# 159 | Skywatcher's Smorgasbord
We've certainly had it good lately. A lunar eclipse, intense auroras, conjunctions and a meteor shower all occurring within a month just might spoil all of us who observe the night sky!
Ross Carter of Regina, Saskatchewan took this image of the crescent Moon, Venus and Jupiter from his front porch on November 10, 2004.
Ross used a Samsung Digimax 301 digital camera and took a 5 second exposure at f 5.1.
# 158 | Light It Up!
This past week was an aurora observer's dream---multiple nights of intense displays of northern lights occurred. Starting the night of November 7th, the night sky became awash in auroras that filled the entire sky. Many readers report seeing the aurora deep in the southern sky. The following two nights also had high auroral activity although reportedly not as intense as the first night.
Shane Finnigan of Ottawa, Ontario took multiple images the night of November 7-8th. With the aurora being so strong, exposures of 8-30 seconds using ISO 100 and 200 were taken using a Canon 16-35mm lens and a Canon 10D digital camera. Shane's image was one of many fantastic submissions received over the past week.
# 157 | Venus and Jupiter at Dawn
On November 4, 2004, Venus and Jupiter were less than 3/4 of a degree from each other at dawn. While this made for a splendid sight, November 9th will be even more spectacular. Joining Venus and Jupiter will be the crescent Moon. From eastern Canada, the Moon will occult Jupiter during the morning hours. Don't forget to set your alarm clocks!
Rick Stankiewicz took this image from Peterborough, Ontario, shortly before dawn on November 4th. Rick used a Nikon Coolpix digital camera set at ISO 400 and took a number of images at f3.3 using exposures of 4 to 8 seconds.
# 156 | The October 27, 2004 Lunar Eclipse
With clear skies appearing late in the afternoon, newbie astrophotographer Clare Suggitt of Port Perry, Ontario decided to try and image the eclipse. Using only a tripod-mounted Canon G2 digital camera with a 2x Tiffen converter attached, Clare took multiple images from the start of the eclipse until shortly after totality.
Afterwards, selection of the best images was done and Photoshop Elements 2.0 was used to create this composite image.
All images were taken at ISO 50. The first 14 images were taken at f8 for 1/320 second and the remaining images taken at f2.8 with exposure times between .6 and 6 seconds.
# 155 | Summer Auroras
A common misconception by the general public is that auroras are most often seen in the summertime. It is easy to understand why this is a widely held belief: people are outside later at night during the summer months. Research has shown though that the frequency of auroras is actually greater near the autumn and spring equinoxes.
Chuck Webb of Abbotsford, British Columbia took this image of an aurora occurring last July at the Cascade Lookout in Manning Park, B.C..
Chuck used a Canon 10D and a Tamron wide-angle lens at f4 using the19mm setting. A 48-second exposure was taken using ISO 400.
# 154 | The Gulf of Mexico
Unless observing under dark skies, the North American nebula (NGC 7000) can be a difficult visual object to discern. The nebula is a much easier photographic target and it's name is an apt description.
Getting close-up images showing intricate details can be a challenge for even seasoned imagers. This superb image taken by Jean Guimond shows a wealth of detail in the Gulf of Mexico region and is a testament to Guimond's skill as an imager and processor.
Jean used an SBIG ST-10 MXE CCD camera with a CFW-8A filter wheel and a Tele Vue Genesis f/5 refractor equipped with a Hutech Light pollution filter.
The images were processed with CCDSoft Reduction, Registar, MaxIm DL (color combining and compositing), and Photoshop.
Exposure details:
Bin 1x1: L (H-Alpha) : 150 min (10 x15 min), R : 96 min (16 x 6 min)
Bin 2x2: R : 64 min (16 x4 min), G : 64 min (16 x 4 min), B : 64 min (16 x 4 min)
# 153 | Star Trails
While digital cameras have made imaging easier and more convenient, SLR (single lens reflex) film cameras still retain one significant benefit: the ability to take star trail photos. When the shutter is left open for a long length of time, digital cameras suffer from pixel noise and batteries that can drain quickly. Because of this, the SLR camera is still the preferred camera of choice for star trail photos.
Simon d'Entremont of Bedford, Nova Scotia used his Pentax ME Super SLR camera loaded with Kodak 800 Max film to get this image. His wide-angle lens was set to f8 and the camera's shutter was left open for approximately 45 minutes.
# 152 | Lunar Landscape
From the balcony of his apartment in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mike Boschat took this image of the Moon on the night of September 26/27, 2004. Immersed in shadows along the edge is the crater Pythagoras, named after the Greek philosopher and mathematician.
Using a 120mm f8.3 SkyWatcher refractor with a 9mm eyepiece (111x magnification) and a Baader Contrast Booster Filter, Mike simply held his Centrios digital camera up to the eyepiece and used the automatic exposure to judge the exposure time.
# 151 | Maritime Milky Way
When viewed from a dark site, the Milky Way often can leave an observer standing in awe. While telescopic viewing of deepsky treasures is often the reason for being at a dark site, don't forget to take the opportunity to explore the sky by naked eye alone.
Darren Talbot of Halifax, Nova Scotia took this image of the southern Milky Way on September 7, 2004. Darren writes that the night was "One of the most exceptional transparent nights for observing and astrophotography, which is rare for us Maritimers. I have never before recorded on film the amount of detail visible in this picture."
Darren used a Pentax ME Super camera equipped with a 50mm lens at f/2.8 and Fuji SuperX 800 ISO print film. The camera was piggybacked on a Meade 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a 20 minute exposure was taken.
# 150 | Morning Moon
Some readers may have the mistaken impression that thousands of dollars worth of equipment is needed to take stunningly beautiful astrophotos. Nothing could be further from the truth. A camera mounted on a tripod is all that is necessary to begin taking great astrophotos.
Bill Cole of Toronto, Ontario, mounted his Nikon 4500 digital camera to a tripod on the morning of September 10, 2004. Setting the film speed to ISO 200 and with the lens at f2.6 and to the7.8 mm focal length setting, Bill took this 2-second exposure of the Moon and Venus rising.
The same procedure can be used for aurora or constellation photos. Use ISO 800, a wide-angle lens set to f2.8 (or as low as possible) and take an exposure of 25-30 seconds.