Observing with Street Lights

Observing with Street Lights
Dark sky sites not always necessary to see the Milky Way (This image was taken ouside of a B&B in Julian, CA)

Saturday, October 25, 2014

First Sunspot Photo with 8 inch Celestron and DSLR

The attached images are Photoshopped enlargements of the sunspots taken during the recent eclipse.  I am a rank amateur with Photoshop, but am trying to enhance the sunspots.  Viewing the sunspots thru the scope seemed to give better detail and I am trying to recover some of that.

New resident astronomer observes first sunspots with 8 inch Celestron and DSLR (Source: Palmia Observatory)
New resident astronomer observes first sunspots with 8 inch Celestron and DSLR (Source: Palmia Observatory)



Resident Astronomer looks at first sunspot images (Source: Palmia Observatory)
New resident astronomer observes first sunspots (Source: Palmia Observatory)


My camera resolution is 18 megapixels and I thought I could bring out more detail, but maybe my original focus was off.  Ever time I tweaked the focus knob on the scope the image jittered so much I had to wait a couple of seconds for the scope to settle down and didn't get quite the focus i was looking for.

Maybe that is why my current concentration is more on theoretical physics than experimental physics.

Until next time,
Resident Astronomer George



If you are interested in things astronomical or in astrophysics and cosmology
Check out this blog at www.palmiaobservatory.com

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Rushed back from AIAA Advanced Propulsion Lunch to take images of the solar eclipse

Greetings from the Palmia Observatory

Well, I had to rush back to the observatory, from the AIAA Advanced Space Propulsion lunch meeting in El Segundo, to catch some images of the solar eclipse.  I was going to attend the UCI physics colloquium on neutrinos, but the eclipse