By Phil Holt, Mornington, Vic, Aus. in association with the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society
Through the telescope
Moon and Mars 2003
Mars approaching the limb of the Moon before occultation. The stark grey white of the Moon highlights the redish colour of Mars. Photo on 200 ASA print film, eyepiece projection method with camera (no lens) hand held.
A few minutes later, Mars is partially hidden behind the Moon. From my location this was the maximum point. This event took place on October 6, 2003, 14.30 ish UT.
Moon
The Moon photographed through my telescope. 1/15s on Ektachrome 200 at about F22 with eyepeice projection. Telescope is a home built F6 6 inch Newtonian, the eyepeice was a Kellnar 18mm. The Pentax K1000 camera without lens was mounted on a separate tripod, placed near the eyepiece (centre eyepiece to filmplane distance ~65mm). Focus by adjusting camera distance from eyepiece very carefully. Mounting the camera separate to the telescope prevents camera shutter vibrations from blurring the image. The telescope mount has enough inherrant vibration to worry about.
Saturn and Moon
The Moon about to occlude Saturn, 1984 June 10 1300UT The moon was not quite full so the approaching limb was still in darkness. This is one of my earliest astrophotos (I only began in Jan 1984). Tri X Pan film, afocal projection with 152mm diam telescope, 1/4 second exposure. The afocal method means the camera with lens is placed close to the eyepiece of the telescope.
Without the telescope
Meteor
Leonid meteor in Orion, Nov 16 1998 1724UT. Photographed from Mornington with a 50mm lens at f2, Ektachrome 400 pushed 1 stop. It was bright enough to illuminate the ground, which I saw as I was facing the other way at the time. The train lasted for about 30sec.
Just set up your camera on a tripod pointing at a region of the sky about 45-90degrees from the meteor shower radiant. Open the shutter for about 10 minutes. If you are very lucky you will record the passage of a meteor. Most frames however will just have star trails making this a very challenging area of astrophotography.
Satellite Photography
Try capturing geosynchronous satellites on film by pointing your tripod mounted camera at an area including the celestial equator. leave the shutter open for 10 minutes. The stars will trail but the faint geosynchronous satellites will appear as points of light. You can use the hit and miss approach and photograph overlapping areas of night sky in a search, or you can calculate the altitude for your latitude. If you are on the equator then obviously your camera must centre on the celestial equator. If you are at 45deg. south then point your camera 6 to 7 degrees north of the equator (altitude 39deg.). As for azimuth, if you are in the USA, Europe, India, China you should be able to find a satellite at azimuth 180ish degrees. In Australia and New Zealand your azimuth will be about 0.
Iridium satellite "flares" can easily be photographed as they become briefly brighter than most stars and record as a short streak on film. Time and position of the Iridium satellites can be gained from The GSOC Satellite Visibility Page.