Weasner's Meade ETX Guest Gallery

GUEST LUNAR ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Last updated: 16 December 2008

Many ETX users have sent examples of their astrophotography. If you have some examples you would like included here please send me a description of how you made the astrophotos and a copy of the images as GIF or JPEG files (due to internet email gateway issues, please send only one image file per message). Send to etx@me.com. Alternatively, if you have created your own web page with your examples please let me know and I'll include a link to your site.

Submitted by: Mark Mathosian (mmathosian007@comcast.net) [16 Dec 08]
This photo was shot by holding my camera directly on a 40mm telescope lens. Normally I use my Scopetronix camera adapter. However, my wife had the camera I typically use. So, I improvised. Just goes to show that you don't need lots of gear to shoot an interesting photo of the moon. However, I did have to tweak it in Photoshop Elements to bring out details. As a point of interest, this full moon is supposedly the "largest" full moon in fifteen years. Scope - ETX90.

A composite of the moon and buildings.

Submitted by: James Pray (jpra@yahoo.com) [4 Dec 08]
I combined two of my hobbies, astronomy and movie watching on a big outdoor screen and put together a youtube viideo showing the moon on a big screen. I have an ancient ETX 90 that I hooked up to an equally old B&W Meade electronic eyepiece. All that got fed into a very bright professional projector through a VGA connector and onto a big outdoor screen. Really impressive. Anyway, here is the youtube page. Thanks for such a great website. url: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhwqy7u8hfY I also have a youtube video on how to put together the screen.
Submitted by: Mark Mathosian (mmathosian007@comcast.net) [24 Nov 08]
Moon comparison shots showing the difference between a camera view and telescope with a 40mm lens. Shot through ETX90, tweaked with Photoshop Elements 3.

Submitted by: Nohr Tillman (ntillm01@yahoo.com) [20 Nov 08]
Certainly no new scientific discovery, but thought I'd share this one. It's one of the best I've gotten so far with the ETX-125. It's a digital scan (courtesy the local department store) of Kodak 200ASA Gold print film (remember that emulsion stuff?) I am experimenting with the 64-T mount, but I worry about mirror/camera shake. We'll see when they get developed. Camera: Pentax MX, no lens Setup: Handheld at ETX-125 rear port, focused through a right angle viewfinder Exposure: 200ASA Kodak Gold print film, 1/125 sec Mike here: Yes, image vibration from the mirror movement will blur images, especially if longer than about 1/30 second. To avoid that use the "hat trick" method.

Submitted by: Michael Schroder (m-schr@web.de) [20 Nov 08]
I mail you 7 pictures of the moon from last week. Especially on the 16th I figured out the limits of my scope in terms of magnification by the way of eyepieceprojection (the webcam here is definitely the better alternative). The last picture of Pallas is the very most one can get with the ETX90. The magnification doesnt allow any controllable handling. Therefore the picture is a product of fortune (1 of over 30 tries). Picture 01 from 11/13: Full Moon, Canon EOS 450D@Meade ETX-90PE primefocus, 11 x 1/25 sec, ISO 100, monochrome, Stacked with Giotto.

Picture 01 from 11/16: Moon, Canon EOS 450D@Meade ETX-90PE primefocus, 1/40 sec, ISO 800, monochrome.

Picture 02 from 11/16: Mare Nectaris & crates Theopilus, Cyrillus, Catharina, Canon EOS 450D@Meade ETX-90PE, Eyepieceprojection through 9mm (134x), 1/5 sec, ISO 100, monochrome.

Picture 03 from 11/16: Area around crate Tycho, Canon EOS 450D@Meade ETX-90PE, Eyepieceprojection through 9mm (134x), 1/5 sec, ISO 100, monochrome.

Picture 04 from 11/16: Crates Copernicus & Kepler, Canon EOS 450D@Meade ETX-90PE, Eyepieceprojection through 15mm SWAN (83x), 1/5 sec, ISO 100, monochrome.

Picture 05 from 11/16: Crates Aristoteles, Eudoxus, Plato, Archimedes, Canon EOS 450D@Meade ETX-90PE, Eyepieceprojection through 15mm SWAN (83x), 1/5 sec, ISO 100, monochrome.

Picture 06 from 11/16: Crate Pallas, Canon EOS 450D@Meade ETX-90PE, Eyepieceprojection through 9mm SWAN + 3x Barlowlense (417x), 1 sec, ISO 1600, monochrome.

Submitted by: John Watson (john.watson@clara.co.uk) [11 Nov 08]
Thanks for your advice, guys, it's now working perfectly. "Reset" before making any adjustments seems to be the key. It's been cloudy or raining solid here in England since I can remember, but a rare gap in the clouds last night enabled me to check it out. Also to image the half Moon by the rather basic technique of aiming my digital camera down the eyepiece... not special, but quite pretty!

Submitted by: Mark Mathosian (mmathosian007@comcast.net) [7 Nov 08]
Shot 2 from 11/05/08

As usual, ETX90 and Sony digital camera. Nice night for photos.

Last one from 11/05/08.

moon close up 2 DSC04535_2

Submitted by: Mark Mathosian (mmathosian007@comcast.net) [4 Nov 08]
I am sending a few shots from last night. Clear night in Tallahassee. Shot through my ETX 90 and Sony 7.9 megapixel camera. Scopetronix camera adapter.

Another shot from last night. Tweaked a bit in Photoshop.