Astrophotography

Method 1

        Just about any camera can be used to take snapshots through a telescope. Here are some of my results. Serious astrophtogrraphers will get much more spectacular images, but I wanted to show what can be done with the simplest equipment and methods.Click on the photos of the moon and Jupiter to enlarge. Exposure of the moon was f 5.1 at 1/16th of a second. Exposure of Jupiter was f4.6 at 1/8th of a second.



        

The image will appear on the camera's LCD screen. It's a good idea to use the self-timer to avoid camera or telescope movement. This gives the scope ten seconds to settle down after you let go of the camera. It's also a good idea to use a solar filter on your scope to avoid burning up your camera's sensor.

        

I held my iPhone up the the eyepiece of my telescope to get great images of the sun (with a solar filter) and the moon. This only works well for bright images. You can find a special telescope clamp for the iPhone if you google it. (Click on the sun pix for a larger image).

To see how to capture images with a common security camera for public displays, go on to Method 2.

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