The Night Sky
Mar 22, 2012 15:01:42 #
HighDesertRose
Loc: Tucson AZ
Hi. I have a digital slr and a tripod and would love to take some photos of the planets now in our southwest skies. Any suggestions on the settings?
Mar 22, 2012 15:49:58 #
HighDesertRose wrote:
Hi. and love to take some photos of the planets now in our southwest skies. Any suggestions on the settings?
Yep, set up on the highest hill you can find !!!
Mar 22, 2012 16:23:22 #
Welcome Rose. You can scroll up to the top of UHH Forum page and click on Search, then type in shooting night views and search for a lot of answwers there. Good Luck.
Mar 23, 2012 18:12:18 #
You are in a great part of the country for star shots, probably not a far drive for you to be away from any light pollution. That's good and bad. If you want to shoot star trails, that's good. If you want to focus on just Venus and Jupiter (?), that's bad. If you shoot wide angle, those planets will get lost among all the stars. You might need to use a long(ish) lens to narrow in on your subject. Happy hunting!
Mar 25, 2012 01:27:13 #
Get a tripod. Set ISO to about 6400 (for dark moon shots) with no moon in the sky Set camera function to Manual. Use widest f/stop (low number). Set time delay to about 10 seconds. Turn on High ISO Noise Reduction. Turn on Long Exposure Noise Reduction. Turn off Image Stabalizer. Turn off auto focus and manually focus on bright star (arcturus) through viewfinder or on tripod in "live-view" mode. Use wide-angle lens (18mm OK). Use cable release. Frame what you want through view-finder (after eyes adjust to low light). For stars & planets, take no more than 20-25 second image or your stars will appear fat or elongated. Hope I remembered everything.
Mar 25, 2012 01:31:23 #
Mar 26, 2012 01:52:40 #
HighDesertRose
Loc: Tucson AZ
Thanks so much, Ray. This is exactly the information I was looking for. I see you have NPS Glacier under your name. Do you work for National Park Service? I work for Western National Park Assoc. here in Tucson, AZ. I don't think you're one of our western parks, but what a coincidence. Thanks for your response. Connie
Mar 26, 2012 13:43:33 #
Connie: I'm glad to help. Yes, I work for the National Parks Service through the Astro-VIP Program which is run by Colorado State University. My assignment these past three years has been Glacier National Park where I do Solar Viewing each day and Celestial Viewing each night during July, August and September. Last year we serviced 10,925 park visitors at St Mary Visitor Center in Glacier NP. For 2012 we are going to have Astronomers on both sides of the Park at Apgar and St Mary. This program is very popular with park visitors and is the most attended Ranger led program in the park. If you come to Glacier, please look me up at the St Mary Visitor Center.
Mar 26, 2012 15:42:57 #
Southwest are Jupiter and Venus(brightest). With a 200mm lens you can see the phase of Venus , about 1/2, and 3-4 moons on Jupiter. Use a sunny 16 exposure and a tripod. You may see two dark bands on Jupiter, maybe not. Unless you have a larger lens likely no detail more than . . . o.
for Jupiter and D for Venus
I have a 750mm telescope and the pictures aren't much better. You need a lens of around 2000mm to start seeing the planet detail.
for Jupiter and D for Venus
I have a 750mm telescope and the pictures aren't much better. You need a lens of around 2000mm to start seeing the planet detail.
Mar 27, 2012 00:14:04 #
HighDesertRose
Loc: Tucson AZ
Thanks, Pepper. I'm going to try my luck from the Sea of Cortez next month. The Milky Way is super there, right on the beach. If I have any results I'll attach them at this forum. Connie
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