Photography of the moon using a spotting scope

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

"mark.worthington" wrote in message
...
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
snip
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?

Give it a go, and beware of over-exposing on the moon. It's more or less the
same distance from the sun as is the earth. For starters assume your spotting
scope is about an f22 aperture - do lots of bracketing. (Others may have better
advice.)
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ms1938/