My Astronomical Pictures

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Astronomical Pictures of Mine

In this page I present you my astronomical pictures taken either using a barn door camera mount, a simple camera tripod or a camera attached to an altazimuth mounted telescope. These range from star trails to comets, from lunar eclipses to Moon/planet conjunctions. In time I'll upload most of my work here. Thank you for your interest in sharing them with me! You can reach our pictures of solar and lunar eclipses from our Eclipses page.

The conjuction of three planets and then some, as seen from the oceanfront in Boston, MA on the morning of December 10, 2006.
Top picture: Close-up view of Jupiter (bottom), Mercury (top), Mars (right) and Beta Scorpii (barely; upper left of Mercury). Taken with Canon Digital EOS XTi, 300mm lens at f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/6 sec at 06:27:45 EST.
Bottom picture: Wide angle view of Jupiter (below) and Mercury. Taken with Canon Digital EOS XTi, 120mm lens at f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/8 sec at 06:30:29 EST.
Unprocessed digital images. To better view the pictures, you may download them into your PC and use a picture viewing software.

Two pictures, 1/1000 sec each, of the sunspot group taken on July 25, 2004.
Prime focus of Orion Short Tube 80mm fitted with an Orion glass solar filter on Kodak Gold 200 ASA print film .

The setup used to take the above shots.

An eerie near first quarter Moon, during the Astronomy Day on April 24, 2004.
Shot taken with a point-and-shoot 35mm Konica camera on Kodak Gold 200 ASA print film through the eyepiece
of ATMoB member John Reed's 16-inch Dobsonian reflector at the Clay Center for Science and Technology.
I did not believe that the result would be that good; you were right John! Thanks for encouraging me!

Shots of Moon and Venus from Boston, MA on February 23, 2004.
All pictures are taken with a Nikon FG on Kodak Gold 400 ASA print film.
Exposure details are as follows:

19:06 EST, 70mm lens f/3.5, 2 secs	18:41 EST, 100mm lens f/4.5, 1/2 sec
18:49 EST, 135mm lens f/4.5, 2 secs	18:48 EST, 200mm lens f/4.5, 2 secs
18:47 EST, 300mm lens f/4.5, 2 secs	18:43 EST, 400mm lens f/4.5, 1 sec

18:56 EST, Orion Short Tube 80, prime focus, 2 secs

August 19, 2002: Shots of sunspot group AR0069 (and many other small ones), on Kodak Gold 200 ASA film
through Nikon FG attached to the prime focus of NexStar 8" with f/6.3 focal reducer.
Thousand Oaks Type II glass solar filter is used.
Left: 1/1000 sec at 12:45 PM EDT. Rigth: 1/500 sec at 12:46 PM EDT.

Close up of the Moon with Jupiter on February 22/23, 2002. This time I had much better luck than the one below! Please note three of the Galilean satellites on the right picture (they are much more conspicuous on the originals).Pictures taken with a Nikon FG, 400 ASA Kodak Max print film through altazimut mounted Orion Explorer 90mm refractor, at prime focus.
Right shot: 1 sec at 1:43:05AM UT; left shot: 1/4 sec at 1:48:55AM UT.

...Venus? Nay! I was trying to capture the close-up of Moon and Saturn (as seen as an occultation in Western Europe) from our home in Boston on February 20/21, 2002. As usual, New England skies were as beautiful as ever (!), covered with thick clouds together with freezing rain! So, don't look for Saturn in vain! The above picture is my best shot (1/15 sec) among several others, taken at 12:27:50AM UT. Nikon FG, 400 ASA Kodak Max print film through altazimut mounted Orion Explorer 90mm refractor, at prime focus.

Moon and Venus from Boston, MA on January 29, 2001.
2 sec exposure on Kodak Gold 200 ASA film through Nikon FG with 35mm f/5.6 lens.

One of the several shots I took during the Moon-Venus conjunction on November 29, 2000.
3 seconds exposure on Kodak Gold 200 ASA film taken with a Nikon FG attached to Orion ST 80 (prime focus).
4-day old moon is overexposed to capture dark side features illuminated by Earthshine.

Can you identify the constellation from this picture, taken with a Nikon FG on a barn door camera mount
on Kodak T Max 400 film?

Star trails concentrated on north celestial polar region, taken with a Nikon FG on a camera tripod on
Kodak Gold 100 ASA film.

Star trails in constellation Orion and Sirius (bottom left), taken with a Nikon FG on a camera tripod on
Kodak Gold 100 ASA film.

Star trails in constellation Aquila, taken with a Nikon FG on a camera tripod on Kodak Gold 100 ASA film.

Comet Hale-Bopp pictured from Saklikent, Antalya, Turkey at 1900 meters altitude on April 22, 1997.
20 seconds exposure on Kodak Ektachrome 400 ASA with a Nikon FG, 35-70mm f/3.5 telephoto lens on a steady tripod.

Comet Hale-Bopp pictured from Istanbul, Turkey on April 11, 1997. 15 (left) and 20 (right) seconds exposures on Kodak
Ektachrome 400 ASA with a Nikon FG, 50mm f/1.8 Nikon lens on a steady tripod.
Capella is to the north (top left) of the comet. Please note the bright background due to severe light pollution

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