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It's been a long time since I was last able to get out and observe. I am finally going to finish school this May and right now with a full-time job, 4
classes, and trying to fix up the house, I simply haven't been able to spare sleep time in order to observe.
The last two weeks were full of clouds and rain so I was thrilled when tonight came and it was not only clear, but I had a tiny bit of free time. I just
purchased a pair of Celestron Ultima 7x50 binoculars yesterday and I wanted to see how they would perform. The were great. I look forward to getting under a darker sky with them.
I tried my hand at some more astrophotography tonight. The constellation shots with the regular 50mm lens turned out so well that I decided to try and
capture Orion. I took
a few shots at 5, 10, 15, and 20 seconds. It will be interesting to see how they turn out. I hope to get them developed tomorrow during lunch. I also tried some eyepiece projection shots of Jupiter and M42. I'm almost positive the M42 shots won't turn out but I have high hopes for the Jupiter shots.
To determine the exposure time, I used the Astrophotography Exposure Calculator provided by Michael Covington on his web site. It suggested a 1/15 second exposure
with my eyepiece projection
configuration. This is a great utility and really helps inexperienced (me!) astrophotographers determine what the exposure should be. For M42, it suggested an exposure time of 2.2 hours! There is no way I can do a guided exposure so anything over a fraction of a second is not going to happen. When I get the film developed, I'll post the results here. Check back in a few days.
Finally, there is more news on the equipment front. My wife and I went over our budget and determined that I will be able to get an 8" or 10"
LX200 by November of this year. Four or five months after that, I'll be able to get an SBIG ST7E CCD camera. I can't wait! I'll be able to do astronometry and send data to the Minor Planet Center. I'm finally going to get the scope and I can't wait!
It will probably be a while before my next entry. Until May, things are going to stay hectic.
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