Photographing the Moon

[Canis Vulpes]

Excellent, I assume we shall have a repeat today (03.02.07)

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

For any crazies still around that are interested, as of now 12:30, Saturn is about one moons width away from the moon, at 3 o'clock, and easily visible with 7x binoculars.

Don

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fox

Excellent, I assume we shall have a repeat today (03.02.07)

I have just checked the Heavans Above page, link http://www.heavens-above.com/ , and from Norfolk it shows :

At 20:00 Saturn about 4:30 o'clock to the Moon, at 21:00 at about 4 o'clock, at 22:00 at about 3:30 o'clock etc. However Saturn will be several Moon diameters further away in comparison with last night.

On the Heavans Above site once you enter your location you can see a Star Chart for your location for any date or time you desire.

Don

[Dave Smith]

Very nice image of the Moon and Saturn Don. You are now clearly ready to photograph next month's occultation of Saturn which occurs on the morning of 2 March 2007. The timings for Cambridge are 02:39 to 02:54. It will be a grazing occultation for Birmingham and anywhere approximately on a line going from the NW to SE. Anyone south or west of that line will not get an occultation, just a near miss but which is still a good photo opportunity. Anyone to the north or east of that line get the full occultation and hence a chance of getting Saturn partly covered by the Moon.

While here can I also mention that on Saturday 3rd March there will be a total eclipse of the Moon the whole of which is visible from the UK. Sorry Sassan but you only get to see part of the eclipse at moonrise. There are more details at http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html

The timings are
21:30:04 Partial eclipse starts
22:43:49 Total eclipse starts
23:58:01 Total eclipse ends
01:11:46 Partial eclipse ends

These times are GMT or UT

Attached are two images that I took of an occultation of Saturn on 03/11/01

Dave

[Canis Vulpes]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

I have just checked the Heavans Above page, link http://www.heavens-above.com/ , and from Norfolk it shows :

At 20:00 Saturn about 4:30 o'clock to the Moon, at 21:00 at about 4 o'clock, at 22:00 at about 3:30 o'clock etc. However Saturn will be several Moon diameters further away in comparison with last night.

On the Heavans Above site once you enter your location you can see a Star Chart for your location for any date or time you desire.

Don

Thanks Don, great information.

My exact location has a rise to ENE so tonight was a game of patience. I had to go to one end of the garden to get a glimpse when the moon was to the East. Using spot metering 300mm +TC17E II (510mm) and aperture priority at f5.6. I managed to get this one that I am rather pleased with and progress has been made personally. This was also shot handheld.

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fox

Using spot metering 300mm +TC17E II (510mm) and aperture priority at f5.6. I managed to get this one that I am rather pleased with and progress has been made personally. This was also shot handheld.

Very good Foxy. I guess the X is out from its winter rest for this.

Handheld just goes to show the advantage of VR, and to think I have been slinging an extra 5kg weight from the Slik for increased stability.

To get Saturn I also draped two 1 Kg bags of sunflower seeds over the scope to damp vibrations.

I am having another look at using the scope ( see if I can improve ). Not nearly as user friendly as using a standard lens though. The scope gives equivalent of 1000mm but with lens + converter I have 400mm. So far image sharpness goes with the lens at 400mm.

Stevie mentioned an upcomming Earth shine event that I will get info on.

Don

[Canis Vulpes]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

Very good Foxy. I guess the X is out from its winter rest for this.

Handheld just goes to show the advantage of VR, and to think I have been slinging an extra 5kg weight from the Slik for increased stability.

To get Saturn I also draped two 1 Kg bags of sunflower seeds over the scope to damp vibrations.

I am having another look at using the scope ( see if I can improve ). Not nearly as user friendly as using a standard lens though. The scope gives equivalent of 1000mm but with lens + converter I have 400mm. So far image sharpness goes with the lens at 400mm.

Stevie mentioned an upcomming Earth shine event that I will get info on.

Don

The X was brought out of hibernation for this one. Shutter speed in the order of 1/640 at ISO200 using spot metering at 510mm. It would have been possible to handhold without VR, although VR was ON.

I am impressed with sharpness retained using 1.7X TC with the primary lens virtually wide open (f3.3~ish)

Sadly no Saturn in my shot

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fox

I am impressed with sharpness retained using 1.7X TC with the primary lens virtually wide open (f3.3~ish)

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Well this one will sound like a nightmare then

Another bracket making session today. I was going to look at the scope then thought if Sassan can do a x3 converter job on his 600 why not try two 2x converters on my 80-200. Although it means more elements than I care to think about, I feel it worth a try.

I did a sample shot using a milk container saved from the ring flash job. Takes in Robs bar code test. The full frame shot taken from 20 feet away is attached.

My Slik weighs 6kg but I hung a further 10kgs from it to increase stability for this shot, nearest thing to nailing tripod to the patio. Focusing will be the biggest problem as this combination is f11 wide open.

A few mods later, ie trying to do away with perching a bag of sunflower seeds on top to dampen any shutter vibration, and attaching the riflescope for easy planet aquisition, and thick fog had decended as can be seen from the attached pic of the camera. No chance of a proper trial tonight.

Don

[Canis Vulpes]

I have heard about people who stack TC's and there is a modification to a TC to allow this. I never really thought quality would result however, the milk bottle pictured is excellent. Even at f11 1/160th at ISO200 should be about the shutter speed required for correct exposure and enough to null any effect of shutter vibration.

The right hand image of the X and stacked TC's really shows the mist of yesterday, hope we have clear skies this week.

[Dave Smith]

There is a photo opportunity this Friday evening when the Moon will plough its way through the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) from around 10.30 GMT to around midnight. The forecast in the UK is not too good but in other parts of the world there may be a good chance.

Dave

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by Dave Smith

There is a photo opportunity this Friday evening when the Moon will plough its way through the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) from around 10.30 GMT to around midnight. The forecast in the UK is not too good but in other parts of the world there may be a good chance.

Dave

Well we missed that event as too much cloud cover.

The next major event which will be visible in the UK is a rare lunar eclipse on the 3rd of March. It will start around 20:18 with max exclpse at 23:21. From a general photography point of view, ie for those without fast lenses or special tracking kit, the period between about 20:18 to 21:30 will probably be the best, as the moon turns through a bright coppery colour to brick red as it passes through the Penumbral shadow. From 21:30 onwards light will diminish as the moon enters the Umbral shadow and turns deep red or rusty in colour before ulimately becoming hard to see at 23:21.

Dave in between almost permenant cloud and dull conditions here I did manage a moon shot 2 days ago ( 21 Feb ) and again early last night. Both taken with a 400mm f5.6 lens.

Don