FUN WITH THE STARS
The Universe is a vast expanse in which a person could spend a lifetime exploring. For most
amateur astronomers, a telescope is the vehicle of choice which brings the Heavens up close. There is good reason for this too, as can be seen by
David Malin's photograph of Barnard 33 and my own discovery, Vicky 01(The Koohead Nebula.)
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| The Horsehead Nebula |
The Koohead Nebula |
Now although this is beautiful and fascinating, not everyone has $3000.00 enabling them to make photos like this. That is why I have chosen to write about the use of binoculars
and a cheap camera to view and photograph the stars. Even this can become costly, but for about $250.00, you can have a lot of fun.
What equipment do I need?
- Binoculars - At least 7 x 35. I am currently using 10 x 50 which I picked up at Service Merchandise.
I paid $80.00 for my set which are Meade Infinity's. I know if you shop around a bit you can get them for
a better price, the thing with me was, I wanted them right away. The most important thing to look for when buying binoculars, is to find a pair that
has a screw mount in front, so the binoculars can be attached to a tripod. Believe me, 10 x 50's get heavy very
quickly, and a tripod will also stabilize your viewing.
- Camera - Most astrophotographer's look for old Olympus OM-1 35mm Single Reflex Lens(SLR) cameras for their
photography. It has everything you should look for when taking pictures of the stars; mirror lock-up, bulb, and
it is a manual camera. I tried to find one of these for a decent price, but failed. I ended up going to Wal-Mart to ask
the photo people there what they thought, and they sold me a Kalimar 90 SLR manual camera for $140.00. This camera is not
displayed on the floor, they keep it locked up behind the counter so you must ask them to see the manual camera. Anyhow, this camera seems to fill all of my needs so far,
but does not have the mirror lock-up. To get around that, I just use the timer. When using bulb, it holds open the mirror before the film is
exposed, hopefully eliminating vibration. This has worked for me so far. You will also need to get a cable release for your camera, that will hold the shutter open
without vibration. After looking at all the department stores for one of these, I finally had to find a camera shop. Penn Camera
helped me out with this. It is a great shop where deals can be found.
- Tripod - The bigger you get, the more sturdy the base. This could be important to you if you live in a very windy area. I went
cheap and small. My tripod was $18.00 at Best Buy. I like it a lot better then the Vivitar they sell at Wal-Mart. The controls are
very easy to move and there is no hand crank for raising and lowering. To me, the hand crank moved the tripod around too much and
knock out any alignment I had.
- Tripod Adapter for Binoculars - This was a bit tricky to find. If the binoculars you buy don't come with an adapter for the tripod, you must
search for one. I found one for $19.99 at a Wild Bird Center. If you send e-mail to this store, I am sure they can help you
out with sending you an adapter.
- A Guide to the Stars - Now this will definitely be a personal choice, as there are a lot of books and magazines dealing with this topic.
What I have found that works best, is the monthly pull out in Sky and Telescope or Astronomy magazines. Not only do you get an in-depth look at
the sky for a month, you also get great articles with all the enticing advertisments thrown in. I also got a quick reference book, which is a bit
dated, Golden Books, "SkyGuide". I like it because it gives information on all the constellations, moon, suns, and other various entities that are in
the Universe. The magazines cost as follows: "Sky and Telescope" = $3.99 "Astronomy" = $4.50. The "SkyGuide" was $9.00.
My First Photos
Both photos were taken between 1900-1930 hours in the evening. The brightness in the photos is caused by the shutter
being open for an extended amount of time. In the J/V/M picture, Mercury is really there, but just didn't show up after I
cut down the resolution in PaintShop. Now I know what you may be thinking, "These Stink!" Well, you have to start somewhere.
An important thing to remember when taking the photos is to, WRITE DOWN everything. Eventually you will get a base knowledge of
what works well for certain types of atmospheres and lighting.
The Photo Gallery
The Gallery is made up of my constellation pictures. All of these photos were taken with a
35mm Kalimar 90 SLR camera and a tripod. I used 400 speed color film, and I left the shutter open from 10-20 seconds.
The apeture was set between 1.7-2.8. I drew the outlines for the constellations using Paintshop Pro, and
a star guide. I think my Perseus is a bit off as far as the correct star combination. The photos were scanned
into my computer in black and white, which really brought out the stars and eliminated a lot of the light pollution which is
in the originals. Enjoy.
