Solar System Astrophotography Page

Click images for larger view (available on most).

Saturn

Saturn (1/26/98): This is a 2 second exposure using the ST-8 camera and C-14 operating at f46. This was my first attempt at lens projection, and am uncertain whether it is fuzzy because of poor focus, bad seeing, or both.

Same image as above processed with unsharp masking.

980921:12:15AM EDT: A "Snappy" frame grab using a PC23C video camera at prime focus of the C-14. This is a composite of 4 1/60 second frames..

Jupiter

980921:12:55AM EDT: A "Snappy" frame grab using a PC23C video camera at prime focus of the C-14. This is a composite of 4 1/60 second frames over a period of 5 minutes..

980921:01:12AM EDT: A "Snappy" frame grab using a PC23C video camera at prime focus of the C-14. This is a composite of 5 1/60 second frames over a period of 8 minutes. Rotation can be seen in only a few minutes, calling to question compositing frames over a period of several minutes.

The Sun

000303:12:30PM EST The above three images were taken during a large mass ejection from the center sunspot. The telescope was a 6" Astro-Physics refractor, the camera was a Nikon FG with 200 speed Fuji film. Top image is prime focus, second is a 26mm eyepiece projection, the lower is 15mm eyepiece projection.

980920:15:00  EDT:A "Snappy" frame grab using a PC23C video camera at prime focus of the C-14. As sunspot activity increases, this setup may be a nice way to track the progress of sunspot groups. A shorter focal length would be nice to take in more of the view. The field here is only about 3.3 x 2.5 arc minutes

The Moon

Taken 2/15/98, this ST-8 image of the Mare Serenitatis region of the moon is a .11 sec. exposure at f11. The smallest craters visible are in the 5km range.

Taken in 2/5/98, 1/2 second at f46 (using eyepiece projection) using Kodak Royal Gold 200. Mare Nubium region. Poor seeing and camera focus mirror vibration problems combined. Next time I will remember to use the self timer on the camera to raise the focus mirror well before opening the shutter. This should improve resolution somewhat.

The moon coming up over the Western NC mountains is always an impressive sight. This photo is way over exposed to catch the reflections off the clouds (oh yeah, I meant to do that:-). 5 Seconds on Fuji 800. The clouds moved a little, so they are fuzzy.

Planet Earth (Home)

I went for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway over the 1997 Memorial day weekend. It was a rainy day, which usually means fog on the parkway. I took several pictures. This was my favorite. You had to be there -- it was so serene.

Sometimes I have to ask myself why we keep going to the Florida Gulf Coast for vacations. After all North Carolina has some beautiful beaches. I think part of it is the wonderful sunsets over the Gulf -- every night. The people in the foreground are my mother on the left and my daughter on the right.

This page last updated on
April 27, 1999 Updated the link to the PC23C.
November 4, 1998. Converted all .gif to .jpg files for time and space reasons