Moon

[soxboston]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7934237@N03/521306414/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/521306414_d679538d19.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Detail Full Moon" /></a>

Some people were wondering how I took this picture of the moon and what the "Prime Focus" method is. Prime focus is using a telescope in place of your normal camera lens. For this type of astrophotography, you will need what is called a T-mount and a T-adapter which will mount your camera to your telescope. There is no zoom control since telescopes are at a fixed focal length. This shot was taken using a 910mm focal length reflector telescope with an aperture of 4.5 inches. Nothing fancy in terms of post-processing; I used iPhoto and made basic adjustments. You can check out more of the photo properties on Flickr.

[scrivna]

Wow, thats all i can say.

[deathbyevilspoon]

Wow, great looking shot...has to be one of the best moon shots that I have seen.

[Sime™]

great shot!.. I tried taking a picture through binoculars once... didn't work that well (couldn't get them to stay aligned together!) :) Sime.

[soxboston]

Thanks for the compliments scrivna, Sime and deathbyevilspoon. I'm still experimenting with different techniques for astrophotography but so far this has been one of the luckier shots I have taken.

[Tifosi248F1]

Very nice Colby. I've been checking out telescopes lately trying to find one that wasn't too expensive but still had the features for decent amateur astrophotography. Is this a crop or did the moon fill the view? Do you have a motorized mount or do you stick to easy things like the moon and such? I need a scope with a motorized equatorial mount so I can track constellations and other smaller, less bright objects without resulting in a trail. Again, excellent shot. I'm amazed at the detail you have captured.

[soxboston]

Very nice Colby. I've been checking out telescopes lately trying to find one that wasn't too expensive but still had the features for decent amateur astrophotography. Is this a crop or did the moon fill the view? Do you have a motorized mount or do you stick to easy things like the moon and such? I need a scope with a motorized equatorial mount so I can track constellations and other smaller, less bright objects without resulting in a trail. Again, excellent shot. I'm amazed at the detail you have captured.

Hey Tifosi248F1, this picture is a slight crop...I just trimmed some black off of the sides to centre the moon in the shot. As for my mount, it's a plain old equatorial mount without a motor, so for now, I'm sticking to the brighter objects and constellations. I would love to have a better telescope with a motorized mount but it's not in my budget, so I try to make the best of what I have. Thanks for the compliments!

[Speezer9999]

Great shot, I so want a bigger zoom lens. Darn bills always getting in the way.

Great focus and exposure.

[mysticeyesx]

wow nice shot! i tried to do a similar setup during a lunar eclipse a couple of years ago.

[mdwsta4]

awesome shot! now if only i had a telescope...

[carl yeomans]

perfect shot. nothing more i can i add, apart from, any chance i can have a hi res pic to use as my desktop wallpaper? .

[rikkersc]

Awesome shot! One of the best I have seen. I have a telescope, this shot gets me motivated to get the right equipment to hook up the camera.:)

Our summer place used to get really dark at night ... until the neighbor put up this big light on a light sensor - it stays on all night now.:mad:

[soxboston]

perfect shot. nothing more i can i add, apart from, any chance i can have a hi res pic to use as my desktop wallpaper? .

hey carl. by all means use the picture as a wallpaper. i'm afraid the highest res you'll get is the one you see on my flickr page. just click "all sizes" and download the large size.

a note to anyone who would like it: feel free as long as its not used for anything other than personal use!