Lunar and Astrophotography by Ambrose Liao

International Observe the Moon Night (IOMN)

2011-10-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

Is scheduled for Saturday October 8th. I will try and participate in this event by setting up my Coulter Dob and taking some shots if the moon is visible. It's scheduled to be full on the 11th so it should be very bright that night. The forecast looks good in that it's going to be a warm day and cool evening here in the Washington, DC area.

http://observethemoonnight.org/

Ambrose

Off-Topic - Google + (Plus) Invites

2011-07-15T12:25:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the off-topic posting, however, I've been able to get a Google + account and want to pass along my good fortune to others who may want one. Just send an email to my Gmail account here:

ambroseliao at gmail dot com

Of course, remove all the spaces, replace the "at" with an "@" and replace the "dot" with a "."

If you don't know what Google + Plus is, it's the new social networking site that's a direct competitor to Facebook. It is a bit more open and seems to be a bit more secure than FB as well as being more capable and infinitely less burdened with ads, "pokes" and other fluff.

I'll try to get the invite out to you as quickly as possible.

One note:After giving out invites for a day or two, I've found that Gmail and Yahoo email accounts get an invite almost immediately and others either are delay or don't get them at all...

Keep that in mind when you send me the request.

Thanks,

Ambrose

NEAF is this weekend!

2011-04-13T12:23:00.001-07:00

Come one, come all to the greatest astronomy fair on the East Coast!

http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/NEAF/index.html

I only wish that I could go but some day I will.

Ambrose

Zhumell laser collimator

2011-04-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

I was in need of a laser collimator to help collimate the Celestron 114EQ scope so spotted one on Astromart and grabbed it. Let's see how well the collimation has held up on the little reflector!

It's a Zhumell basic laser collimator which comes with Zhumell's dobsonian scopes.

More later,
Ambrose

Mediocre at best image of the Moon at Perigee 3-19-2011

2011-03-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

I took many shots that day however, none of them came out well. I discovered afterwards that my Coulter was horribly out of collimation. I guess it had shifted when I moved the scope into position. I'll need to recollimate it before any other shooting. None-the-less (actually quite less), Here's a shot of the moon at Perigee which is horrible, but it's something...

As you can see, it really was very large that night. This is a full frame shot from my 30D!

More and better later.

Ambrose

Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station Flyover 3/8/2011

2011-03-10T10:19:00.000-08:00

I was wondering about the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station the other day and Googled them to find this site which helps track them.

http://www.heavens-above.com

I registered so that it knew where I'm located and could tell me the location of the ISS. I found that on the 8th, the ISS was going to pass directly overhead shortly after sunset at 7:20 to 7:24 PM. I also found out that the Space Shuttle Discovery was also going to be going overhead shortly thereafter. What a rare occurence and both should be easily visible!

I dropped the girls off at karate class and headed out to the field in the back of the school which unfortunately had bright sodium vapor (orange colored) lights flooding the field, but I didn't have the time to go anywhere else. I tried to find a somewhat darker spot and pointed my camera skyward. Precisely as described, Discovery came zooming up out of the West and headed directly overhead followed closely by the ISS! They could not be filed at the same time, but I got a series of pictures of them passing.

First up, Space Shuttle Discovery. The image shows Discovery travelling from bottom to top as my camera was pointing West. You can see Cassiopeia just to the right of the shuttle trail. The trail looks like it's heading straight for Mirphak.

Here, Discovery is heading just past Mirphak and heading by Capella and through the constellation Uriga. You can see the Pleiades (star cluster) on the left side of the image.

Here's Discovery going East from top to bottom towards the horizon. It's going right past Regulus.

Here's the International Space Station closely behind with the glowing moon and the spreading cloud cover quickly approaching. Another half an hour and I would have been severely clouded over!

The Names of the Moon!

2011-03-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

I happened upon this link and thought I'd share it. It's from the Farmer's Almanac.

Full Moon Names and Their Meanings

Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. There was some variation in the Moon names, but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. European settlers followed that custom and created some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long on the average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year. Here is the Farmers Almanac’s list of the full Moon names.

• Full Wolf Moon – January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.

• Full Snow Moon – February Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February’s full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.

• Full Worm Moon – March As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon of winter.

• Full Pink Moon – April This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month’s celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.

