10D Astrophotos a few days

before Full Moon

Uploaded 10/26/04

 There used to be a window around full moon, that film astrophotographers simply stopped shooting the deep sky, and had to wait until the dark of the moon returned to resume. When digital imaging entered the scene about a decade ago, this all changed. While its always best to shoot under the darkest and most transparent skies possible, it is comforting to know that we can get beautiful images during the full moon with loads of details now with CCD and CMOS imagers.

Here are some first shots with my Meade 622 Schmidt Newtonian and the 10D combination. The chip is quite a bit larger than the ST8i I have been using, yielding a pleasantly larger field of view. The skies photograph during full moon the same color as the daytime sky - blue, which you will notice in the below images. I didnt try to subtract the blue out, because I felt the drama of the full moon night was captured here. I will post an shot of the Comet Tracker in the future.

Click on Thumbnails for larger View !

 Gibbeous Moon, 1/500 second with ASA set for 100, prime focus shot.

Moon again, with 2x Televue barlow. 1/125 sec at ASA 200.

 Andromeda Galaxy, 4 x 1min unguided, ASA 1600. (These three - natural blue moonlit skies)

 M57 - The Ring Nebula in Lyra, 3 x 1min unguided, ASA 1600. The color of the nebula here is what your eye would see if the brightness were turned up. Since the camera doesnt see the red hydrogen line as film does, the nebula is rendered bluish from OIII and Hb emission.
 Double Cluster in Perseus, 3 x 1min unguided, ASA 1600
Instrument: 6" f/3.6 Comet Tracker Schmidt Newtonian Platform: Televue Mount Camera: Canon 10D Filters: None Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing 6/10, Transparency 6/10 Outside Temperature: 15 C Processing Tools: Photoshop CS, Maxim DL, SGBNR HOME GALAXIES EMISSION NEBS REFLECTION NEBS COMETS GLOBULARS OPEN CLUST PLANETARIES LINKS
 

 
 


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