First attempt at astrophotography

[lomond]

First attempt at astrophotography. Taken 1 hour ago using a 10D and Skymax 102 telescope. ( A present my wife and I bought for her father. )
This was taken using the prime focus method. I believe eyepiece projection would allow greater magnification.

So two questions for any astrophotographers:

1. How to improve this image.
2. What gear do I need for eyepiece projection.

Thanks in advance ,
Cameron

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/lomond/moon.jpg

[c0ntr0lz]

so beautful. i don't think it needs improvment
great shoot
i saw something this morning that i don't think i've ever seen. the full moon in a medium blue sky. it was at sunrise and the moon was in the west and it's very beautiful.

[lomond]

so beautful. i don't think it needs improvment
great shoot
i saw something this morning that i don't think i've ever seen. the full moon in a medium blue sky. it was at sunrise and the moon was in the west and it's very beautiful.

Thanks for the kind words.
I saw something similar tonight on the way home, a rising moon in a blue sky ( before the sun set ) which encouraged me to take the above pic a bit later in a dark sky.
Cameron

[toddb]

Wow, that looks pretty cool. What great detail showing on the moon surface. You can even see hills/mountains on the edges where the moon doesn't look perfectly round. This is a great shot.

[Polar Bob]

Fantastic photo.

Can you elaborate a bit on your setup?

[sameerb]

just one advice :
crop image to get the moon in center of the frame
aprt from that nothing needs to improve on this
Very Nice photo :cool:
could you tell us how you have taken this one using 10D & telescope ??

[lomond]

Thanks all.
As far as set up goes I used the prime focus method whereby the telescope effectively acts as a super telephoto lens ( in this case a 1300mm lens). Much like a mirror lens the f stop is fixed, f12 in this case.
The eyepiece and focus tube is removed from the scope and the camera body is connected via a T2 mount ( about £12 UK ).
This setup can also be used for normal daylight photography but with some obvious limitations, lack of contrast, speed and focus issues being some ( no free lunch here then ).
The above image was shot in RAW, 1/45th sec ISO 100 manual everything and then messed about in Photoshop.

Still hoping someone can help with eyepiece projection. I'm still new to this type of photography.

Cameron