Moon

[soxboston]

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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...