Galileo's Moon

I have to say I feel somewhat special when I think of what it must have been like for Galileo to have first seen the craters on the moon. I felt like that last night when I first pointed my scope at the moon. I could not believe how clear the craters were. The next step was of course to put the camera on!!! :-D

I found out pretty quick that the moon moves pretty fast! Without tracking on I was having a hard time keeping the moon in the viewfinder. Also I think it was moving fast enough to make many of my shots blurred!

I finally aligned the scope and set it to track and got something decent.

It is interesting how spectacular it felt to get this shot! I only wish I could have controlled the vibration just a bit better. I decided it would be nice to try something with a bit more in it and threw on the focal reducer to get the full Moon.

I really like this shot. I took some creative liberty with the white balance and color, because, you know, that is what an artist does!  After all I am not working for NASA out of my backyard!  ;-)

Again, I can only imagine what Galileo must have thought when he first peered through a telescope at the moon.  It really was such a thrill even though I know what I am looking at!  This Astrophotography thing is way cool!

Light Cipher

Sirius

The sky was clear tonight so I decided to try the telescope.  I have been reading up on Astrophotography and although I don't think I am proficient yet I was able to get the telescope focused and an image which is at least pleasing to look at...

Sirius

There are so many problems with this image it is not even funny.  However, I am just so excited about this new form of Photography I had to post something!

Here is another shot...  Our dog, Tessa, got in on the action here.  Perhaps because Sirius is part of the Dog constellation?  No, actually it is because I did not lock her in the house!  She barely brushed the tripod during the shot...  It is kind of pretty in it's own right but it really shows how stable you have to have the equipment to get a good shot.

Oh well, I had a lot of fun.

Till next time,
Light Cipher

If guns could talk...

I dabbled in Astrophotography this weekend.. My first shots leave so much to be desired I deleted them off my machine... Hopefully I can figure out what I am doing...

I was able to shoot (photography) a riffle which was given to me by a special friend of my family, John DeMille.  John was a fighter pilot during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Among other things he flew over Normandy on D-Day. After the war, he found this riffle in a tree and brought it home to be used as a hunting riffle. He gave it to me with the stipulation that I would use it. I decided to take some photos of it for the Tracy Camera Club. This month's subject was "old".

I don't know its history before 1945 but from the head stamp it seems it has been around a while.

 

It is a long barrel bolt action riffle which ended up in a tree. Much can be speculated. Perhaps it was never fired during the war? Perhaps it belonged to a sniper who was shot out of the tree? Was it in storage during the first world war, or did it see action then too? Perhaps it was a farmers hunting riffle which got caught up in the war only to end up going home with another farmer who also used it to hunt?

If guns could talk


John passed away this past year. He was 87. He will be missed.

Thanks John, for everything,
Ira