Astrophotography
I've experimented with four different ways of photographing things I see in my telescope. None are ideal but maybe someday I'll buy an eyepiece that connects directly into my laptop.
The first way I tried taking pictures was by simply holding a 35mm SLR camera to the lens and hoping for the best. This was expensive and not very accurate, but I did get lucky a few times which fueled my curiosity. I later improved this method by putting the camera on its own tripod so I could lengthen the exposure time and get brighter pictures. Even though it was a clumsy set up, I was mostly hindered by not knowing how the pictures looked until they were developed.
After I got a digital camera, I made a wooden bracket that mounted onto my telescope's tripod. An arm stuck out parallel to the eyepiece and I made a small platform to hold my camera perpendicular that rode along a sliding dovetail. I then added a few thumbscrews to clamp things down once I was satisfied with the pictures. The main improvement was the digital camera so I could see how my pictures were turning out as I took them.
Finally I bought a bracket that clamps to the eyepiece that holds the camera much better than my homemade version. Conceptually it's the same but it's simply more accurate.
Here's my feeble attempt at photographing the December 2010 Lunar Eclipse. I really wanted more pictures illustrating the shadow moving across the moon, but my camera is on its last leg and it was freezing cold. :P
The 2012 Transit of Venus. I held an exposed 35mm slide over my Panasonic DMC-FZ35 while zoomed all the way in. I'm really glad I got to see this one because it was cloudy during the 2004 transit and the next won't happen until 2117.
I got up at the crack of dawn and went to a local beach to see the November 3rd, 2013 Solar Eclipse. This was a rare hybrid solar eclipse, because the tip of the moon's penumbra is so close to the surface of the earth that some places will see an annular eclipse while other locations will see a total eclipse. I used the same camera and method as I did for the 2012 Transit of Venus. Namely, holding a developed 35mm slide over my Panasonic DMC-FZ35. The slide makes everything purple, so I played with the colors in GIMP to make it look a little closer to what I saw.
Here's my picture of the September 27th, 2015 supermoon eclipse. It was quite cloudy and I'm lucky I got a picture this good. I used a Nikon D5100 with a 300mm telephoto lens.
Here's a picture I took of Cygnus CRS OA-5 that launched to the ISS on October 17th, 2016 on top of an Antares 230 rocket. The launch site was Wallops Island in Virginia and I managed to see it from a beach about 50 miles away. I'm not quite sure if this qualifies as astrophotography, but this seemed like the most relevant section to put it.
Here's my picture of the August 21st, 2017 solar eclipse.
I got up at 4:30am to head over to Wallops Island in Virginia to watch the November 2nd, 2019 Antares launch of Cygnus NG-12. This was a resupply mission to the ISS. I was located approximately 3 miles from the launch pad at the end of Wisharts Point Road. None of my cameras have big telephoto lenses, so I tied my cellphone to a pair of binoculars with the string out of my hoodie. Probably looked ridiculous compared to all the other professional photographers standing around.
Ever since seeing the 2012 transit of Venus, I've wanted to try to get a picture of a transit of Mercury. I missed the one in 2016, so the November 11th, 2019 one was my last opportunity until May 7th, 2049. The main issue with getting this picture is that Mercury is so small. I don't think the developed slide over a camera technique will work, so I built a quick and dirty refracting telescope with Surplus Shed lenses. The objective is a Surplus Shed 127mm f/9.4. It was pretty amazing watching Mercury cross into the disc of the sun.
Today (7/12/20) I got up at 3:15am to watch the Neowise comet (C/2020 F3) rise. It rose to about 12º before the sun started getting bright enough to wash it out. Today was the only morning that was clear enough to see it.
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