Photographing the moon

hi everyone,

I have recently purchased a 60mm spotting scope. Last Friday it saw
'first light' as I tested it's optics. Since I had bought it on the
internet and had been 'burnt' once before I expected a disappointing
session. That was not to be the case. My first target was the moon. This

was nice and sharp all the way from 15x to 45x magnification with nice
detail at the highest mag. Next I had a crack at Jupiter. I expected to
see a nice disc and 4 points of light around it. And indeed I did, but
what I did not expect at 35x magnification, with the almost-full moon
very near by, was to see two faint but definite pale brown bands, one
above, one below the centre. I was surprised, but my girlfriend
confirmed she could also see them. On checking again and at 45x mag
there was no doubt. At that point I knew I had a decent piece of kit
(not bad for £120!!).
Anyway I then pointed it at what I thought was Saturn high in the sky
and just couldn't focus it into a planet.......I decided this must be
because it wasn't one! I looked at the next obvious candidate. I didn't
know where it was but I knew it was around somewhere and knew roughly
what it's magnitude and colour would be. My next candidate was a bright
'star' low down above next doors roof. I focussed in on it and there to
my surprise was a sharply focussed ringed planet, at 35x mag! At 20x it
was a rugby ball and at 30x I could just detect a slight darkening
between the ring and the globe. At 35x it was obvious.I was very
pleased.
But onto the main question: has anyone ever used a spotting scope to
photo the moon. I have a camera adapter and SLR with T-mount.and tripod.

Any advice?

Cheers

Mark

[posted and mailed]

"mark.worthington" wrote in
:

hi everyone,

I have recently purchased a 60mm spotting scope. Last Friday it saw
'first light' as I tested it's optics. Since I had bought it on the
internet and had been 'burnt' once before I expected a disappointing
session. That was not to be the case. My first target was the moon. This

was nice and sharp all the way from 15x to 45x magnification with nice
detail at the highest mag. Next I had a crack at Jupiter. I expected to
see a nice disc and 4 points of light around it. And indeed I did, but
what I did not expect at 35x magnification, with the almost-full moon
very near by, was to see two faint but definite pale brown bands, one
above, one below the centre. I was surprised, but my girlfriend
confirmed she could also see them. On checking again and at 45x mag
there was no doubt. At that point I knew I had a decent piece of kit
(not bad for £120!!).
Anyway I then pointed it at what I thought was Saturn high in the sky
and just couldn't focus it into a planet.......I decided this must be
because it wasn't one! I looked at the next obvious candidate. I didn't
know where it was but I knew it was around somewhere and knew roughly
what it's magnitude and colour would be. My next candidate was a bright
'star' low down above next doors roof. I focussed in on it and there to
my surprise was a sharply focussed ringed planet, at 35x mag! At 20x it
was a rugby ball and at 30x I could just detect a slight darkening
between the ring and the globe. At 35x it was obvious.I was very
pleased.
But onto the main question: has anyone ever used a spotting scope to
photo the moon. I have a camera adapter and SLR with T-mount.and tripod.

Any advice?

Cheers

Mark


I have use a 60mm refractor for 20 years and photographed the moon with it
successfully with a 35mm SLR.

Pointers:
If the camera is mounted to the eyepiece with an adapter the shutter
vibration is transmitted to the telescope and ruins the images, even at
high shutter speeds. Solution, a heavy duty, stable mounting arrangement. I
avoid heavy duty and expensive mount by simply mounting the camera on
tripod and aim it through eyepiece *without* any physical contact between
the camera and telescope. This eliminates vibration problems.

You need to know the F-ratio of the telescope system and eyepiece focal
length to calculate the correct exposure. Always use widest lens aperture
to avoid vigneting.
http://www.hnsky.org/exposure.zip
http://www.dharmaworks.net/Astronomy....html#ASTPHOTO
otherwise you can experiment with a range of exposures until you get some
thing that works. Keep records for future reference. Exposure ranges from
1/4 sec to 1/125 sec depending on magnification, lunar phase and ISO film
rating.

Good luck

Martin

Whilst I have never done it, I have heard the argument that the moon is
directly illuminated by the sun, so the technically correct exposure is the
same as for an earth object in full daylight. However, because the moon has
a slightly lower albedo than the earth (its actually grey) you should double
the exposure.


"Martin Lewicki" wrote in message
...
[posted and mailed]

"mark.worthington" wrote in
:

hi everyone,

I have recently purchased a 60mm spotting scope. Last Friday it saw
'first light' as I tested it's optics. Since I had bought it on the
internet and had been 'burnt' once before I expected a disappointing
session. That was not to be the case. My first target was the moon. This

was nice and sharp all the way from 15x to 45x magnification with nice
detail at the highest mag. Next I had a crack at Jupiter. I expected to
see a nice disc and 4 points of light around it. And indeed I did, but
what I did not expect at 35x magnification, with the almost-full moon
very near by, was to see two faint but definite pale brown bands, one
above, one below the centre. I was surprised, but my girlfriend
confirmed she could also see them. On checking again and at 45x mag
there was no doubt. At that point I knew I had a decent piece of kit
(not bad for £120!!).
Anyway I then pointed it at what I thought was Saturn high in the sky
and just couldn't focus it into a planet.......I decided this must be
because it wasn't one! I looked at the next obvious candidate. I didn't
know where it was but I knew it was around somewhere and knew roughly
what it's magnitude and colour would be. My next candidate was a bright
'star' low down above next doors roof. I focussed in on it and there to
my surprise was a sharply focussed ringed planet, at 35x mag! At 20x it
was a rugby ball and at 30x I could just detect a slight darkening
between the ring and the globe. At 35x it was obvious.I was very
pleased.
But onto the main question: has anyone ever used a spotting scope to
photo the moon. I have a camera adapter and SLR with T-mount.and tripod.

