Couple of moonpics

[Kieken]

No clouds and not tired, the perfect circumstances for a couple of hours of telescopefun. I made a couple of photo's, 3 of the moon, 1 of M13 and 1 of Vega. Enjoy :)

M13 (http://users.pandora.be/willy.geys3/Astronomie/18-6-2005/M13%20copy.jpg) M13 is the faint smudge, not so impressive but still, my first DSO on photo :).
Moon 1 (http://users.pandora.be/willy.geys3/Astronomie/18-6-2005/Maan.jpg)
Moon 2 (http://users.pandora.be/willy.geys3/Astronomie/18-6-2005/maan%202.jpg)
Moon 3 (http://users.pandora.be/willy.geys3/Astronomie/18-6-2005/maan%203.jpg)
Vega (http://users.pandora.be/willy.geys3/Astronomie/18-6-2005/Vega%20copy.jpg)

[[1ponders]]

Nice going Kieken. Welcome to the astrophoto club. Its always a great feeling when you catch your first DSO. Doesn't matter how it turns out. You know you've got one and your at the same level as everyone else when they first started taking DSOs. It makes you want to push for more. :thumbsup:

Great moon shots as well. If you have photoshop (or something similar) have a bit of a play around with the levels and contrast and brightness. I think you'll be amazed what will come out.

Your Vega look just a touch out of focus. And that's only going by the thickness of the diffraction spikes. What camera are you using and are you shooting afocal?

Excellent stuff:clap:

[Kieken]

Camera is Fujifilm Finepix F700. And yep, shooting was afocal. Afocal is the only I can with this camera (unless you guys can give me an alternative ;) ). With another cemara (an Canon AV-1) I was able to take a couple of pictures in prime focus (but I don't expect to much from them).

[h0ughy]

nice shots of the moon

[[1ponders]]

Can you do long exposures with that camera? Say up to 30 seconds?

[Kieken]

Nope, 3 seconds is the best I can get. It's not much but it's enough for the moment (I don't have any kind of tracking device).

[[1ponders]]

Looks like your stuck with quick shots then. Until you get a tracking mount like Mikes and a camera that can expose for at least 30 sec. Then you'll really be on your way. Mind you there's a lot of work in putting together a complete portfolio of moon images for each phase of the moon, including close ups of crater, riles, mountains etc. Enough to keep you busy for a couple of years at least :)

[Kieken]

I'm planning to buy a tracking mount for my 114/900 newton but that won't be for the next few months (normally). Until then I'll have to do with what I have.

[[1ponders]]

Have a bit of a chat to Mike. I think he's pretty happy with his. :love: :love: :poke: :poke: :poke: :thumbsup:

[RAJAH235]

Hi Kieken, Nice pics. What mag/Epc? I take it that you used the 12" DOB. :D L.

[Kieken]

Yep, "mijn schatteke" was standing outside this night. :)

For the pics in this thread I used an Orion Sirius Plössl 20mm. That gives me a magnification of around 75. I don't know if it's higher or not when I use this EP for photography.

For the filmphotography I first used a 32mm plössl from Orion and later I switched to prime focus. The 32mm gives something of 46x, for prime focus I don't know.

[iceman]

Nice shots Keiken.. you should probably reduce their quality a bit, 300k for a photo that size is a bit excessive, you won't lose any detail by reducing the quality a bit.

And as Paul said, a bit of post-processing will do wonders on those shots. Here's an example of your 3rd shot, with schiller up the top and hainzel below it, and of course big ol' tycho to the left. I've done a quick 1 minute process in photoshop, and my version is only 40-something kilobytes.

[Kieken]

Processing (trying to) will be something for tomorrow. Should be in bed right now 'cause I have to get out pretty early.