About 6 months ago I got myself a Canon EOS 350D. My previous camera (which I still have but do not use) was a Canon EOS 500N that had 2 zoom lenses. So I was quite happy to realise the 350D would take the 2 old lenses which compliment the 18-55mm that came with it.
Now you may be wondering why astrophotography, fake or otherwise, is being mentioned in the terrestrial section. The following images were taken under the dome at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium and the reason for this was experimentation with the cable release that I got for Christmas.
You will notice towards the lower left corner of each picture is a purple haze. This is noise from the camera and can be eliminated if I turn on the noise reduction function but because these were just silly shots I didn't bother doing that.
There are two star trail shots, both centred on the SCP. In one of them (trail small 1.jpg) I had the Zeiss star projector already moving when I opened the shutter and this gives a nice even trail. In the other (trails 2.jpg), I opened the shutter and then after about 10 seconds got the Zeiss moving resulting in a trail but a bright starting image. The 2 blobs seen in the upper area of the second trail are the Magallenic Clouds. Both images were 120 second exposures.
Apart from projecting stars, the Zeiss can also show the ecliptic, celestial equator and meridian. Zodical figures and an orrery are also available. The image called zodiac.jpg is pretty self explanatory, the dotted line is the ecliptic with the Roman numerals representing the months of the year and the Arabic numerals indicating the days of the month.
The image called ecliptic.jpg is an intersting one. I turned on the meridian and the ecliptic and set the date of the winter solstice on the meridian (effectively this is like setting the Zeiss to midday of the winter solstice). I then set the Zeiss in motion and after a few seconds I turned off the meridian so it did not get burned in and overexposed. I briefly turned it back on just before the end to make sure I stopped the Zeiss at the proper time. You will notice that the ecliptic stopped at midday on the date of the summer solstice. All in all it shows the variance in altitude of the Sun when observed at midday.
Lastly there is the earth_moon.jpg image. This was taken using the Zeiss orrery. Imagining the image like a clock, look at about one o'clock and the bright circle of the Earth can be seen with the smaller Moon just above it. When the orrery is set running the Moon revolves about the Earth which in turn goes about the Sun. The scalloped line the Moon traces out is quite interesting. Once again I had to be careful because the Sun would have become overexposed so I had to put a bit of cardboard over the Sun projector for most of the shot.
I like the moon locus shot. Just like a spirograph. I have a theory called the "Spirograph of Management" ... Something I've developed over a lot of years working in the one large company... Glad to see it's only natural!
Thats pretty cool, I like them all, #2 looks great, wonder if it can be done under a real sky.
I imagine it could be done...put the camera on a tracking platform and track for a few minutes then simply turn off the tracking but leave the shutter open. Well that's the theory anyway...
Yes gaa_ian, I am one of the presenters at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, so I can "play" between shows. Below is an image of Mars doing its retrograde motion with the ecliptic also showing.
love 'em, you see all the firsts on IIS!
I have a theory called the "Spirograph of Management" ...
Something I've developed over a lot of years working in the one large company...
Glad to see it's only natural!
between shows. Below is an image of Mars doing its retrograde motion with the ecliptic also showing.
