My First Pictures of Saturn & Venus!

[philsail1]

Dear All,

Here are two photos - one of Saturn and one of Venus. They were taken through my new Skywatcher Explorer 200mm Reflector (on HEQ5 mount), using 10mm Antares Plossl, and a Canon A520 compact Digital Camera set at F5.0 and a 1/8th second shutter speed. I set the camera on a 10 second timer (to allow the shakes to stop). I processed both shots using a basic "Picasa" free download from the internet. They were single unstacked images. The night sky was a bit hazy tonight (Saturday 14th April at 8.35pm). Very warm, with a fair bit of heat shimmer rising from the surrounding houses. (that's my excuse anyway!). These two were about the best of some 30+ photos in total.

Regards,

Philsail1

[barkis]

No excuses required at all Phil, they are two very good captures. They are both fairly well focused, and sharp. Venus is always a difficult subject to image. Saturn looks very good to me. Did you hand hold the camera, or do you have some sort of cradle to position it close to your eyepiece?

Anyhow, for being a first effort, you have done a good job, and you can be happy with those.

Ron.

[legion48]

Very nice first images Phil.

[Black Shuck]

Nice!! 8)

I am sure I can make out the equatorial banding on saturn? Venus shows its phase nicely too!

I can't wait to get started on my own imaging!

Bill£

[Chubster]

Excellent first images.....Dont know what it is about the small pics of saturn but I really like them.....sort of gives a sense of scale

[SteelRat]

Nice stuff Phil. Good start. It HAS been real hazy lately - you done well with them 8) Camera on timer - sounds like you got it mounted. P'raps drop a barlow in when the sky's clearer?

Keep em comin - let's see more

[CELESCOPE]

Sweet Phil. two very good images , bet you are well pleased with that mate , well done

Rog

[geppetto]

Yes, a great start 8)

Very sharp for the method used, well done

[philsail1]

Dear all, Thanks for encouraging comments! I did use a camera mounting bracket I bought some time ago from "Scopes n' Skies" for £29.00. (Here is picture). This bracket is excellent and easy to set up and use. It's quite heavy, and because of the "thickness" of the clamping section, you do have to extract (when using a small 10mm lens) the body of the lens out of the telescopes focusser to allow the bracket to grip the body of the lens. (The bracket only grips the body lightly, so there's no danger of doing any damage to the lens.

I did have another type of bracket (I'll show a photo if I can find one). Again, this came from "Scopes n' Skies." It was good, but a bit more difficult to set up - you had to set it up in the house, with lens attached, then take it out to the telescope (it was a bit too difficult to locate the "allen" keys to adjust it in the dark).

I,m sorry moderators, if I have posted this on the wrong site - perhaps I should have put it on the equipement discussion site?

Regards,

Philsail1

[themos]

Thanks for showing us these, Saturn is, to my eyes, very nicely focused. It looks like you are happy with the new bracket. I might get one myself for my Canon A540.

[magician]

Well Done Phil, your'e well on your way

Cheers Frank