First Day with New 7D -- Jupiter, Galilean Satellites, and Uranus

[astrostu]

My 7D finally arrived and after reading a bit of the manual to figure out how to change some settings and actually get into the movie mode, I headed off to the telescopes. It was NOT a good night for viewing/photo'ing, as the seeing was 2/5 and transparency 3/5 (click link for some explanation about what those are), but the weather forecast does not look good for the next few nights.

The optics were a 4880 mm f/12 telescope.

The settings for Jupiter were the HD movie (1920x1080 px) at 30 fps. ISO was 400. The shot for the main moons was 1 second at ISO 400. The final image of Jupiter is 91 images averaged (3.03 seconds). The settings for Uranus were also HD, at 24 fps, and ISO 3200 (I also did one at ISO 6400, but 3200 came out just as "good"). The final image of Uranus is 49 images averaged (2.04 seconds).

Despite the horrible seeing, I was still reasonably happy with the final results if, for no other reason, as a proof of concept that this'll work. All images are shown at 100% size.

 

[icassell]

Wow, and I was happy to get a gecko on my first day with my 7D

These are nice ... I've barely touched the video function yet ....

 

[astrostu]

I'll admit that I didn't get the camera purely for its video, but I will say that was a major feature that I saw that definitely added value for me. I've been wanting to do this for about 3 years and I finally have a camera that'll let me.

 

[Big]

That's just a little better than the dumb telescope I looked through in my astronomy class that was about 6 feet long and an hour away...

 

[bigtwinky]

That's just a little better than the dumb telescope I looked through in my astronomy class that was about 6 feet long and an hour away...

yet another beneficial post...

 

[JamesMason]

Most people shoot their dog, and a plant the first day they get a new camera atsrostu shoots Jupiter, Galilean Satellites, and Uranus. I haven't even done that in years of owning a camera

 

[Renol]

Wow that's incredible! Makes me wish I had the knowledge and tools to take a photo like that. Nice job!

 

[sabbath999]

Pretty good shots with a marginal air column above you.

How was focusing?

 

[astrostu]

Pretty good shots with a marginal air column above you.

How was focusing?

It was a pretty bad night in terms of seeing. Focusing was accomplished by over-exposing Jupiter in order to get the moons. I adjusted the focus, took another pic of the moons, and adjusted again until I got about as good as I figured I'd get without spending more than a minute or so on it.

 

[Big]

That's just a little better than the dumb telescope I looked through in my astronomy class that was about 6 feet long and an hour away...

yet another beneficial post...

It's people like you that make me wanna kill myself... How's that make you feel...





EDIT: no I'm not serious people...

 

[astrostu]

No fighting here, please!

 

[Big]

That's just a little better than the dumb telescope I looked through in my astronomy class that was about 6 feet long and an hour away...

BTW... I wasn't trying to be mean. It was a compliment. Just saying that your shots look better than the expensive telescope I looked through in class.

 

[Big]

No fighting here, please!

I know exactly how you feel. That's the problem with text... Some people on here just don't understand...

 

[AverageJoe]

So what setup did you use to connect the EOS body to the telescope? Can you connect any EOS body? Can we see a pic of this setup?

Very interesting images, the whole idea of who I am in the solar system comes to mind.

Ok, one more question, can we get a moon shot?

 

[astrostu]

That's just a little better than the dumb telescope I looked through in my astronomy class that was about 6 feet long and an hour away...

BTW... I wasn't trying to be mean. It was a compliment. Just saying that your shots look better than the expensive telescope I looked through in class.

I took it as a compliment (though I had to read it twice to get there).

So what setup did you use to connect the EOS body to the telescope? Can you connect any EOS body? Can we see a pic of this setup?

Very interesting images, the whole idea of who I am in the solar system comes to mind.

Ok, one more question, can we get a moon shot?

You can connect any SLR camera body to a telescope. What you need is a camera mount-specific T-ring (connects to your camera and converts it to a more universal screw threads) and a telescope-specific T-mount (which threads into the T-ring and then connects through the telescope in lieu of an eyepiece, so will be 2" or 1.25" in diameter usually).

Now that I have two cameras, I guess I can take a picture of the setup. It'll have to wait until next time, though.

I've posted some moon shots before, but it just so happens I took one tonight with the new camera. I'll post it after I finish putting it together.