• Full Flower Moon – May In most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time. Thus, the name of this Moon. Other names include the Full Corn Planting Moon, or the Milk Moon.

• Full Strawberry Moon – June This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Also because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June . . . so the full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!

• The Full Buck Moon – July July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason thatthunderstorms are most frequent during this time. Another name for this month’s Moon was the Full Hay Moon.

• Full Sturgeon Moon – August The fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this Moon, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze. It was also called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

• Full Corn Moon – September This full moon’s name is attributed to Native Americans because it marked when corn was supposed to be harvested. Most often, the September full moon is actually the Harvest Moon.

• Full Harvest Moon – October This is the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. In two years out of three, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but in some years it occurs in October. At the peak of harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of this Moon. Usually the full Moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night, but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the Moon seems to rise at nearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S., and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice the chief Indian staples are now ready for gathering.

• Full Beaver Moon – November This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon.

• The Full Cold Moon; or the Full Long Nights Moon – December During this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time. The midwinter full Moon has a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite a low Sun.

400mm f/6.2 lens and 500mm f/8 mirror lens

2011-02-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

After knowing that my wife has had a 500mm f/8 Kalimar lens ever since we met, I never thought about using it until recently!

You see, she and I were both Nikon SLR folks so the lens had a Nikon mount. Since going digital, I now use Canon dSLRs so didn't think that the lens would work. One day, I happened across a Nikon to EOS lens adapter on the web and bought one to use with the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4. That actually works very well. The Nikkor 50mm is a manual focus lens that's built like a tank and looks weird, but works well on my Canon 30D. However, it refused to work with the Kalimar 500mm lens.

Switch to near history and I bought a very inexpensive, but irresistible 400mm refractor lens from my favorite astronomy equipment site: astromart.com. It is a 400mm f/6.3 Vemar lens. I know, I know... what the heck is a Vemar lens? Well, it's a fairly well built, but so far as I can tell, medium to low optical quality lens at a price that I couldn't refuse. $30! It looks quite nice on the 30D.

The Vemar 400mm is a T-thread or T-mount lens and so needed a T-mount adapter. I thought I had one from one of my telescope adapter/lens combinations, but it didn't work. When I went online to look for one, I thought about the Kalimar 500mm f/8! It also seemed to have an interchangeable mount so I ordered two T-mount to Canon lens adapters. When they arrived, one went on the Vemar and one went on the Kalimar. The Kalimar is very compact and also looks good mounted to my 30D.

I've only had them out one night to shoot the moon and the results are mixed so far. I need to pixel-peep and tweak the photos that I took with these lenses.

More soon and clear skies!
Ambrose

Craigslist Pickup... Celestron Astromaster 114EQ

2011-01-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

I was checking out Criagslist in my area and saw a used Celestron Astromaster 114EQ scope for sale. This is a relatively inexpensive scope ~$150 new and with all of the original contents intact except for the box. I looked it over and it was indeed very clean. I grabbed it for a song and look forward to using it soon.

The CAM114EQ is a solidly built (although mostly plastic OTA) and basic scope. The key things that drew me to it were the very solid legs of the tripod. It uses solid stainless steel tubes for the legs instead of the much more common hollow aluminum extrusion legs on most cheaper scopes. It also has a focal length of 1000mm which is good since it doesn't duplicate my Coulter Odyssey's focal length of 1,500mm. The shorter focal length should give me a wider view of the sky and include some peripheral stars to the moon if I so wish. When used with my APS-C sized sensor in my Canon 30D, it should give me a nice 1,600mm focal length. With my Coulter Odyssey, the combination yields 2,400mm.

The much smaller size of this scope should allow me to use it as a grab and go scope as well as a nice vacation scope. The Coulter is just too large to take on vacation!

Anyway, here's the link to the Celestron site with information on the Astromaster 114EQ.

http://goo.gl/6JD1q
or
http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/reflecting-telescopes/celestronastromaster114eqreflector.cfm

Full Lunar Eclipse of 12-21-10

2011-01-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

I was able to get out that night and luckily, the skies were clear for us here in the DC area. It was indeed cold though. I am a bit out of practice but I did get this nice shot of the moon during the total eclipse portion.

It wasn't as bright red as the last full lunar eclipse, but it certainly looked gorgeous!

More later,
Ambrose

Haunting moon!

