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Website archive 1995-2013 |
Victoria Centre is part of the national Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, which is dedicated to bringing information about astronomy to the general public. |
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More Lunar Images
June 19, 2002
The nights are clear. John Love is refining his a-focal techniques. John, at the rate you're going you'll be collecting the whole lunar cycle! I sense a summer project coming up.
Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on June 1st
On June 1st Jupiter and Venus were only 2 degrees apart located in the constellation Gemini. Malcom Scrimger took this image at dusk from the Centre of the Universe. Jupiter can seen on the left and Venus on the right. Compare this image with the other conjunctions on this page and see how much Venus has moved in a couple of weeks. - David Lee
Partial Solar Eclipse Update
June 17, 2002
Send in your photos, preferably digital, of the partial solar eclipse ... or other astronomical stuff. Sid Sidhu sent this one along a couple of days ago. Please include a description and technical information if possible, film, lens, exposure etc. - David Lee
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Lunar Craters Along the Terminator
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June 15, 2002 Saturday night at the Centre of the Universe, it was a warm balmy night and the mosquitoes were nipping at my sunburnt legs. Sandy, Jennifer and Scott were showing the visitors dark sunspots on the Sun. Summer is only weeks away. I set up my tracking mount to do some afocal lunar photography. Using a digital camera is the easiest way to photograph the Moon. The night before I saw John Love doing afocal work at the Island Star Party. He had a rather cool display made by Sony (designed for video games) attached to his camera. The display substitutes for the smallish display on the camera and it works remarkably well. Makes focusing a breeze. The view was crisp and contrasty. The terminator beautifully highlighted the craters Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catharina (seen in the inset). I set the focus at infinity to provide a consistent setting instead of using the camera's autofocus setting which can be fooled by low light or untextured surfaces. I used the telephoto setting to avoid the vignetting that can occur with the afocal technique. Finally I set the self-timer to avoid camera shake during the exposure. In future I plan on experimenting with different eyepieces to achieve different magnifications. - David Lee |
Images from the Island Star Party 2002
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Triangular Conjunction
June 12, 2002
After leaving Chris Gainor's talk on Wednesday I noticed the Crescent Moon suspended in the sky at dusk. The Moon's shape was beautifully defined by the thin crescent and the smoky shadow of earthshine. Venus and Jupiter have been featured in the night sky lately, often found close to the Moon. - David Lee
Partial Eclipse Arrives
June 10, 2002
It was a perfect day for an eclipse with only periods of filmy clouds. Crowds and media gathered at the Centre of the Universe for this spectacular event. Viewers were amazed by the "bite" out of the Sun. - David Lee
The Clouds Finally Part ... Jupiter and Venus
The clouds finally parted this evening to reveal this brilliant pairing, almost 3 degrees apart. Not as close as on Monday the 3rd but pretty nevertheless. Jupiter will be sinking with the Sun at sunset in the coming weeks leaving only Venus at dusk. - David Lee
The Moon Near 1st Quarter
My afocal attachment is composed of a number of pieces. The main piece is an Orion Combined Camera Adapter which is normally used for eyepiece projection work. It has a standard 1.25 inch tailpiece just like an eyepiece. A set screw holds any eyepiece you can fit inside the tube. I've found I can use many of the smaller Televue Plossls such as the 13mm and the 21mm. The Celestron Ultima 18mm works as well. The other end of the combined adapter is threaded for a T attachment. To mate this to the camera I have a CKC Power 28mm to T adapter ring. - David Lee
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