Milky Way imaged from the dark skies of Caliraya, Quezon. Taken with a Canon S3IS digital camera on a DIY tracker. This photo is a stack of 3 frames at 15 seconds sub-exposure, for a total of 45 seconds, ISO 800, processed in IRIS.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Related link: How to Image the Milky Way
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
During an exposure, the imaging sensor of a DSLR warms up, resulting to noisy images. By cooling down the sensor, it is possible to eliminate or somehow minimize this thermal noise.
I have made a number of attempts to accomplish this with a Canon 450D and a Peltier module, however, it appears it is very difficult to implement without running into problems such as condensation and frosting.
Related link: View all home-brewed DIY astronomy equipment
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
The moon is also known to eclipse planets, and one such event involving Jupiter happened in August 2012. This event is called the lunar occultation of Jupiter, and is a relatively rare astronomical event. The event was visible throughout the country. I was able to observe and photograph it from Quezon City, Philippines, using a small telescope. To watch the video recording of this event, click here.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Related link: Lunar Occultation of Mars
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
A rare astronomical event occurred in June 2012, visible in the Philippines and widely documented among astronomy enthusiasts. This event is called the Venus Transit, in which the planet Venus, appearing as a small dot, is observed to transit or move across the disk of the Sun. Venus and a number of sunspots are visible in the photo. Special solar filters were required to safely view this event.
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
I use a 1990 Kenko NES equatorial mount with my refracting telescope. This mount features an RA motor drive with relatively accurate tracking, a polar scope for easy alignment with Polaris, altitude-azimuth adjustment knobs useful in performing precise polar alignment such as the declination drift alignment method, coarse and fine adjustment knobs, setting circles, and adjustable aluminum tripod. My mount has been modified to use a DIY controller to connect it with a laptop via USB and perform automated guiding needed in long-exposure photography of deep-sky objects.
To view sample images taken with the 1990 Kenko NES mount, click here.
To view posts on DIY projects and astronomical equipment, click here.
Related links:
Sky-Watcher 100ED Refractor
DIY Telescope Controller
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
The Logitech 4000 webcam is capable of imaging planets and can be modified to take long exposure images to serve as a guide camera. The modification requires a serial port to externally control the camera’s exposure time using a guiding software such as GuideMaster and PHD Guiding.
The long- exposure modification allows the camera to detect faint guide stars, which is a useful feature for a guide camera. The diagram shown here was a modified version of M. Burri’s (2002) parallel port interface for a Logitech 3000 which I have adapted to work with the newer Logitech 4000 and a serial port.
Related link: View all home-brewed DIY astronomy equipment
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
This photo was taken in December 2011, in Antipolo, Philippines, during a total lunar eclipse. The moon appears red during totality and as it dims (in contrast to a bright full moon), the faint stars surrounding the moon becomes visible!
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
For a complete list of astrophoto images, click here.
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
The 2011 Sky-Watcher Equinox 100 ED 4 in f/9 refractor serves as one of my main telescopes both for visual observation and astrophotography. The Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) features a 4-in f/9 extra-low dispersion (ED) apochromatic (APO) lens design.
It has a 2-inch dual-speed Crayford focuser with a thumbscrew underneath for locking the draw tube. The telescope comes with aluminum-lined wooden carrying case. It is supplied with two eyepieces: 25 mm and 5 mm. Supplied also is a 90-degree 2-inch diagonal mirror and an 8 by 50 finder scope.
In 2021, the telescope has been modified and fitted with a DIY reducer, making the telescope shorter and faster (from f/9 to currently at f/6.28, 0.7x ) and also reducing the tube length by 20 cm.
Related link: Vixen R114 Newtonian Reflector
Night Sky in Focus © Anthony Urbano | Bacoor, Philippines
Night Sky in Focus 