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Hi Mike,
As duty astronomer I'm basically on-call 24-7 at the observatory for a week-long period (it's a bit like jury duty, but more interesting, where radio astronomers donate 2 x 1 week periods over the year to help support the observatory). In most of the time-lapse shots I would set up the camera and then head back to the control room to help observers with their questions and set up. Every so often I'd go for a bit of a walk (when weather permits) and so that's when I'd get some of the animal shots. Sometimes there are maintenance periods where I'm free - but usually the antenna is not doing anything particularly interesting during these periods (there is one VERY windy shot in the sequence where the telescope was under regular maintenance).
All of the shots were done with a single camera (Canon 5D Mark II) - I couldn't afford any more ;-) I used two lenses which covered two extreme ends of the spectrum - a 15 mm f/2.8 fish eye lens and a 70-300mm f/4-5.6. I would REALLY love to have something like the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 but it's astronomical price-tag is way outside what an average astronomer could afford ... plus I need to find a new tripod first.
I've got a battery grip for the camera which allows me to include two batteries - this seems to run for ages. I'm sure it would be sufficient to run for most of the night (along with a 16 GB memory card) ... if I could overcome the dew problems. BTW, I've read about people adding a heater on their lenses ... it sounds like an interesting solution but probably means I need access to more power ... and an appropriate heater.
Cheers,
Emil.
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