Saturn Shot with CMOS Sensor

I'm having a hard time capturing Saturn with its moons.  If I turn the exposure up I can see the moons, but when I see Saturn clearly the moons are under-exposed, and you can't see them.  Here is a shot where Saturn is fairly clear...

Jupiter and Moons

Saturday Night, and I'm Stargazing again...  This time with enhanced technology.  I've hauled my computer, WOPR, out on to the patio, and I have it attached to the Telescope via a Celestron NexImage5 Astrophotography Camera.  I was eager to try this CMOS Image Sensor Technology with my new Reflector Telescope.  This time there are no lenses involved.  The Reflector Telescope has a Parabolic first surface mirror for the primary mirror, and then a 45 degree diagonal first surface mirror for the secondary mirror.  Then the light goes directly to a 5 Megapixel CMOS Image Sensor.  I'm going to try and catch Saturn next...

Full Moon 2

Wow, Looka Dat!  Now Thatz wut Iz talkin' 'bout...

Full Moon

Well, not quite full, waning by a day.  This shot is a little overexposed, but its nice, and clear.  You can see the detail of the ridges, and craters.  You can see the profile around the periphery.  This shot is through the Two Inch Eyepiece.  Yeah, definitely need to get a Lunar Filter for these kind of shots.  When I use a higher magnification eyepiece I can zoom in the details, and view specific portions of the Lunar Surface.  The New Telescope is very exciting...

Saturn Shot

I've been trying to master my new camera mount on the Skyline Eight Inch Telescope.  Its exceedingly difficult to snap an image of a planet.  They are so small from our perspective, and I don't have Equatorial Motion, so I have to continuously move the Telescope to keep up with the motion of the sky.  I'm doing this while trying to align, and focus the camera.  It took like an hour to get this meager shot.  I am pleased, however, because this is the first time that I have been able to see Saturn, and its rings, and moons.  Awesome...

Burpee Burpless Cucumbers

I don't usually buy sprouted Cucumbers for my garden, but this year I found something that looked intriguing.  Burpee Burpless Cucumbers.  I am going to assume that Burpless means that have a lower Cucumbitacin content, and that you don't taste that when you belch.  Anyway, these Cucumbers got extra large when I wasn't looking, and I figured that they would be extra bitter because of this.  Well, they're not, and I'm surprised.  I took the biggest one, and sliced it up, ate it raw, and its great.  Burpee Burpless Cucumber, Z.Monkey approved...

New Telescope

I've had a lot of telescopes, but have never bought a new telescope, until now.  I've been using telescopes at work, and its made me want one for my self.  The Optical Tubes I use at work are Eight Inch Reflectors which have a Focal Length of 1000 Millimeters.  It's a Orion Telescope product which we purchase as an Optical Tube Assembly, Orion 203mm f/4.9 Reflector Telescope Optical Tube Assembly.  This Optical Tube Assembly is just the Optical Tube with no Eyepieces, Finder Scope, or Mount.  I want to do Astronomy at home, so I need Eyepieces, Finder Scope, and Mount.  I picked a different model for myself.  The Skyline Telescopes from Orion Telescope have the accessories that you need for Astronomical Observation.  The one I picked is an Eight Inch Reflector with a Focal Length of 1200 Millimeters, SkyLine 8" Dobsonian Reflector Telescope.  It comes with a Two Inch Eyepiece which is really neat.  I've never had one of those.  I took a look at the Full Moon last night, and it was spectacular.

This Telescope gathers more light that anything I have ever used.  Looking at the Full Moon was almost painful because it was so bright.  I went and got my Sun Glasses because the light intensity was hurting my eyes.  I'm going to need to get a Filter Set for the Eyepieces.  I also bought a Camera Mount for the 1.25 Inch Eyepiece.  I played with it a little last night, but its going to take some more experimentation to master is use.  I am looking forward to getting some Astrographs.  I took a look at Venus this morning, and it is the first time that I have seen the shape of the planet, now about half exposed, looked like a half moon.  Tonight I am looking forward to looking at Saturn, and Jupiter.  Hopefully I can snap a few shots...