Cazzie
December 13th, 2009, 08:24
I have seen all eight of the major planets seeing as how I live on one. It has been suspect I am from one of the others. :icon_lol:
I have captured images of all but Mercury, Venus, and Neptune. The two former one, because they are never in the viewing range of my tree surrounded back yard (fine with me because it blocks out ambient light) and i would need at least a 200-ft. extension cord to power the clock drive (I need one of those new battery-operated jobs), the latter because it is such a small object, I don't know if I could capture it on an image with my C-8. It is a tough object to pick out as it is and onlty noticeable because of its unique turquoise color among a background of white same-magnitude stars. It is too small for my C-8 and even a 6-mm ocular to define as a resolute orb.
But all the others are. Here are shots of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, all shot with a 9-mm ocular except Uranus, which was shot with a 6-mm ocular. All were shot at opposition, that is when they were 180 degrees from the sun and at their brightest from earth. You can compare the sizes of the images and also see the difference in viewing Mars with a C-8 and seeing it through a 32-in Observatory telescope from the image shown in the Moon thread. All are cropped to remove background stars and make the planets move up close and in person.
Mars, opposition 2006, C-8, CoolPix 995, 9-mm ocular, 2-seconds on clock drive. maximum f-stop of 4.5. manual focus
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/mars_825_3.jpg
Jupiter, opposition 2007, C-8, CoolPix 995, 9-mm ocular, 4.5 f-stop, 4-seconds, manual focus
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/jupiter_2.jpg
Saturn, opposition 2006, CoolPix 995, 9-mm ocular, 4.5 f-stop, 4-seconds, manual focus
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/saturn_1.jpg
Uranus, opposition 2007, CoolPix 995, 6-mm ocular, six shots taken at 4.5 f-stop and 10 seconds, manual focus. Three of the best shots were stitched in Photoshop and cropped to produce a brighter image. the color is unique to all the Heavens.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/uranus_825.jpg
And now how could I leave the women out without looking at some jewels. The two bright stars in this image (blue and gold) are the double star Albireo (al-BEER-ee-oh) at the tail of Cygnus the Swan (aka as the Northern Cross). Stars will never show a resolute orb, as they emit light rather than reflect it, ergo, they are brilliant shimmering jewels. Albireo is one of the few double stars close enough together and bright enough to be observed at a high magnification, thereby showing a greater separation in the two stars. The two stars of Albireo are 35-seconds of arc apart as seen from Earth, that is, if you picture a vast circle with 360 degrees, the separation of these two stars would only be 35-seconds of that circle.
Albireo, Winter 2007, C-8, CoolPix 995, 15-mm ocular, 4.5 f-stop, 4-seconds, manual focus (note, when focusing on stars, one has to focus until the star twinkles and is sharp).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/alberio.jpg
Caz
I have captured images of all but Mercury, Venus, and Neptune. The two former one, because they are never in the viewing range of my tree surrounded back yard (fine with me because it blocks out ambient light) and i would need at least a 200-ft. extension cord to power the clock drive (I need one of those new battery-operated jobs), the latter because it is such a small object, I don't know if I could capture it on an image with my C-8. It is a tough object to pick out as it is and onlty noticeable because of its unique turquoise color among a background of white same-magnitude stars. It is too small for my C-8 and even a 6-mm ocular to define as a resolute orb.
But all the others are. Here are shots of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, all shot with a 9-mm ocular except Uranus, which was shot with a 6-mm ocular. All were shot at opposition, that is when they were 180 degrees from the sun and at their brightest from earth. You can compare the sizes of the images and also see the difference in viewing Mars with a C-8 and seeing it through a 32-in Observatory telescope from the image shown in the Moon thread. All are cropped to remove background stars and make the planets move up close and in person.
Mars, opposition 2006, C-8, CoolPix 995, 9-mm ocular, 2-seconds on clock drive. maximum f-stop of 4.5. manual focus
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/mars_825_3.jpg
Jupiter, opposition 2007, C-8, CoolPix 995, 9-mm ocular, 4.5 f-stop, 4-seconds, manual focus
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/jupiter_2.jpg
Saturn, opposition 2006, CoolPix 995, 9-mm ocular, 4.5 f-stop, 4-seconds, manual focus
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/saturn_1.jpg
Uranus, opposition 2007, CoolPix 995, 6-mm ocular, six shots taken at 4.5 f-stop and 10 seconds, manual focus. Three of the best shots were stitched in Photoshop and cropped to produce a brighter image. the color is unique to all the Heavens.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/uranus_825.jpg
And now how could I leave the women out without looking at some jewels. The two bright stars in this image (blue and gold) are the double star Albireo (al-BEER-ee-oh) at the tail of Cygnus the Swan (aka as the Northern Cross). Stars will never show a resolute orb, as they emit light rather than reflect it, ergo, they are brilliant shimmering jewels. Albireo is one of the few double stars close enough together and bright enough to be observed at a high magnification, thereby showing a greater separation in the two stars. The two stars of Albireo are 35-seconds of arc apart as seen from Earth, that is, if you picture a vast circle with 360 degrees, the separation of these two stars would only be 35-seconds of that circle.
Albireo, Winter 2007, C-8, CoolPix 995, 15-mm ocular, 4.5 f-stop, 4-seconds, manual focus (note, when focusing on stars, one has to focus until the star twinkles and is sharp).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y168/cazmodel/Stargazing/alberio.jpg
Caz