Second Night (with the scope)

Tonight started well, despite it being a freezing -7 C outside. The seeing conditions were good (for Madison, WI at least), I got the scope set up, polar aligned and the go-to's were working well. The skies were clear and stable, and I decided to take a shot of the moon. I got three exposures completed before my camera battery died....probably due to the cold. [note to self: make sure all batteries are fully charged before attempting astrophotography in the future}

As it happened, my first moon shot was my best, then the camera died and the clouds rolled in. I'm still waiting, hoping for clear skies again tonight but I do not know if I will be able to stay awake until 3 AM when the clear sky clock predicts I will have another window of opportunity, the last for a couple of days, as we are expecting more snow.

Anyway, here is my first moon shot, click on the image for full size.



This image was taken at 81 x, f/10 on my Celestron C8-SGT, Canon Powershot G1, auto focus, exposure, and aperature. A single exposure was taken with a light pollution filter, moon filter, and eyepiece projection using the 25 mm E-Lux eyepiece that came with the scope.

Pretty good really. If the skies clear up tonight, I'll try and get some Saturn or Jupiter shots. My first moon shot is a little out of focus, but then this shot was on full auto, I'm sure I can blur it more with some user intervention, although I hope to be able to do better with manual focus. I could easily imagine spending months trying to capture the moon as accurately as my eye can see it through the scope.

The joy here is to see the moon up close and personal again. A wonderful sky object that is loathed by many astronomers as passe beginner crap (hmmmm)

Clear Skies!