My First Ever Jupiter Photos

Well, after about a month of waiting for the right conditions, I was finally able to photograph Jupiter last night. It looked spectacular. Unfortunately, the photos don't really reproduce how splendid it looked. Although, it is still really neat looking. I was able to capture four of the Moons as well in some of the shots. The shots were taken through my Dad's Celestron C8 (8" Refractor) telescope. I then mounted a Nikon D90 with t-ring adapter. For the photos where the image is larger, I used a 3x barlow and for the smaller first image, a 2x barlow. Enjoy.

Moon and Jupiter

I was trying to capture some good Moon pictures, but managed to see Jupiter come up after the Moon had risen. They weren't close enough to get them both together in the telescope in good detail, so I got as close as I could and have them both in the picture. All of these were taken with a Nikon D90. The first set below was taken through my Orion 4.5" scope. Enjoy.

The pictures below were taken through a Celestron FirstScope.

First Pictures With Celestron Firstscope

Well, my camera/telescope parts finally arrived the other day and I had a chance to try them out tonight for the first time and figure out how they work. As I posted earlier, I bought a Celestron FirstScope from a local store called Neural Net Interactive. I also ordered a t-ring adapter, 1 1/4 adapter and 3x barlow from Khan Scope. I mounted the adapters onto my Nikon D80 just to test them out. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Of course, I shot the Moon. I did try Saturn, but it clouded over. So, below is my first ever attempt at taking photos through a telescope. I am, however, looking at getting a more powerful scope, namely one similar to the Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ-MD. Hopefully that will help my photo-taking skills through the telescope. Anyway, enjoy.

Mini Telescope

After spending some time with my friend Bob of Blackholes and Astrostuff, I got to check out his new telescope. It is a Celestron FirstScope. The FirstScope pays tribute to Galileo Galilei and many of history's most notable astronomers and scientists by displaying their names around the optical tube.

It is a small Dobsonian type reflector telescope that has been named Official Product of International Year of Astronomy 2009. It features a 76 mm aperture and 300 mm focal length, yet only weighs about two pounds and stand about 18" high. I will be the first, actually the second after Bob, to admit that this little scope surprised me a lot. It is surprisingly clear, easy to use, yet sturdy and well made with smooth actions all around. It comes with a 4 mm eyepiece. All of this for only $62.49 CAD, if bought from Celestron. The only downside of ordering from Celestron is the shipping tends to be high. The FirstScope is also carried by Khan Telescope for $69.00 and cheaper shipping than Celestron.


The other neat thing about this is there is a FirstScope accessory kit for only $24.94 CAD. It features a 12.5 mm and a 6 mm eyepiece, a Moon filter, a 5x24" spotting scope, a CD-ROM explaining the basics of astronomy, and a tote bag to carry the telescope and accessories in.


I have ordered the above scope and accessory kit and am anxious to get my camera mounted to it and take some photos, but that's a topic for a future post.