[astroshot]

January 1, 2010 at 8:34 pm

1600mm…I hope a tripod will be used… :-)

[astroshot]

January 1, 2010 at 8:19 pm

I like that! That’s a different sort of image.
Good stuff! Looks like it’s about to devour the Moon!

[astroshot]

January 1, 2010 at 8:17 pm

Hi Ger,
Thanks.
I took it at 400mm focal length with my Canon 400D and Canon 100-400mm L IS USM lens.
Exposure: 1/500; ISO 200; f/5.6; taken in RAW mode and processed in Photoshop CS3.
Happy New Year to you too!

[astroshot]

January 1, 2010 at 8:13 pm

Martin,
Good to see someone else here took a go at this astronomical event.
Good effort and well done on braving the cold! ;-)

200mm you are pushing the lens a bit to be honest.
I took mine at 400mm, and it need every bit of it and a bit more if I had it.
Might invest in a teleconverter sometime.
Sharpening helped nicely.

[astroshot]

August 29, 2008 at 6:15 pm

You must be very tall….

[astroshot]

August 20, 2008 at 12:39 pm

That’s quite nice. Good exposure. Nicely done.
Pity the weather didn’t help with the eclipse. :(

[astroshot]

August 6, 2008 at 12:54 pm

HelenM wrote:

I shall now try to hold my head up in conversation with the brother in law who is Director at Armagh planetarium! :lol:
What gear did you use – is it special pro. equipment or just high end regular gear?

Ah interesting! Pass on my regards to Mark Bailey.

The image was taken with a Canon 300d and a Canon 100-400 L IS USM lens at 400mm. It is just a single exposure processed in PS CS3.

Here is another image taken at 100mm which shows the planet Mercury.

http://www.astroshot.com/SolarEclipse/Quick/2008-eclipse-wide-angle-V1.jpg

And here is one taken with a 400d and a Canon 17-40mm L lens while on the plane heading to Russia. It shows the Moon just 36 hours before the eclipse.

http://www.astroshot.com/SolarEclipse/Quick/2008-eclipse-view-from-plane.jpg

[astroshot]

August 5, 2008 at 5:56 pm

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

The above image is just a single exposure.
I took several images of the eclipsed Sun of multiple exposure lengths and would like to combine them together to bring out more detail in the corona.
Anyone here have much experiece of HDR?
I tried PS CS3 but wasn’t mad keen about the results.
Can anyone recommend a good alternative program?

Thanks,

[astroshot]

August 4, 2008 at 10:13 pm

Thanks Pete.
I should have added a few notes to explain what the image shows.

Firstly, a solar eclipse is caused by the Moon passing between the earth and the sun. The shadow of the moon falls on the earth and those fortunate enough to be in the right area can see a spectacular natural event of light and shadow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Solar_eclipse.svg
It is a remarkable coincidence in nature that the Sun and Moon appear the same size in the sky. However, the Sun is approx 400 times the diameter of the Moon but is also 400 times further away!

The large black circle is the moon blocking out the light of the sun.
The bright area around is the outer atmosphere of the Sun – the corona.
Because the Sun is so bright, we usually can’t see it like this during a normal day.
The ripple effect in the light at the 1o’clock and 7o’clock position is caused by the sun having a magnetic field.
Remember back in school with the iron filings and the magnet??
http://stargazers.gsfc.nasa.gov/students/magnetism.htm
Same effect in the Sun as it too has a magnetic field and it plays with charged particles in the corona.

As for the bright area at 2o’clock, well that’s called a prominence.
You see, the Sun is one giant explosion of enormous proportions.
What you see there is a tiny bit of it blown off the Sun and able to peep out from the side of the Moon’s shadow.

The Sun goes through a cycle where the energy coming from it goes up and down – every 11 years.
This causes the corona to change in size too – kind of like breathing.
At the moment the Sun is at the lower end of a cycle and this is called solar minimum.
If we saw an eclipse in a few years time, the corona in the above image would appear bigger and you would also see more prominences as the Sun would be more active.

As for the experience of the event, it’s amazing. It takes approx 1 hour for the moon to pass in front of the disc of the Sun – from 0% to 100%. During that time, it can change from a really hot day to a cool evening-like feel. The temperature can fall 10-15degrees within 1 hour – very noticeable. The light gradually darkens as the hour passes and then if you look toward the horizon just before totality you can see the shadow of the Moon approach toward you like a thunderstorm – except it’s coming at you at a speed of approx 1,000miles per hour!. Suddenly, it goes very dark as it hits 100% (totality) and stays like that for approx 2-3 minutes. The birds stop chirping, the dogs stop barking and all of nature goes silent as the animals and birds think it is nightfall.
To look up at the sky you see a very dark blue sky with a jet back circle in it where the Sun should be – reminds me of a wormhole from a sci-fi movie.
To look at the horizon you see a perfect sunset effect evenly illuminated in every direction – a salmon coloured band of light just above the horizon evenly illuminated the whole way around, 360 degrees. Around the back “hole” where the Sun should be, you see the a bright pattern of light as shown in the above photo (the corona).

To be honest, I do not have the ability to accurately convey in words the experience of seeing a total eclipse. The subtle variation in light from dark to bright is easy for the eye to see but difficult for the limited ability of cameras to accurately record and convey, be it on film or CCD. I’ve yet to see a photo which can accurately portray what the human eye can see.

Hope this helps.

[astroshot]

May 17, 2008 at 12:00 am

That’s pretty cool Pete. I like that!

[astroshot]

May 14, 2008 at 9:47 pm

Nice shot Jim. Nicely framed too.

Hope you don’t mind me making a couple of suggestions?
Am I correct in saying that you sharpened the image?
If so, try a smaller radius next time (between 1 and 3).
Also, select a region which excludes the edge of the limb on the right side of the moon and feather it.
Due to the contrast involved, the sharpening creates a very sharp white edge to the moon’s limb.
Also, try “smart sharpen” rather than “unsharp mask”.

Hope this help,

[astroshot]

May 12, 2008 at 9:29 pm

Thanks for the kind comments everyone.

pihjin-> The camera is connected to the telescope by removing the lens and using a T-Ring and T-Adapter.
A T-Adapter is a fairly standard adapter which connects to the back of a telescope
A T-Ring connects your camera to the T-Adapter. The T-Ring is specific to the camera-type.
T-Ring:
http://images.aandhmarketing.com/pics/topbrand/tmount.jpgT-Adapter
T-Adapter
http://images.netshops.com/mgen/digimarc.ms?img=master:CELE182.jpg&h=300&w=300

JB7-> I haven’t printed this image yet? What online printing sites would you recommend? Can they do non-standard size prints?

Regards & Thanks,

[astroshot]

April 23, 2008 at 6:10 pm

the latest bnw version is much better than the original. Colour isn’t bad – simple and uncomplicated.
Would it be worth trying sepia??

[astroshot]

April 22, 2008 at 6:31 pm

If you had an image of just the group of deer on the left, it would show them up on the screen in alot more detail and you wouldn’t have any cranes in the frame.
Just my 2 cent.

[astroshot]

April 20, 2008 at 10:06 am

Here’s one of the canon 300d:
http://ghonis2.ho8.com/rebelmodnew.html