tips on astrophotography needed~

eMinity · Post by **eMinity** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:41 am

hi guys, im trying to take pictures with my phone through my telescope. but it seems like its really difficult to take especially for those planetary like jupiter at low magnification. due to the fact that i dont have a camera. i was wondering are there any ways to take pictures with a camera phone at ease and having a great (detailed) picture?

and i would be glad if someone tells me why does jupiter look like a white ball of light after i take a picture of it while when im looking throught the telescope, it has different colour details?

hope to get a reply soon. thanks.

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:15 am

Hi,eMinity
What you are doing is afocal photography using a handphone camera.You need something to hold your handphone firmly to your eyepiece.Such an item exist at scienceastro-science centre or at astrobargain-joo beng store.Check them out--joo beng store maybe cheaper.
As for the overbright image without details,try various filters to both dim down the image and review the detail.You can also use a more powerful-ie,shorter focal length--eyepiece.Its a matter of trial and error.;for your scope may produce a not so good image and a large image review all kinds of defects.By the way,the eyepiece must have large lens at the end where you put your eye.
Well,thats the cheapest way to get astroimages;otherwise you have to follow our sifu footsteps to use DSLR,computer link ccd,etc.Thanks

guangwei · Post by **guangwei** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:25 pm

What scope are you using? curious to know. [smilie=admire.gif]

You can get a cheap webcam camera like celestron neximage, toUcam, meade LPI, for astrophotography for lunar and planetary images. It is also affordable and suitable for first time users.
Last time i also tried taking images using my handphone, but, only the moon is suitable. and i tried taking planets but it appear like a white ball as you said. and if i zoom all the way in, the image will keep drifting away and very difficult to capture. The results will not satisfy you.
thanks [smilie=admire2.gif]

eMinity · Post by **eMinity** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:26 pm

hi. thanks for all the replies.

im currently using a maksutov cassegrain 127mm.

eMinity · Post by **eMinity** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:28 pm

i would also like to ask why cant i see anything after i insert my 2x barlow lens? i turned the focusing knob from left to right all the way but still couldnt see anything. pointed at all sorts of objects but im seeing the same thingy in the scope.

Post by **Airconvent** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:36 pm

eMinity wrote:i would also like to ask why cant i see anything after i insert my 2x barlow lens? i turned the focusing knob from left to right all the way but still couldnt see anything. pointed at all sorts of objects but im seeing the same thingy in the scope.

Probably it has shifted out of the field-of-view (FOV). Remember when you insert a Barlow the magnification increased 2 fold, so your viewing radius reduced by half (which was already very narrow in the first place). And when you inserted the Barlow, the scope may have shifted slightly due to its weight too. Hence the key is to adjust your scope around to relocate the object. Before you insert a barlow always make sure the object is dead centre to minimise significiant mis-alignment when you insert it. Also, its best to progressively reduce the ep focal length as opposed to jumping from very wide to very narrow view.

cheers

eMinity · Post by **eMinity** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 11:26 pm

actually what i meant was when i look through the telescope with the barlow on, it always shows this grey patch. no matter whether i point it at a tree or any other coloured items, it shows this grey patch. and when i turn the barlow lens, the grey patch moves in the same direction as im turning. is the problem coming from the barlow lens itself?

Post by **Airconvent** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:44 pm

eMinity wrote:actually what i meant was when i look through the telescope with the barlow on, it always shows this grey patch. no matter whether i point it at a tree or any other coloured items, it shows this grey patch. and when i turn the barlow lens, the grey patch moves in the same direction as im turning. is the problem coming from the barlow lens itself?

Wait a minute...what scope do you have? If its one of those el-cheapo toys-r-us stuff or worse that $39 contraption from carrefour then likely you are using the shortest focal length eyepiece to squeeze performanc e. The problem with these scopes is some of the eyepieces can't come into focus.
I previously bought a Eduscience newtonian and the 4mm eye piece they provided (the one that gave the humongous magnification) can't even be used in any configuration!

[smilie=bye.gif]

eMinity · Post by **eMinity** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:13 pm

im using a maksutov cassegrain 127mm

Post by **Airconvent** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:22 am

eMinity wrote:im using a maksutov cassegrain 127mm

mmm...then it can't be. Why not bring your scope along in the next singastro outing and let one of us have a look at it?