Ian's Astrophotography Page

Welcome to my astrophotography page. It contains some photos taken with either my Sigma SA5 SLR, 1.3 Mega Pixel Digital camera or modified Web-Cams. I have tried to supply some help for amateurs, like myself, who want to know what to expect when taking pictures or just viewing the night sky through a "small"  telescope.

"It's one thing to view the night sky, but It's a totally different ball game to catch it successfully on film."

THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

My Equipment is as follows:
KONUS Space 1000 Telescope (114mm / 4.5 inch diameter, 1000mm f8.7 Catadioptric Newtonian reflector), Orion Europa 200 F6 Newtonian,
2x Konus Barlow,3x TeleVue Barlow Direct and Projection Photo adapters, 10mm and 25mm Kellners and Plossls
Sigma SA5 QD SLR Camera, Fuji Finepix 1400 zoom digital camera, Modified Philips Vesta 675 SC1 webcam,
Philips ToUCam Pro webcam, Modified Connectix greyscale Quickcam.
Baader AstroSolar Filter

Orion (UK) Europa 200 Page.

E-mail Me !
The biggest problem I have found with SLR photography at high magnification, is camera shake caused by the slow shutter speeds. This can be minimised by one of two methods. The "Black Hat" method  is where the camera shutter is opened with a black card in front of the objective, the card is moved out of the way for the desired amount of time, and then the card is replaced and the shutter closed. The method I use is "Mirror Lock". With the Sigma SLR body, you can set the shutter to serve two functions, the first depression of  the shutter will lock the mirror in the up position, and then with the IR remote control,you can fire the shutter a few seconds later to actually take the picture.
All the other pictures I have are digital. They have been taken with modified webcams or a digital camera. The webcams are the easiest (and cheapest!) way to get high magnification images. The standard digital camera gives instant results, but isn't sensitive enough for widefield images, unless of course you have a digital SLR ! For webcam info, see the QCUIAG link below.

Wide Field Images

I have a few wide field shots, some of which are suffering from "Vignetting". This was pointed out to me by Philippe Cretien after I mailed him one for his comments. I have taken some more shots with a smaller aperture and now have the results. The Summer Triangle photo from this link is one such photograph. Many thanks for your advice Phil. (See the link to his site at the bottom of the page)

Lunar Images

I have found that for full disc moon photos, the 2x Barlow lens directly attached to the camera will fill the negative giving the most detail. This can be quite awkward as most 35mm cameras only show 90-95% of the image in the view finder. For close detail, the 10mm kelner in the projection photo adapter works OK. However, the moon is moving. By using 800 ASA film for an exposure of about 1/8th second, this seems to give good results. I always "bracket" the photos I take by taking 3 of each subject at different exposures. As I have only taken 3 or 4 rolls, I find that 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 sec exposures gives me a reasonable choice although the photo at 1/2 sec is usually more blurred than the others due to the movement of the moon I guess.

Planet Images

The images on this page are taken by a modified Connectix quickam or a Philips Vesta 675. See also the pictures I have taken using the Orion Europa 200 (link above).

Useful Links

Equipment Links


Evergreen Optics.... UK Telescopes including Celestron, Meade and Konus.

Astronomical telescope and binocular website, official suppliers of Konus, Meade, Celestron and Sky Watcher.


Orion Optics UK........... HTTP://www.orionoptics.co.uk
Telescope supplier............. HTTP://www.sherwoods-photo.com
Camera Manufacturer............... HTTP://www.sigmaphoto.com
Connectix support............ HTTP://www.logitech.com

Some recommended places to go for info

Skymaps (for monthly starcharts)........... HTTP://www.skymaps.com/
Heavens Above (charts and Satellite data etc.)........... HTTP://www.heavens-above.com/
Telescope Reviews page................. HTTP://www.excelsis.com/vote/astro/

Some other user sites

Astronomy Boy.............. HTTP://www.astronomyboy.com
Philippe Chretien's Astrophotography......... HTTP://pages.infinit.net/gce/astro/



 

A member of the QuickCam and Unconventional Imaging Astronomy Group

A member of the Heart of England Astronomical Society