VelociPeek

Song of The Day: Ziggy Stardust - Artist: David Bowie

Got a few more pictures of Comet Holmes last night, so here’s a composite of 3 images. Also, posted on Flickr. Better detail this time with longer exposures and clearer skies.

- Taken in Aldie, VA on 11/03/2007 between approximately 8-8:30PM
- Telescope: Meade 10” LX200GPS SCT
- Camera: Nikon D100 - Prime Focal
- ISO 800
- Composite of 3 images: 46s, 65s, (69s w/ Broadband Nebulae Filter)
- Photoshop Elements 4.0 (OS X)
- Weather: clear skies

Tags: Eric O’Laughlen, Comet Holmes, Astrophotography

Song of The Day: Ziggy Stardust - Artist: David Bowie

Last couple of nights I’ve been viewing clear skies and the Comet Holmes, which is easily viewed with binoculars and lower powered telescopes. Some may even be able to view it unaided.

I snapped a couple of pictures of the comet last night with semi-clear skies and uploaded one picture to Flickr, included in today’s blog entry.

- Taken in Aldie, VA on 11/02/2007 at 6:38PM
- Telescope: Meade 10” LX200GPS SCT
- Camera: Nikon D100 - Prime Focal
- ISO 1600 - 30s exposure
- Photoshop Elements 4.0 (OS X)
- Weather: semi-clear

If I get any other decent ones I’ll post them.

Tags: Eric O’Laughlen, Comet Holmes, Astrophotography

Song of The Day: Ziggy Stardust - Artist: David Bowie

I posted some more astrophotos for those that want to see them. Just click on the Flickr badge I added yesterday below.

I’ll post more later, but I’m still processing some pictures.

I have some pretty detailed pictures of the ‘03 Mars Opposition (taste above), but I want to see if I can get some more composite detail out of it before posting a larger file.

I actually trekked my family down to the Outer Banks, NC to get the Mars photo because the sky looks like a planetarium at night :). Oh, and the beach ain’t bad either. As I took snapshots with a busted tracking scope and wind off of the shore, my 2 year old daughter was crashed in the car seat as my wife nicely asked me to hurry up! Those were the days.

Tags: Eric O’Laughlen, Astronomy, Astrophotography

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Song of The Day: Shooting Star - Artist: Bad Company

The past couple of nights I’ve gotten out my telescope to view the night sky. Winter time is a wonderful time for viewing stars, galaxies, and nebulae. Some may not realize how easy it is to see the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion Nebula with just a modest-sized telescope–even a pair of good binoculars. Although books and articles correctly point out that they can be seen with the “naked eye” as well, their viewing with the naked eye can be limited by light pollution. Here is a collage of three composite astrophotos that I took last night:

The moon was bright, but was slightly clipped (waning gibbous) after a full moon earlier in the day (i.e., 25 minutes after midnight). I decided to snap a shot of it first to get started. The craters, Tyco on the bottom and Copernicus about half-way up, are easily identifiable.

The other pictures in the collage are of the Orion Nebula and of the Trapezium up-close.

Astronomy and astrophotography are great fun. In the future I plan to provide a review of my gear and methods, but there is plenty of good information on the Web for those that want to stargaze.

Perhaps you can ask Santa for a telescope for Christmas? :) (i.e., if you’ve been good of course…).

Tags: Eric O’Laughlen, Astronomy, Astrophotography