The moon probably isn't visible in this low resolution photo, but this is the result of my second night out in the dark with Uranus. This is a stacked photo - 13 25 second exposures with a Canon EOS 20D attached to a 12" Meade LX90 GPS telescope. I've done this two nights in a row and believe me, I am so sleep deprived. Oh, while I got you on the hook here, I saw Neptune tonight through the telescope. It was a first for me and it was beautiful! I will try to image that one soon, but I fear that's going to be quite the challenge. For now, here's to Uranus.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After several long, agonizing nights and many bad shots, I finally captured an image of Uranus and several of its moons (look carefully near the planet to see the moons - the bright points of light elsewhere in the photo are the stars of Aquarius). Yes, it could be better and it will be once I get my electric focuser and other critical accessories that I just ordered. But for now, this is manual focus, badly calibrated "GoTo" and a lot of trial and error. And beer. And dodging the racoons. And lots of other stuff you don't want to know about but hey, whatever gets you through the night. This did it for me, a long sought-after image. Now, I aspire to resolve disk and detail with a TeleXtender and a clear night, but this will suffice for now. (Meade 12" LX-90, Canon EOS 20D, f5.6, asa 1600, 20 seconds)

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 06:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)