Lunar eclipse photos at 01:20 UT

On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 19:38:49 +0000, Stephen Tonkin
wrote:

Pete,

Another possibly-blindingly-obvious one I've jsut thought of. Do you
have some way of accounting for distortion introduced by the camera
lens? Should we each photograph a piece of graph paper as well, or
something?

All images will undoubtably have a degree of error in them. Lens
distortion will stretch and twist the real image in any number of
ways. Photographing graph paper is a good idea and will help in the
normalisation of the images.

Initially, I will try (if any of us get any images through what
appears to be a global cloud blanket!) to put together the images
using just the results submitted. With the planets animation the
distortion amongst the contributor's images wasn't actually that bad.
The exception was Jupiter which tended to be towards the edge of the
frame in each of the images.

Attempting to image with the Moon and the two reference stars in the
central part of the frame will also help reduce errors.

--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.pbl33.co.uk

Pete Lawrence wrote:
On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 19:38:49 +0000, Stephen Tonkin
wrote:
[snip]

I'm so glad you noticed! Unworthy of comment, then? :-)


Best,
Stephen

Remove footfrommouth to reply

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Pete Lawrence wrote:

On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 19:38:49 +0000, Stephen Tonkin
wrote:



Pete,

Another possibly-blindingly-obvious one I've jsut thought of. Do you
have some way of accounting for distortion introduced by the camera
lens? Should we each photograph a piece of graph paper as well, or
something?



All images will undoubtably have a degree of error in them. Lens
distortion will stretch and twist the real image in any number of
ways. Photographing graph paper is a good idea and will help in the
normalisation of the images.


Pete,

Initially, I will try (if any of us get any images through what
appears to be a global cloud blanket!) to put together the images

If nothing else we have potential issues to address and discuss in
advance for the next such opportunity early next year.

At this end, it looks quite bad as the clouds are quite bad.

Anthony.

using just the results submitted. With the planets animation the
distortion amongst the contributor's images wasn't actually that bad.
The exception was Jupiter which tended to be towards the edge of the
frame in each of the images.

Attempting to image with the Moon and the two reference stars in the
central part of the frame will also help reduce errors.

On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 20:47:09 +0000, Stephen Tonkin
wrote:

Pete Lawrence wrote:
On Sat, 8 Nov 2003 19:38:49 +0000, Stephen Tonkin
wrote:
[snip]

I'm so glad you noticed! Unworthy of comment, then? :-)

Yes - unitentional slip of the keyboard.

Things are starting to thin aloft at the moment - I can actually see
the Moon!
--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.pbl33.co.uk

On Sat, 08 Nov 2003 23:29:54 +0200, Anthony Ayiomamitis
wrote:

If nothing else we have potential issues to address and discuss in
advance for the next such opportunity early next year.

Absolutely. If astronomy teaches any of us anything - it's how to be
patient! Whether it happens or not, it's a real pleasure planning
projects like this with you lot!

At this end, it looks quite bad as the clouds are quite bad.

I'm really sorry to hear that Anthony. Keep positive, sometimes
things do change at the last minute.

--
Pete Lawrence
http://www.pbl33.co.uk

Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

At this end, it looks quite bad as the clouds are quite bad.

Same here, Anthony. http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm
Satellite shows cloud continuing to stream in.

Mike Simmons

Hi Stephen,

I would worry much less about distortion than anything else. It's
pretty rare for astronomical telescopes. Lens in the light path can
alter this however.

Andrea T.

My Astronomy Pages at:
http://www.geocities.com/andreatax/index.htm

Stephen Tonkin wrote in message ...
Pete,

Another possibly-blindingly-obvious one I've jsut thought of. Do you
have some way of accounting for distortion introduced by the camera
lens? Should we each photograph a piece of graph paper as well, or
something?


Best,
Stephen

Remove footfrommouth to reply

Mike Simmons wrote:

Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

At this end, it looks quite bad as the clouds are quite bad.


Hi Mike,

Same here, Anthony. http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm
Satellite shows cloud continuing to stream in.

That's a pretty cool link and facility ... our clouds are much thicker.
Anyway, I will be up until totality just in case we have any window of
opportunity to capture a few images and see something. We have been
blanketted the past week to ten days with the sole exception last night
when conditions were their usual pristine.

Anthony.

Mike Simmons

Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote:

That's a pretty cool link and facility ... our clouds are much
thicker. Anyway, I will be up until totality just in case we have any
window of opportunity to capture a few images and see something. We
have been blanketted the past week to ten days with the sole exception
last night when conditions were their usual pristine.

The clouds here continue to let a little light through. Just enough to
make one hope but still bad enough to allow no more than a slight glow
from the Moon. I had intended to view and photograph the eclipse from
the catwalk of the dome in the live image but with these clouds I won't
make the trip up the mountain. They seem to be getting worse but I
intend to stay up and see what happens, too. Of course, here the
eclipse is in the early evening. :-)

Mike Simmons

In article ,
said...
The clouds here continue to let a little light through. Just enough to
make one hope but still bad enough to allow no more than a slight glow
from the Moon. I had intended to view and photograph the eclipse from
the catwalk of the dome in the live image but with these clouds I won't
make the trip up the mountain. They seem to be getting worse but I
intend to stay up and see what happens, too. Of course, here the
eclipse is in the early evening. :-)

Here in central Louisiana, we were able to observe bits and pieces
between 5:45 and 7:03 local time (CST). Observing naked eye, through
8x40s and 10x70s, the moon had a nice very luminescent look - Like a red
pearl illuminated from behind. Clouds drifted in and out (which obviously
influenced the look from time to time), but at about 7:03 a solid bank
reaching far over the western horizon drifted eastward over the moon and
nothing was visible even in the 10x70s.

Still, those quick glimpses were more than I expected to see, given the
last day's weather.

--

-- Len Philpot - --
------ ----- http://philpot.org/ --