Animation of Vesta nearing opposition

[StephenM]

Hi All,

I tracked down my first asteroid (Vesta) using binoculars a few nights ago, and decided to have a go at imaging it. The attached file is a quick animation made up of images taken on the 23rd, 24th and 25th October, showing Vesta's movement against the background stars. All images were taken using a tripod-mounted Pentax K100D and 300mm telephoto lens, from my backyard in Brisbane. Exposure 6 sec at f/5.6 and 800 iso.

I'm happy with the result given the equiptment used. I might try a longer animation over the next couple of weeks. (Vesta is at opposition on Nov 1st).

Cheers,
Stephen

[Dennis]

Hi Stephen

Great work in planning for this and following through with the animation – I’m impressed! Consider me also newly educated in how quickly these lumps of rocks move…I didn’t expect to see such a large movement with the relatively short focal length of 300mm.

How did you acquire the field - just through the camera viewfinder? If so, take a bow, star hopper!

Cheers

Dennis

[Matty P]

Nice animation Stephen. You have captured a lot of movement for a 300mm fl.

Very well done. :thumbsup:

[StephenM]

Thanks Dennis and Matty.

Yes Dennis, I did use the viewfinder to track down Vesta. After checking with Stellarium, I first found it using binoculars, and then star hopped with repeat exposures. I also cropped the view while making the animation (to help keep the size down).

Cheers,
Stephen

[[1ponders]]

:clap::clap: :clap:

Way to go Stephen. Nice shootin'.

Watch that Dennis fellas enthusiasm. He'll have you suckered in and trying for mag 16 moons next. ;)

[Liz]

Great work Stephen, animations are always fun to watch, thank you :)

[StephenM]

Thanks for the comments Liz and Paul!

Cheers,
Stephen