Astrophotography

[Dave Smith]

Originally Posted by Leif

The person I am thinking of some quite expensive American made refractors with triplet objectives, and lived somewhere in Herts/Beds. I am pretty sure he took pictures in the UK especially planets. He had a web site, but I cannot find it.

OK. I now think you are refering to Damien Peach who is probably the best planet imager around. I went to a talk given by him at this year's astrofest. Fascinating it was but he didn't give away any secrets.

Dave

[g8ina]

http://www.damianpeach.com/lunarindex.htm

[Don Hoey]

Thanks for the link. Amazing images.

Do

[Leif]

Originally Posted by Dave Smith

OK. I now think you are refering to Damien Peach who is probably the best planet imager around. I went to a talk given by him at this year's astrofest. Fascinating it was but he didn't give away any secrets.

Dave

Sadly not. I'm sure this person was fairly wealthy and commuted in to the city to work.

I'm not surprised Peach did not give away secrets. My suspicion is that most photographers give away what is well known, but keep the less well known tricks to themselves. Except here of course, where lots of people give tips on DIY ring flash etc.

[sassan]

Originally Posted by Leif

most photographers give away what is well known, but keep the less well known tricks to themselves. Except here of course, where lots of people give tips on DIY ring flash etc.

Knowledge is to be shared, if it is to grow and yield its fruit.
Or it will die within.

[Leif]

Originally Posted by sassan

Knowledge is to be shared, if it is to grow and yield its fruit.
Or it will die within.

Very commendable, but if you have a family to look after, I suspect you will keep knowledge to yourself. Piers Corbyn is well known as being able to forecast weather months ahead with greater reliability than others, and he will not reveal his secrets, as to do so would lose him an income.

[Don Hoey]

Another site with some great pics.

One to keep an eye on as Astro photography is under review. http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/

Don

[Dave Smith]

Another photographic opportunity?

Just received this from the Society of Popular Astronomy.

***********************************
The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY
***********************************
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Special Electronic News Bulletin 2007 June 14
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DAYLIGHT OCCULTATION OF VENUS
June 18, 2007

By Jon Harper, Occultation Section

After the Sun and Moon, Venus, as I'm sure you know, is the third-
brightest natural celestial object in the entire sky (unless a nearby
supernova were to go off!). So unlike the recent difficult daylight
occultation of Saturn on May 22, you will have a much better chance
with this event which takes place on Monday, June 18, owing to the
brilliance of Venus (V ~ -4.0). The Moon at the time of the
occultation is a 3.7-day-old waxing crescent, and Venus itself presents
a broader crescent showing a phase of 0.44. Venus at the time is just
a couple of weeks past its greatest elongation east of the Sun, and
lies some 45° away from the latter; therefore sunlight will not be a
problem. Neither will it be a danger because of the angular separation
distance noted above. This event can be observed with the naked eye,
given a clear, transparent sky, but binoculars are obviously better.
With a good pair, you may just possibly be able to detect the planet's
phase if the binoculars are firmly fixed and well focussed.
Incidentally, if you have never seen Venus with the naked eye in
daylight before, now is your chance to do so. The Moon will help you!
Simply find the Moon, quite easy to do in a clear sky, and look just
two Moon diameters (1°) to the lower left of the crescent at around
lunchtime on the 18th. With any telescope of course the occultation
will be truly spectacular against the daylight sky!

The table lists the times of disappearance of the planet at the Moon's
dark limb (DD), and the reappearance at the bright limb (RB), in the
vicinity of Mare Smythii, near the Moon's true-eastern limb (west as
we see it) for 14 UK cities, one of which may be near you. Don't
forget to add an hour to the times given in order to obtain the local
('summer') time of each event. If you want more detailed information
specifically for your location, do drop me an e-mail specifying where
you live. Any observation reports, timings, and/or images will be
gratefully received at the same address: [email protected] and will be
put up on the Occultation Section's web pages. Peter Grego intends to
do a web cast of the occultation from his location near Birmingham, so
if you have cloudy skies where you are, there is another chance to
watch available, courtesy of the Lunar Section.

CITY DD (UT) RB (UT)

BELFAST 13:52 15:10
BIRMINGHAM 13:58 15:18
CAMBRIDGE 14:01 15:21
CANTERBURY 14:04 15:23
CARDIFF 13:58 15:15
GLASGOW 13:53 15:13
INVERNESS 13:52 15:12
LIVERPOOL 13:56 15:15
LONDONDERRY 13:50 15:08
NEWCASTLE 13:57 15:17
NORWICH 14:02 15:23
PLYMOUTH 13:58 15:13
SHEFFIELD 13:58 15:18
SOUTHAMPTON 14:01 15:19


Bulletin compiled by Clive Down

(c) 2007 the Society for Popular Astronomy


The Society for Popular Astronomy has been helping beginners to
amateur astronomy -- and more experienced observers -- for 50
years. If you are not a member then you may be missing something.
Membership rates are extremely reasonable, starting at just £15 a
year in the UK. You will receive our bright quarterly magazine
Popular Astronomy, regular printed News Circulars, help and advice
in pursuing your hobby, the chance to hear top astronomers at our
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join online right now with a credit card or debit card at our lively
website: http://popastro.c.topica.com/maagKTTabzdRCa9n9S4b/


================================================== ==================

Dave

[Dave Smith]

Well here is my attempt. The first part was clouded out and to be frank I thought there was nil chance of seeing anything. I noticed that there were some breaks in the cloud so set up SkymapPro to see at what stage the occultation was at. It told me that Venus was about a full Moon's width away from the Moon so I went out with binoculars to see what I could see.
There was the Moon but no sign of Venus. I was rather puzzled by this when a very bright spot appeared on the edge of the Moon.

I was totally unprepared so rushed in to get the camera etc, tried a couple of handheld shots as insurance and during some cloud was able to set up the tripod with the following result. Pity I didn't have my telescope set up. It turned out that SkymapPro was still in GMT

Did anyone else observe or photograph the occultation?

Dave

[Saphire]

Brilliant photo, well done in getting the capture. I missed it in North Staffordshire the was to much cloud cover.