Telescopic Imaging with the S3...

[chicagoastronomer]

Capturing Saturn and Jupiter with the S3 via Telescopes

I really had not the chance to do some honest astrophotography with the S3 thru telescopes, but this past weekend proved profitable.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/josephguzman/Star%20Parties/JupiterMontage1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v209/josephguzman/Star%20Parties/PlanetMontage1.jpg


You can find the narratives of both my observing sessions with great pics here:

http://astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=StarParty&action=display&thread=1181466973

and here:

http://astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=StarParty&action=display&thread=1181459089


The results are not half bad, considering they were hand held to the telescopic eyepiece. But the S3 is NOT the ideal camera for astrophotography. The wide lens cherished in our everyday imaging, is not well suited for mating with a telescope.

The telescope delivers a small image to the eye, less than 4mm, and swims in the S3 lens apeture like a single celled organism in a petri dish. There is a lot of fishing for the image, alignment and other tweaks that make it a lot of work, which by that time, the object has moved out of the field. Even with a camera bracket attached, (which I used briefly), it's quite difficult.

But regardless, I will continue to experiment, and perhaps find a medium in which the S3 is happy working in.

Ain't it fun being an astronomer?...:D

[PeacePlanet]

Hey you could get jupiters with some clarity is something to be congratulated for.

Where should I hunt for Jupiter ?
I had some star pictures with bumps like moon .. very blurry but could see some bumps ... what is it ?

Cheers
AL

[chicagoastronomer]

PP,

Jupiter is at it's greatest elongation now, and is rising in the east as the Sun is setting. You cannot miss it, as it's the brightest "star" in the eastern sky.

The bumpy stars you are getting seems to me that you have not focused to infinity. The stars should be close to pin points. If you are zooming in all the way and doing a time exposure, the stars will leave a "trail". This is normal, and sometimes desired.

But bumps on stars tells me not focused properly.

Post a pic or two, so I can see what you are referring to.

[tracy]

are you somehow mounting the s3 onto the tele or just holding it up the eye piece?

[chicagoastronomer]

"The results are not half bad, considering they were hand held to the telescopic eyepiece. But the S3 is NOT the ideal camera for astrophotography. The wide lens cherished in our everyday imaging, is not well suited for mating with a telescope. Even with a camera bracket attached, (which I used briefly), it's quite difficult."

[PeacePlanet]

Yeah I have been seeing such a bright big star .. that could be it .. so I should take the picture in the morning ??? how long does this last ? I am waiting for my gorillapod .. .I have monopod but not sure I can rely on it.

The stars I shot was handheld and that was why it is not clear yet. But not sure if I am aiming at the right one LOL.

Here we go .. pure blurriness due to handshake I think.

Not Saturn for sure.

Cheers
AL

[chicagoastronomer]

Al,

Yes, the pics are not focused. They should be as close to pinpoints as possible and taken in manual mode.

When were these pics taken?

If after sunset in the west, then perhaps Saturn. But I don't think so. The out of focused image would be more oblong than round.

[Edd S]

You can take an image through the eyepiece of your telescope. Here is proof. I used a rather large eyepiece on the telescope (you can see the small circle of the moon in it).


http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f31/Edd_S/telescope1.jpg


I then put my camera right up to it in super macro mode and took this picture.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f31/Edd_S/moon6.jpg


It is not the best in the world, but not bad for a first try. With a little experimentation, I believe I could do even better.

Settings:

F 2.7
Shutter: 1/50 sec.
Exposure: -2

[G35Driver]

You can take an image through the eyepiece of your telescope. Here is proof. I used a rather large eyepiece on the telescope (you can see the small circle of the moon in it).


http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f31/Edd_S/telescope1.jpg


I then put my camera right up to it in super macro mode and took this picture.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f31/Edd_S/moon6.jpg


It is not the best in the world, but not bad for a first try. With a little experimentation, I believe I could do even better.

Settings:

F 2.7
Shutter: 1/50 sec.
Exposure: -2
very nice try

[tonio]

I guess while shooting this as the sun was going down, the moon and Jupiter both rising. Jupiter is the dot on the left. Pretty cool I thought!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/tonio206/IMG_0249.jpg

[fuadramsey]

Hey, nice shots.

Here are some of my pics. These are hand held over the eyepiece with my S3.

I have an adapter that the camera mounts onto, and then attaches to the eyepiece, but it's not stable enough.

I purchased the lens adapter tube that connects to the camera and goes over the lens with a female threaded 58mm end. I also got a 58mm to 42mm step down ring that screws into here. Last night just for kicks I attached this to my 6" newtonian on the primary adapter and the camera would not come into focus. I tried using super macro and almost got it, but it wont do.

Right now I'm looking at how to attach this setup to the eyepiece. The makers of the Digi-T sold something that would work, but they are out of business, so I will be visiting www.optcorp.com this weekend to find something that will work.

Does anybody else have a way to mount and S3 to a telescope?


Thanks,

Jamie


Jamie