Our Celestial Neighbour

[DrunkenZombiee]

The Mrs bought me a starter telescope back in January but I haven't had much of a chance to use to due to being in the US and generally busy with work.

There was one cloudy night however where I managed to get some good pictures of the moon through cloud cover.

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For those of you interested this picture was taken at 1600mm which is pretty much perfect to get the moon full frame with and ISO of 400 and 1/100 shutter speed. The moon will move surprisingly quickly across the sky so you need a high-ish shutter speed or you just get blur.

To get to 1600mm I used my telescope that has a focal length of 500mm and combined it with a 2x barlow lens (500mm x 2 = 1000mm) and with the 1.6 crop factor of my 550D (1000mm x 1.6 = 1600mm).

Using the Barlow was the same effect as adding an extension tube onto the telescope however and halved the amount of light, but currently that is the only way I can mount my camera to the telescope.

Looking forward to getting more shots of the stars and planets in the winter =).

DZ

[Benny]

I've no idea what any of that meant, but....that's a great shot.

[TwoBad]

Wow, cool photo DZ!  Hope you don't mind but its now my desktop wallpaper

[Jamin]

Great photo, I've not really looked at the moon properly before now but the detail that shows old, eroded craters along with more recent ones is fascinating. :thumb:

[DrunkenZombiee]

Wow, cool photo DZ!  Hope you don't mind but its now my desktop wallpaper

If you want it for a wallpaper you will be far better off getting it from here is it a much higher rez image. This photo is straight from the camera (JPG conversion only) I will fiddle with it later perhaps  if I have time to better pick out the highlights by adjusting the exposure perhaps.

I don't mind at all people using my photos for desktop backgrounds. I don't try and make any money off my photography as its a hobby which I enjoy and I like to share it with others.

Great photo, I've not really looked at the moon properly before now but the detail that shows old, eroded craters along with more recent ones is fascinating. :thumb:

Cheers mate! Even on a pretty cloudy night you can normally see the moon pretty well so its great when you cant see the stars =).

Cheers,

DZ

[TeaLeaf]

My brother (tugs on this forum) likes moon shots too, so here's one from his Flikr album.  You two should talk!  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrtugs/2287286636/in/photostream

[DrunkenZombiee]

My brother (tugs on this forum) likes moon shots too, so here's one from his Flikr album.  You two should talk!  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrtugs/2287286636/in/photostream

One of the problems with living in England and owning a telescope is the cloud cover as there is so little light coming from Stars that the thinnest layer of cirrus means you cant see anything. The Moon can be seen at some part of the night on most days and thin cloud cover doesn't effect it too much.

I really wished I had taken more picture when I was in Arizona as the Moon could be seen all the time and there was never a cloud in the sky. I have never seen the stars like that before, stunning!

I just wish we had that here! I think the telescope has been on 3 outings in the half a year I have had it =( due to the weather.

DZ.