Skokie Valley Astronomers — Images

Astrophotography by Julian Gordon

Julian Gordon has contributed the following astrophotgraphs. All of the images are copyright 2005, 2007 or 2008 Julian Gordon.

He originally wrote: "I do not own a telescope, but am thinking of buying one. In the meantime, I wanted to get some experience without one, just with the optics I already have for my SLR camera. I am amazed at the amount of interesting detail I can capture that is not visible to the naked eye, using a digital camera. I am so excited, I wanted to share the images."

And further: "The Canon web site: http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/astro/index-e.html recommends that you get experience in astrophotography just with the camera before starting with a telescope. This is the result. Two images were taken with Canon EOS Digital Rebel Model 200D, set at film speed equivalent iso 100."

Since the above was written, he's acquired a telescope, though he stil does astrophotography with a digital camera.

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	Lunar Eclipse; Date: 2008-02-20; 7:02 PM to 9:39 PM. The sky was perfect. I got these shots through the windows from my home. I had to keep dodging around every time it went behind branches of the trees.
	Date: 2007-08-10; 10:20 PM; Eagle River, Wisconsin; 30 second exposure. Shot with Canon Digital Rebel, 20 mm focal length (VERY wide angle), f/2.8, film speed equivalent iso-1600. Images enhanced with Photoshop 'levels'. The image shown is reduced in size to fit this page. Click on the image to load a full size, animated series of images in a new window. "Note that the 'event' had a duration of > 3 minutes. Only part of one of the exposures would have been visible to the naked eye. I set the camera on a tripod, pointing to include the Eastern horizon (see trees in bottom of images), and shot about 100 30" exposures one after another. These were the only ones where a meteorite was visible. I did the same thing the next evening and captured nothing."
	Date: 2005-11-18; 11:38 PM; Lake Bluff Beach; 20mm wide angle lens; 30 seconds at f/2.8. The image shown is reduced in size to fit this page. Click on the image to load a full size image in a new window.
	Date: 2005-11-18; 11:38 PM; Lake Bluff Beach; 20mm wide angle lens; 30 seconds at f/2.8, enhanced with Photoshop. The image shown is reduced in size to fit this page. Click on the image to load a full size image in a new window.
	Date: 2005-08-21; 11:59 PM; East Sheridan Road, Lake Bluff; 300mm zoom lens; 1/8 second at f/22. The image shown is reduced in size to fit this page. Click on the image to load a full size image in a new window.
	Date: 2005-08-21; 11:59 PM; East Sheridan Road, Lake Bluff; 300mm zoom lens; 1/8 second at f/22, enchanced with Photoshop.