Efrain Morales has just written to us:

I’m submitting this photo. Of Uranus and Neptune (Opposition for Neptune on August 15 and Uranus soon in September) and being compared in size with the same set-up and equipment with a recent session of Jupiter it was my first with the DMK capturing the actual core not the halo that makes the planet slightly larger and with noise albedo features. And on the second photo it’s of Jupiter with two months of observations sequence it was a great period for being low for northern observers.

Below are the photos to which he eludes (click for originals):

As ever, Efrain, magnificent work! Keep it up.

Photo gurus Daniel Grotta and Sally Wiener Grotta (photographed to the right) are widely respected photography and imaging experts. They run The Photo Gurus Radio Show and are well known for their down-to-earth, easy-to understand approach to fun and creative photography. In their show from August 08, 2008, they talked about The Imaging Source astronomy cameras.

You can download the show as an MP3 file.

The part, where they are talking about our astronomy cameras is between 02:00 and 04:07.

Below is a transcript of what they say:

Sally: On a very different note, here up in the mountains, we have an incredible view of the Milky Way. When you read about the various comets, that you can not see in the city, we eyeball them from our field. But I have never tried to photography any of it, except the Moon, of course.

Daniel: Well, we do not have a telescope!

Sally: Well, yes - not yet. That is on our wish list! But the problem with photography is that there is not enough light from the stars, the comets, the planets. And that means if I wanted to photograph it, I would have to use a very long time exposure.

Daniel: And as you know, the longer time exposure you have, the more noise it produces.

Sally: Poor image quality all around. You can keep your lens wide open and then you get all kind of light, so you do not get any dark. It just does not work. Now, [The] Imaging Source has announced some new cameras - we have not tested them - but they sound really neat. They are for amateur astronomy buffs. Daniel, you have the details on them, right:

Daniel: Yes. First of all, the cameras are only for telescopes. You cannot use them for shooting the kids in the park. They are small, light-weight, boxed sized in shape devices that you put into a telescope standard C-mount thread. The devices are build around low noise Sony CCD sensors and they allow long exposures - up to sixty minutes. Or very short sequential bursts, as fast as sixty frames per second. The software controls all the parameters, such as the exposure time, sensitivity and frame rate. And depending upon the model, they are priced between USD 350 and USD 850, it records either color or monochrome, it features either a USB or FireWire interface and it is available in a variety of resolutions. You can get further information about [The] Imaging Source’s cameras at www.astronomycameras.com.

Sally: So, if I get you one of these cameras, you will get me telescope, Daniel.

Daniel: Well.

A great thanks goes out to Daniel Grotta and Sally Wiener Grotta for talking about The Imaging Source astronomy cameras.

For several months, the French astronomy society Saint-Michel, Village du Ciel has been testing the DMK 41AU02.AS astronomy camera.

For their latest report, the camera has landed in the hands of Guillaume Bertrand, a passionate astro-photographer and IT specialist. He has deployed the camera on Jupiter.

Below is one of the images, which he submitted to The Imaging Source:

He commentates the photo with (translated from French):

The Great Red Spot is very visible on all three photos, as well as Oval BA (Red Spot Jr), which unfortunately has just passed the GRS. In the equatorial region, you can see some festoons.

If you are able to read the French, please take a look at the report on the society’s web site.

A great thanks goes out to Guillaume for his detailed work.

This October, Shuttle Atlantis will rendezvous with Hubble for one final repair mission. This repair mission will not be forgotten though. Ray Palmer, the founder of MyAstroSpace.com is holding a competition to see who can photograph Atlantis whilst docked with Hubble.

They are asking astrophotographers across the world to pay tribute to Hubble in October and take part. You can learn the basics of Spacecraft photography and more about this great competition, here in the forum thread Hubble Tribute Imaging Competition.

The Imaging Source is of course giving away a DFK 21AU04.AS to the winner.

There are three categories, we’ll list them from easiest to hardest:

1. Star Trails - Capture a star trail sequence with Atlantis and Hubble streaking across it.
2. Wide-field Guided - Capture a stunning wide-field image with Atlantis and Hubble streaking across it.
3. Up Close and Personal – With your telescope try and get a close up shot which is good enough to reveal details such as solar panels, structure, shape etc.

Who’s up for a challenge?

Jim Ferreira from Livermore, CA, USA wrote us a very enthusiastic e-mail this week, talking about his experiences with a DMK 21AU04.AS. He writes:

[...] I had no idea I could get this kind of image quality and resolution out of a 3 inch APO refractor.

The DMK 21AU04.AS is totally killer! Easily one of the finest monochrome cameras available today for lunar-planetary astrophotography. [...]

Thanks for an incredible tool for high resolution astrophotography. I look forward to further exploring the camera’s capabilities.

Below are the photos, which Jim included with his e-mail:

Jupiter - Io Transit

Plato down through the Apenninus Mountains to Eratosthenes

The photos were shot with a Stellarvue SV80S APO triplet @ f/18 for Jupiter and f/15 for Plato/Eratosthenes.

If you would like to see more lunar images shot with the DMK 21AU04.AS and Stellarvue SV80S APO shot by Jim, take a look at this web site:
http://www.lafterhall.com/dmk_lunar-planetary.html