matthewota

My first astrophoto ever was of this partial solar eclipse as seen from Lubbock, Texas. I found it in an old box last year. I was 20 years old at the time and stationed at an air force base. I shot it with a cheap refractor by placing a white card beyond the eyepiece and using a 35mm SLR camera. I processed the image myself in the photo lab as it was a black and white image.

I took the image on October 12, 1977. Amazing how you can place an exact date on a photo due to it's rarity in nature.

One cool thing about eclipses. No matter how long ago you witnessed them you can always research the time and date you saw it, even if you have forgotten over the years.

I took this photo of M42 on April 8, 2000 at Crystal Lake, California, a mountaintop north of Azusa about 1500 meters above sea level. It was a prime focus shot through my 10 inch Meade LX50 SCT without the use of an autoguider. The telescope was on a wedge and I had to polar align it.

It was a fifteen minute unguided exposure on film. I scanned in the print years later and processed it in PhotoShop.

I later got to use professional equipment at Mount Wilson Observatory and that made things much easier...