2010-10-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

We were out on the Eastern shore last weekend and we happened upon a beautiful full moon with wispy feathery clouds surrounding it. I took this very quck show hand-held. I did lean against a tree for some extra support.

Ambrose

Another Perseid Meteor

2010-08-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my vacation in Maine near Biddeford Pool and had 2 wonderful nights of perfectly clear skies in a very dark spot to see the Perseid Meteor Shower. I didn't bring any of my equipment, but I did have my Canon 30D and my 17-85mm zoom lens. I turned off the autofocus and the image stabilization, flipped the camera so that it pointed straight up, set it down on a relatively flat rock with a paper towel to protect the LCD screen and set the exposure for 30 seconds, F5.6. This is the best shot of the 150 or so shots I took that night. I wish I had a wider angle lens since so many of the meteors were just out of frame. I also wished that I had my remote control and tripod and Canon angle finder to help me focus. Ah well, it was fun, "roughing it."

Here's the shot.

I'm back!

2010-08-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

After many months of non-activity, I've decided to get back into lunar photography in a big (or littler) way. I've just jumped on the Astro-Tech 6" f/9 Ritchey-Chrétien astrograph deal over at Astronomics.com.

Normally, this little jewel goes for $795 and is worth every penny since it has beautiful optics. However, Astronomics.com has them on a special deal (perhaps they are phasing them out) for only $299! At this price, it's an absolute steal. I need to resurrect my old Bogen tripod to try and use that for a while until I can buy a suitable mount for it.

I'm also purchasing another Canon 30D. The previous one I owned had an issue with camera shake when used in continuous shooting mode, only the first shot would be sharp. I sold it to a regular photographer who didn't need the rapid fire capability. I have found another 30D at a great price so will be mating this scope with that camera.

More later,
Ambrose

Hubble 3D

2010-04-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to see the Imax presentation called "Hubble 3D" at the Air and Space Museum this past weekend. What an amazing video. The drama of seeing the Space Shuttle blasting off into orbit was amazing! To top it all off, after we came out of the theater, there in front of us stood a life-size replica of the Hubble space telescope! It's amazing to see how large the Hubble is!

Ambrose

Shooting Star!

2009-09-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different. I've been very busy lately so haven't posted much. Just got back from vacation in Maine a week ago and took this picture while there. It's truly amazing to be in Maine. You can see the Milky Way just by stepping outside! No need to go way out in the country... I guess Maine is mostly "in the country!"

Anyway, here's a picture I took and by sheer chance, captured a shooting star!

Clear skies,

Ambrose

Listed on Craigslist! $40 Million X-Ray Telescope

2009-07-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

You don't see something like this listed every day on Craigslist!

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/for/1281039613.html

It's a $40 Million dollar x-ray telescope for only $3 million!

Ambrose

Google Earth Does The Moon and Mars Too!

2009-07-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

In celebration of America's lunar missions and specifically the Apollo 11 landing on the moon 40 years ago, Google has updated Google Earth and has added the Moon and Mars to it's list of features. Of course, Google added Google Sky a few years back.

See this video to see how to access the Google Moon's features.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHJ77RsnFXI

Ambrose

Canon 1200mm f/5.6 lens!

2009-05-05T13:14:00.001-07:00

Here's a great lens to go with your Canon dSLR to shoot the moon. It's got 1,200mm of focal length as well as a relatively fast f stop of 5.6.

http://tinyurl.com/chj2ml

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/800622963-USE/Canon_2527A001_Super_Telephoto_1200mm_f_5_6L.html

This should just about fill up the frame with a Canon crop sensor (APS-C) camera such as my Canon 30D. With the crop factor of 1.6x, the lens becomes a 1,920mm lens. My Coulter is roughly 2,400mm with my 30D and can barely fit the moon in on one frame.

The price is a bit high, but for those with the money, it's well worth it!

Here's the B&H video of it on an outing.

http://tinyurl.com/csqoto

http://www.video.bhphotovideo.com/?fr_story=ce11c4ef8000f044fc9bd67263a0bc7bb155dc9e&rf=bm

Ambrose

Phottix Cleon II C8

2009-04-29T14:27:00.001-07:00

The weather has been really lousy here around Washington, DC lately. I haven't done much astro or lunar photography. I did however, pick up a new wireless trigger release for my Canon 30D. It's the Phottix Cleon II C8. The name is too long, but besides that, it's very innovative and well thought out.