Any advice?

Cheers

Mark


I have use a 60mm refractor for 20 years and photographed the moon with it
successfully with a 35mm SLR.

Pointers:
If the camera is mounted to the eyepiece with an adapter the shutter
vibration is transmitted to the telescope and ruins the images, even at
high shutter speeds. Solution, a heavy duty, stable mounting arrangement.
I
avoid heavy duty and expensive mount by simply mounting the camera on
tripod and aim it through eyepiece *without* any physical contact between
the camera and telescope. This eliminates vibration problems.

You need to know the F-ratio of the telescope system and eyepiece focal
length to calculate the correct exposure. Always use widest lens aperture
to avoid vigneting.
http://www.hnsky.org/exposure.zip
http://www.dharmaworks.net/Astronomy....html#ASTPHOTO
otherwise you can experiment with a range of exposures until you get some
thing that works. Keep records for future reference. Exposure ranges from
1/4 sec to 1/125 sec depending on magnification, lunar phase and ISO film
rating.

Good luck

Martin

"Peter Webb" wrote in
:



"Martin Lewicki" wrote in message
...
[posted and mailed]

"mark.worthington" wrote in
:

hi everyone,

I have recently purchased a 60mm spotting scope. Last Friday it saw
'first light' as I tested it's optics. Since I had bought it on the
internet and had been 'burnt' once before I expected a
disappointing session. That was not to be the case. My first target
was the moon. This

was nice and sharp all the way from 15x to 45x magnification with
nice detail at the highest mag. Next I had a crack at Jupiter. I
expected to see a nice disc and 4 points of light around it. And
indeed I did, but what I did not expect at 35x magnification, with
the almost-full moon very near by, was to see two faint but
definite pale brown bands, one above, one below the centre. I was
surprised, but my girlfriend confirmed she could also see them. On
checking again and at 45x mag there was no doubt. At that point I
knew I had a decent piece of kit (not bad for £120!!).
Anyway I then pointed it at what I thought was Saturn high in the
sky and just couldn't focus it into a planet.......I decided this
must be because it wasn't one! I looked at the next obvious
candidate. I didn't know where it was but I knew it was around
somewhere and knew roughly what it's magnitude and colour would be.
My next candidate was a bright 'star' low down above next doors
roof. I focussed in on it and there to my surprise was a sharply
focussed ringed planet, at 35x mag! At 20x it was a rugby ball and
at 30x I could just detect a slight darkening between the ring and
the globe. At 35x it was obvious.I was very pleased. But onto the
main question: has anyone ever used a spotting scope to photo the
moon. I have a camera adapter and SLR with T-mount.and tripod.

Any advice?

Cheers

Mark


I have use a 60mm refractor for 20 years and photographed the moon
with it successfully with a 35mm SLR.

Pointers:
If the camera is mounted to the eyepiece with an adapter the shutter
vibration is transmitted to the telescope and ruins the images, even
at high shutter speeds. Solution, a heavy duty, stable mounting
arrangement. I avoid heavy duty and expensive mount by simply
mounting the camera on tripod and aim it through eyepiece *without*
any physical contact between the camera and telescope. This
eliminates vibration problems.

You need to know the F-ratio of the telescope system and eyepiece
focal length to calculate the correct exposure. Always use widest
lens aperture to avoid vigneting.
http://www.hnsky.org/exposure.zip
http://www.dharmaworks.net/Astronomy....html#ASTPHOTO otherwise
you can experiment with a range of exposures until you get some thing
that works. Keep records for future reference. Exposure ranges from
1/4 sec to 1/125 sec depending on magnification, lunar phase and ISO
film rating.

Good luck

Martin




Whilst I have never done it, I have heard the argument that the moon
is directly illuminated by the sun, so the technically correct
exposure is the same as for an earth object in full daylight. However,
because the moon has a slightly lower albedo than the earth (its
actually grey) you should double the exposure.

Theoretically yes but in practice this does not work except for full moon.
For instance at crescent phase the illumination is at a shallow angle from
earth and most lunar features from this view are in shadows. This requires
a longer exposure. Eg if full moon requires 1/200s then quarter requires
1/60s and crescent 1/10s.

In addition the exposure must be made for the effective focal ratio of the
telescope/camera system. You can not just set the cammera for daylight
exposure say for full moon and point it through the telescope (except
perhaps for focal plane imaging).

Martin


--
Replace username: mlewicki
Relpace dot delimited numbers with ozemail com au