or the first shot after.

 

[Kyle]

Ive seen Mercury, venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and possibly Neptune in a Really high power telescope at a near by observatory