So I got a telescope
Posted by Wesley on
Yes, I ordered a telescope after taking the last moon photos.
It was pretty cloudy tonight, but there were breaks in the clouds revealing clear view of the moon from time to time. Naturally, I tested out with the telescope that arrived yesterday. It wasn't anything near a professional telescope: I bought it for 50 bucks (after discounts) and it was intended for kids. Still, I figured it would work much better than the binoculars at home.
At first I couldn't see anything in focus, but I found out I needed to install the 90-degree mirror to get the right focal length. After fixing that, I was able to see the neighbourhoods far away. I went to the roof of the building and adjusted the focus so faraway objects were properly in view.
As the moon revealed itself between the clouds, I set the telescope on a platform and pointed it towards the shiny disc. For the first time I could clearly see the bumpy surface of the moon directly with my eyes. It was quite entertaining. Also, I could see the strong winds disturbing the air enough to cause rippling of the view of the moon. I knew this was what made stars twinkle, but seeing the effect under magnification was quite a revelation.
Too bad there weren't any camera mount ready, and my camera was shaped different enough that the conventional camera mounts sold on the market simply wouldn't work. Also, the camera lacked any manual exposure setting so I had to hope for the moon to be bright enough to make the camera increase the shutter speed.
I took a handful of photographs of the moon in a hit-or-miss manner and these came out looking okay. Apparently the camera's optics have chromatic abberation issues with the telescope as well, so the photos still looked a bit out of focus. The results were much better than with the binocular, though, and I have a couple of more lens options at disposal, so I'll be trying those out later on.