Astrophotography
Transit of Venus, June 8, 2004
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Location: Pier at Sound School, high school at New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Date: June 8, 2004
Instrument: Photography: Borg 100 ED f/6.4 with Astro-Physics 2x convertible barlow; Visual: University Optics 80mm refractor.
Camera: Nikon F4 with custom made 15X viewfinder for critical focusing
Mount: Losmandy GM-8
Film: Kodakrome E200 slide film
Filter: BAADER solar filter material
Comments: (Scanned directly from original slides.)
Arrived at the pier slightly after 4 am local time (sunrise was roughly 5:20 am) but due to cloud cover the transit was only visible for approximately half an hour or so until it ended. Most shots were underexposed due to the presence of clouds - I should have bracketed further in the longer exposure direction. The sequence above shows Venus' disk exiting the Sun's.



Bai Lei's pictures of the gathering:
(Note: The following photographs are Copyright 2004 Bai Lei.)

Setting up.





Friends with my setup. From right: Xiaowei, Pradipta, and (far left) Gregg. My setup includes the Losmandy GM-8 mount, Borg 100 ED f/6.4 (white tube) and the University Optics 80mm refractor (aluminium tube).




Breakfast by the waters. From left: Xiaowei, Deepti and Kevin.
The wait: Pradipta and Xiaowei...
...Gregg and Sacha


The transit. These shots were taken by simply placing the digital camera's lens right behind the 35mm Panoptic I was using for visual observing. The results are surprisingly good.




Xiaowei's pictures of the transit:

Taken using the same method as Bai Lei's above.


Copyright 2004 Xiaowei Zhu

Copyright 2004 Xiaowei Zhu



Total Solar Eclipse, August 11, 1999
Burcharest, Romania










Location: Roof of Hotel Burcharest; Bucharest, Romania
Date: August 11, 1999
Instrument: BW Optik 100 mm f/6 "semi-apo" refractor coupled with a 2" Astro-Physics 2X barlow
Camera: Nikon F4 with custom made 15X viewfinder for critical focusing
Mount: Super Polaris German Equatorial with Vixen DD-1 drive controller
Film: Kodakrome E200 slide film
Filter: BAADER solar filter material; filter was used for first shot (partially eclipsed sun) only
Comments: (Scanned directly from original slides.)
Totality was far shorter than I expected. This made me rush through the exposures, not pausing much in between each shot to allow for the shutter-induced vibrations to die down. Also, the SP mount was heavily loaded because I mounted an University Optics 80 mm refractor, which I used as my visual instrument, together with the BW Optik. In addition, the focuser of the BW Optik is rather weak and loose mechanically. All these reasons account for the less than optimal sharpness in these shots.


Partial Solar Eclipse, 1994
Singapore
 

 
Location: Hwa Chong Junior College, Singapore
Date: October 24, 1995
Setup: Tripod mounted: Canon T60 (probably), 300 mm lens with and without 2X tele-extender.
Film: Unknown
Filter: Thousand Oaks solar filter
Comments: (scanned from prints)
I took these shots from the school canteen, I believe. I was using my very crappy and foggy 300 mm lens and 2X tele-extender, which explains why these pictures are not very sharp. The Canon T60 is a very "plasticky" camera with a noisy and vibration-prone shutter - never buy it for astrophotography.
 
 

Hale Bopp, 1997
Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), China
 

 

 

 
Location: Outside a Hotel on Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), China
Date: 1997
Lens: Tokina AT-X 270AF PRO II 28-70 mm f/2.6-2.8
Camera: I forgot. Possibilities: Nikon FM2, F3, or F4.
Mount: Tripod mounted, no tracking
Film: Unknown
Comments: Scanned directly from prints.
 

Jupiter
Dairy Farm Estate, Singapore
 

 

 

Location: Probably from the living room balcony of my old home at Dairy Farm
Date: Long time ago!
Instrument: Celestron C8 with TeleVue 7 mm Nagler eyepiece projection
Camera: Unknown (maybe Canon AE-1)
Mount: Super Polaris German Equatorial with Vixen DMD-1 drive controller
Film: Unknown. Maybe Fuji HG II 400
 Comments: (Scanned from prints.)
These two shots were not taken together. I took them so long ago I cannot remember exactly when. While they aren't very impressive shots, you can still see the Great Red Spot in the picture on the right.