My old Cactus wireless trigger only had one function. A half press would focus the camera and a full press would take the shot. If you set the camera on continuous shooting, a 3 second hold would initiate as many shots as you wish until you press the release again. Handy, but functionally limited.

The Phottix Cleon II C8 (the C8 designates that it's made for Canon primarily through the cable connecting the camera to the receiver) has a ton of features.

First, it can be used without the transmitter. You are probably thinking, "WHAT? That would make it a wired trigger." That's right! The Phottix can be used as a wired trigger. I find this a very innovative idea.

Second, it has a flash shoe connector built into the receiver. This allows it to be placed on the camera in a very prominent and easy to see spot. The Cactus receiver just dangled off the side of the camera and would turn whichever direction it wanted so you couldn't see if you had a good connection. The Phottix can be turned either forward or backward on the hotshoe so that you can see the LEDs respond to the trigger.

Third, the trigger has 3 settings. The first is just as a shutter release. The second has a 2 second delay which is very handy since changing the delay on the camera takes much longer to set and undo. The last is a continuous setting. All you have to do to initiate continuous is to slide the slider into this position and the camera shoots continuously. Again, very handy in that you don't need to go to the camera to change this setting.

It's quite a nice step up and a very handy improvement in terms of features. There is more product information here:

http://shashinki.com/shop/phottix-cleon-wireless-remote-canon-mark-mark-mark-30detc-p-2100.html?currency=USD

(I have no relationship with Shasinki.com!)

There's also a very thorough review and comparison of the Phottix Cleon II and the original Phottix Cleon here:

http://martybugs.net/blog/blog.cgi/gear/PhottixCleonIIWirelessRemote.html

Cheers,

Ambrose

9 Day Old Moon 4-4-09

2009-04-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

It seems like ages since I last posted a night time moon shot. I have to apologize since we've been preparing for visitors for Spring Break and also for getting our taxes done early. Whew! The weather here has also been dreary and overcast for most if not all of the nights since my last post!

This was taken over last Saturday night. As usual, taken with my Canon 30D and Coulter Odyssey 1,500mm (13.1") Dobsonian telescope with a Baader UV/IR cut filter. I post-processed the image with Registax 5.

I hope to take and post more as the full moon approaches!

Ambrose

St. John's Church Steeple and the Moon!

2009-03-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

It was a balmy 70 degrees on Friday so I took a late afternoon walk around the White House here in Washington. I had recently picked up a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro lens so I wanted to try it out.

I walked by St. John's Church which is where Barack Obama attended on the day of his inauguration. I looked up and saw the moon and the steeple in an interesting position!

Ambrose

Scopetronix Maxview DSLR II

2009-02-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity of grabbing a much-longed-for Scopetronix Maxview DSLR II 2" eyepiece projection adapter from Astromart over the weekend and it arrived last night.

What a beast! This is the biggest eyepiece projection adapter I've ever seen! In the picture above, you can see it beside my Canon 30D with my 17-85mm zoom. The 1.25" adapter sits to the left. It supposedly will hold a Nagler 31mm eyepiece without difficulty. I can imagine! It reminds me more of a World War I hand grenade more than anything else.

I've owned the Scopetronix Maxview DSLR 1.25" version when I had my 20D. You can see pictures of it here. The "II" 2" version is significantly larger than the 1.25" "I" version!

I hope to be able to use it soon. The weather is not cooperating. Very cloudy and rain predicted for tonight and tomorrow here in Washington...

Ambrose

Diversions Dance Company of Wales?

2009-02-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

You're probably wondering what in the world Diversions, the Dance Company of Wales is doing in an Lunar and Astrophotography blog? :-)

Let me explain. A while back, I was contacted by Joe Fletcher who's the director of the company about using my "Full Moon at Perigee 12/12/08" photo for a backdrop to one of their performance pieces. I was thrilled and honored that one of my photos was selected. I just heard back from Joe that they started performing the piece, "Lunatics" a couple of weeks ago and that he will send me a DVD of the full performance once it comes out.

I received a care package with T-shirts for my girls last night and my daughter was very happy to wear it! Thanks Joe and Thanks Diversions!

