Saturn Rising

Saturn is currently in opposition to the earth (closest approach), but still pretty small at 1B miles and 26x. This photo is severely cropped, taken at 1/100" and ISO 3200. "Seeing" was poor due to atmospheric turbulence, despite being a relatively clear night. The camera (Sony A7Riii) was mounted directly to the focusing tube. I could probably get a better shot with a cell phone against an eyepiece. I have 50x, 80x and 125x eyepieces in my kit, so visual viewing is much clearer.

 

With lo-res eyesight, i first read 1B miles as 18 miles - got a bit worried.

With low-res eyesight, a "B" for Billion looks like an "8" ;) I should have used "Bn".

 

On reflection, there's no way to adjust exposure manually on my iPhone. What works on terrestrial subjects in daylight probably wouldn't for astrophotography. I might try it with the Sony, and a lens juxtaposed to the eyepiece. I'd have to use a clock drive, because things go out of view in a few seconds at high power. The telescope moves so slowly that keeping it aligned with the camera would not be difficult. Rather than a second tripod, I could use an articulated arm, clamped to a tripod leg, like I use for video monitors.

 

It's supposed to be clear tonight, and mosquitos need to eat too.

 

Saturn is located in the southern sky, and. rises about 9 pm in Chicago. It is about 25 degrees east and a little south of Jupiter, which is the brightest "star" in the sky at present. It looks a little yellowish, and doesn't twinkle like a star.

Galileo saw the same thing!

Galileo Galilei's sketch of what he called the 'triple nature' of... News Photo - Getty Images

"Seeing" was poor due to atmospheric turbulence, despite being a relatively clear night.

 

Great image. This page gives many interesting tricks and suggestions:

Planetary Imaging

 

On reflection, there's no way to adjust exposure manually on my iPhone.

 

Not with the Apple Camera app, but with plenty of other third party apps.

 

The best I have been able to capture is this, four moons of Jupiter, using iPhone placed against the eyepiece of a Clestron 25x binocular

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by Supriyo

Thanks for posting this, Ed. It's not my field in any way, but astromony and astro photography are so darned interesting. I saw a video by someone who got really nice results by using frame averaging etc. I suppose you go into that sort of thing yourself.

 

I had this idea once of mounting a camera onto a large balloon to get higher into the atmosphere. I don't know how stabilization would work though... Or maybe you won't need it. I mean, parallax is a non-issue, right? Just take multiple frames (at a higher shutter speed, perhaps) and combine them later. No two frames will be aligned, but it won't matter.

I got some good views of Saturn tonight with a 1300mm telescope and 6mm eyepiece. I guess that makes for a 217X magnification. I don't have a motorized mount and the planet moves quickly through the sky. I'll have to read about astrophotography but I'd probably have to take my rig out somewhere dark and not having a motorized mount is probably the killer for me.

I tried "digiscoping" with my iPhone this evening. You place the camera next to the eyepiece instead of your eye, and hope for the best, I find it's not practicable without an adapter. Alignment is critical, and nearly impossible to achieve manually. You can't focus properly if the distance from the eyepiece varies. If you touch the eyepiece, the telescope jiggles strongly, and the subject tends to move out of the field of view.

 

The good news is that exposure seems to work. Since the phone has live view, it's possible to focus without disturbing the alignment too much. The iPhone has a self-timer, which would allow time for vibrations to settle (about 5 seconds minimum). Unlike a camera, which is used in lieu of an eyepiece, you get the benefit of variable magnification. My iPhone has 12 MP, which is not trivial for this purpose. Using a phone camera will also serve as a more comfortable viewing method, especially for children.

 

I plan to order an adapter as soon as B&H opens Saturday evening.

 

* Magnification = FL/FL', where FL = focal length of the basic telescope, and FL' = focal length of the eyepiece. You don't buy a "90x" eyepiece. You buy a 14 mm eyepiece which gives 92x on a 1300 mm telescope, something else on a different scope. With an MILC or DSLR, FL' would be the "normal" focal length for that camera. With a FF camera and this scope, that would be 1300/50 = 26x.

not having a motorized mount is probably the killer for me.

I have an iOptron SkyGuider, which is the least expensive motor drive which can handle the weight of my 4" Maksutov telescope and Sony camera. Unlike the earlier iOptron SkyTracker, this unit has an all-metal body, a built-in polar scope, and a slip clutch to adjust Right Ascension.

 

You have to know where to look. It does not have an automated finder, or even an RA dial and declination scale. Unfortunately, the cost goes up exponentially (astronomically, pun intended) as you add features.

I have an iOptron SkyGuider, which is the least expensive motor drive which can handle the weight of my 4" Maksutov telescope and Sony camera. Unlike the earlier iOptron SkyTracker, this unit has an all-metal body, a built-in polar scope, and a slip clutch to adjust Right Ascension.

 

You have to know where to look. It does not have an automated finder, or even an RA dial and declination scale. Unfortunately, the cost goes up exponentially (astronomically, pun intended) as you add features.

Thank you Ed, I'll just be content with looking through my telescope. Maybe I'll get an iPhone adapter, though.

Thank you Ed, I'll just be content with looking through my telescope. Maybe I'll get an iPhone adapter, though.

 

I appreciate that. Since you mentioned it, I thought others reading this thread might have questions in that regard.