Telescopic video test of the Moon & Jupiter.

Ordinary security camera mounted to a 150mm telescope w/ 750mm focal length. Lenses and eyepieces have been removed to simplify light path. The image on my initial test was too bright because I had removed the IR filter from the camera. For this test, I not only put back the IR filter but used an additional .6 neutral density gel in front of the telescope. The gel seems to reduce clarity a bit but it gives the proper exposure. This video was taken on Sunday, 08/23/09 with the moon only about 10 degrees above the horrizon. You can clearly see atmospheric distortion.
On Jupiter, the video was taken a couple of hours later in the night where it was higher in the sky. You can see 4 of the moons very faintly until I remove the ND gel at the end of the video where the moons become much more visible.
This experiment was done in preparation for the LCROSS Moon collision.
Music is from a MicroKorg run through a Vox AC15 recorded with a pair of condenser microphones.

[Update], the LCROSS photography experimenet was a failure because temperatures were too low for the camera equipment to function properly.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• space
• moon
• jupiter
• telescope