Ambrose

Astromart.com and PayPal.com

2009-02-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't been out under the stars much the past few weeks and thought about what I should blog about. I came to this the topic in the title because I love these two web resources. My astronomy hobby would be unimaginably hindered without them. I have become huge fans of both services.

Let me start with Astromart.com's classifieds. Back in the Summer of 2007, before I purchased my first telescope, I did a lot of research on the web for telescopes and mounts. I quickly came to the conclusion that this astronomy hobby was going to be EXPENSIVE! How could I possibly get top quality equipment when the top quality scopes were very expensive?!?!?

Using Google, Astromart consistently popped up as a resource I should think about. Unbelievably, I was very hesitant to plunk down the $12 lifetime fee to get access to the listings!

Astromart is very smart in some ways. They don't give you access to the prices that the sellers are asking without joining. This proved irresistible to me and so hesitatingly, I signed up and paid my $12 fee.

It has been BY FAR, the best $12 I've ever spent. Astromart (AM) has given me discount prices and access to the top equipment and rock bottom prices. Not only is it a great resource for getting great equipment, it's also a way to "try before you buy." In other words, you can buy something (if you know that the price is good) and try it for a while and if you don't like it, turn it right back around and sell it again at virtually no cost to you if you price it about the same as youas what you paid.

I started off by researching small refractors and decided on an Astrotech AT66ED APO. I waited for a great deal to come along and about 2 weeks in, my dream scope appeared on AM. I was brand new to the hobby so needed everything along with the scope. The package deal I bought included a AT 2" 99% reflectivity dielectric diagonal and a Stellarvue multi-reticle red dot finder for a total of $350 shipped. At that time, the telescope was selling new for $329 alone. The 2" diagonal was listing new for $150 and the SV RDF was selling new for $58. I saved $188 on my first purchase alone!

It has been amazing ever since. I've bought and sold more items then I ever thought possible. I started with no name or big name (Meade, Celestron, Orion) eyepieces and have ended up with almost exclusively Televue eyepieces at this point! They're all Plossls but they're very good Plossls.

My total scope investment is around $1,500, yet I've bought and sold almost $5,000 worth of equipment. With a little bit of skill, I've also been able to make a bit of a profit on some of the items I've bought and have been able to upgrade gradually along the way.

Besides astronomy equipment, I've also purchased camera equipment and tripods from AM as well. I've found that astronomy buffs sell their camera equipment at better prices then camera enthusiasts do! I LOVE Astromart.com!

As for PayPal, PP has made using AM and other sights a total pleasure. After using AM for over a year by paying for things through postal money orders and personal checks, I've switched to an entirely PayPal system without investing an additional penny! I first sold a couple of items on AM to fund the PP coffers. Once I had a bit of money in PP, I then purchased and sold more items using the funds entirely from PP. It has sped up the time it takes to buy and sell equipment by 100 fold. I used to have to make a special trip to the post office after every purchase I made to buy a postal money order and mail it off to the seller. The seller would then wait until they received the postal money order until they shipped the item. This would generally take about a total of 2 weeks from the time I agreed to buy the item to the time that I actually received the item.

Now with PP, I can buy and sell equipment at a lightning pace. If I'm buying an item, I send the user the funds through PayPal, then the seller generally puts the item in the mail the very same or very next day. I receive the items within 2 or 3 days!

If I'm selling, I generally conclude a sale within 24 hours of posting it on AM, have the funds in my account in that timeframe and have the item shipped the next day.

All this without spending any additional personal money except the funds in PP. This happens becuase PP lets you buy and print US Postal Service services directly within PP. All I need to do when I sell something is to head down to the post office with the package and drop it off since it's already packaged and paid for. I know this may be old news to some of you but this is a world changing service that I am now finally enjoying (like just about everyone else in the world!).

Enough about my two favorite web services for now. Off to do more telescoping and photographing!

Ambrose

Full Moon 2-8-08

2009-02-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

I was surprised by how rapidly the moon turned full this cycle. I thought it would be Monday or Tuesday, but it happened on Sunday the 8th. I quickly grabbed the Coulter and headed out to see if I could grab a couple of shots. I used my new technique of only taking a couple of shots. I used my new Canon Angle Finder C to zoom in on the image while focusing and it worked fairly well. Seeing conditions were not great though. This image was the best of the few that I took.