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Star trail photography is the easiest
way to get into stunning astronomical photos. Simply use the earth’s own
rotation to achieve photos like this one above. Well, it’s nearly that easy.
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Firstly,
you need a sturdy
tripod, one that’s reasonably stable that allows your camera to remain vibration
free.
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| Next,
you need a camera that is capable of allowing long exposures without draining
its batteries too quickly or preferably one that does not require batteries
at all. I use the old time classic camera, the Olympus OM1 SLR. This camera
is ideal for astrophotography because it does not require any battery power
to keep its shutter open allowing extremely long exposures. Also shown attached to the camera lens is the red 12 volt resistor heater which I made. This accessory is not necessary but sometimes you may find dew can form on the camera lens after a long exposure rendering the photo unusable – rather annoying! The heater runs off a 12 volt battery pack seen elsewhere on this Web site. The heater only produces enough heat to keep the skylight filter dew free – about 3 watts. You may also have spotted the cable release device in the previous picture; this allows vibration free action of activating the camera button. It also enables you to lock the cable to keep the button down for long exposures. This item is a necessity for nice sharp pictures. All you need to do now is to pick a clear night preferably away from lights, set camera onto tripod and point camera south about halfway up in the sky. Expose for minimum of half an hour or longer. The result should be fascinating. This is of course only a brief explanation of the technique – practice makes perfect. |
| Prime Focus Photography The photographic technique for the image of the moon rising over the lighthouse employs the use of a telescope to take the place of the camera’s standard lens. This effectively allows you to magnify the image greatly. 
The telescope I used for this photo has a focal length of 1800mm and when coupled to my digital camera results in a very large image of the moon. |
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| The
digital camera is shown attached to the back of the Vixen Cassegrain 200mm
telescope. The telescope is a catadioptric design; the image is formed by
both reflection and refraction. The folded light path through the telescope
allows for a very compact telescope tube length. The right hand picture is
a close-up of the camera/telescope coupling. |
Camera shown with its standard lens removed and the adaptor fitted. |
The camera adaptor close-up. |
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The
image of the constellation of Orion was taken by the Olympus OM1 camera mounted
directly onto the German Equatorial telescope mount – minus the telescope.
This allows the camera to automatically track the star movement so long
exposures can be done without any star trailing.
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| These
are some of the techniques I use to take my astronomical photos. Astrophotography
is only limited by your imagination. |
