The frustrations of astrophotography
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:04 pm
Two passes of the ISS were available this evening. Armed with good advice from Frank and Dave about focussing I awaited with camera sur la tripod for darkness and clear skies.
Alas , I only got one out of two of my wishes when the first pass arrived at 18:24. Next pass was only going to be 82 " long and due at 19:59.
At 19:45 the cloud started to break in the direction of Sirius -- set the focus as best I could and took a 30" exposure. Hells bells -- not alone did I get Sirius out of focus but an aircraft flying through -- adjusted the focus and started again -- then the phone rang -- one of those calls that are difficult to terminate -- I now have a 7.5 minute useless exposure.
What time is the ISS due?? I wrote the time due, direction and elevation on a piece of paper in 'big writing' so I would not be fiddling with different glasses trying to read in the dark!
Hells bells again -- 2 minutes to go !! Will I try for another refocus?? No, better to spend time trying to be sure of pointing the camera in the best expected direction. More hells bells -- my neighbour has just turned on his security light at the back of the house --- damn! -- he rarely does that.
Anyway, here's a 35" out of focus shot of the 0.0 magnitude 82" pass of the ISS tonight. There's work to be done.
What exactly should an in focus star look like -- can anybody show me one please?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2206/224 ... 45c822.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2153/224 ... d2425f.jpg
Alas , I only got one out of two of my wishes when the first pass arrived at 18:24. Next pass was only going to be 82 " long and due at 19:59.
At 19:45 the cloud started to break in the direction of Sirius -- set the focus as best I could and took a 30" exposure. Hells bells -- not alone did I get Sirius out of focus but an aircraft flying through -- adjusted the focus and started again -- then the phone rang -- one of those calls that are difficult to terminate -- I now have a 7.5 minute useless exposure.
What time is the ISS due?? I wrote the time due, direction and elevation on a piece of paper in 'big writing' so I would not be fiddling with different glasses trying to read in the dark!
Hells bells again -- 2 minutes to go !! Will I try for another refocus?? No, better to spend time trying to be sure of pointing the camera in the best expected direction. More hells bells -- my neighbour has just turned on his security light at the back of the house --- damn! -- he rarely does that.
Anyway, here's a 35" out of focus shot of the 0.0 magnitude 82" pass of the ISS tonight. There's work to be done.
What exactly should an in focus star look like -- can anybody show me one please?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2206/224 ... 45c822.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2153/224 ... d2425f.jpg