Piggy Back

How often does an amateur astronomer get to use a 2.3 meter telescope for astrophotography? And even better - use it only to piggy-back their cameras on the massive 6 ton mount to use as a tracking platform. Well - here are a few shots taken with such a setup.



NGC 2239 through a Canon EOS 5D and a 400mm lens. This is a sum of 25 5 minute exposures at F/4.0. Processed with ImagePlus and PSCS3.



M33 shot through a 6" F/9 APO refractor with 0.63 Focal Reducer onto a Canon EOS 1D MKIIN. 32 4 minute exposures at F/5.6 processed with ImagePlus and PSCS3.



IC434 shot through a 6" F/9 APO refractor with 0.63 Focal Reducer onto a Canon EOS 1D MKIIN. 35 5 minute exposures at F/5.6 processed with ImagePlus and PSCS3.

Kitt Peak

Up at kitt Peak for the next few days - engineering on the 2.3 meter (90 inch) telescope to check primary and secondary mirror collimation and do some astrophotography. the sky cleared late but the humidity is 93% and we can't open the dome. Temperature is now 18 degrees fahrenheit - BRRRRRRRR!

Xmas 2008

A couple of snapshots from Xmas @ the Harvey house . . .

The grandkids showed up to get their share - 4 boys (youngest not seen as he was not feeling well). They move way to fast!

Where in the World is Dave?

Mt. Graham - the Vatican Telescope - a decent place (at best) in the summer - in winter however, the ghetto of the artic. Its about 25 degrees fahrenheit at noon. Snow and rime ice. The wind is blowing at about 20 knots. Lovely, just lovely.

Conjunction

Well - the conjunction of the year - the Moon, Venus and Jupiter - happened in less-than-perfect sky conditions tonight. But I managed to get a shot of the grouping in late twilight. Canon EOS 5D | 300mm F/2.8L IS @ F/4.0 | 2 seconds | ISO 200