Night Sky Photography

©Charles Dorn

Capturing the Heavens On Film

Bella Luna

Night Sky Photography

Earth's Moon is a singular unique satellite wholly created by the debris of a massive impact millions of years ago. Since man has occupied this planet he has looked in the night sky and marveled at the ever changing appearance of its surface. The Moon orbits at roughly 380,000 km. distance with a diameter of 3475 km., compared to Earth it is 27% smaller with a reflection magnitude at opposition of -12.7. The best views through a telescope are between the crescent and quarter phases when angled light from the sun makes the elevations appear sharp in relief. The two photos that follow were taken at different times to help illustrate the shadow line (terminator) and the change in view that can be seen on the surface along that edge. In the Moons early life the entire surface had been struck by thousands of giant meteors that created the many features of huge craters, and volcanism to fill in the large open plains (Mare-seas). These two features are the reason for the lighter (younger) and darker (older) soil reflection properties of the visible surface.

Earth's Moon

©Charles Dorn

Night Sky PhotographyCapturing The Heavens

On Film

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EARTH'S MOON DAY 6.5 AFTER NEW 1- Stofler crater – 126km/ dia

2- Azophi crater – 48km/ dia.

3- Mare Serenitatis – 600km/ dia.

4- Eudoxus crater – 67km/ dia.

5- Aristoteles crater- 87km/ dia.

Photo taken on 400TX B/W 35mm film. Prime focus W/ 8” Schmidt-Cassegrain. w/SLR camera- f/stop= 2.8 – Exposure time 1/125 sec.

©Charles Dorn

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Night Sky Photography Capturing the Heavens

On Film

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EARTH'S MOONDAY 3 AFTER FIRST QUARTER1.Blancanus 110km.dia.2.Tycho 85km.dia.3.Mare Nubium 650km. dia.4.Bullialdus 59km. dia.5.Mare Tranquillitatis 549X780km.6.Copernicus 93km./ dia.7.Mare Serenitatis 660X600km.8.Mare Imbrium 1150km. dia.9.Montes Jura 450km.High

Photo taken on 400TX B/W 35mm film. Prime Focus W/ 8”Schmidt-Cassegrain. w/SLR camera- f/stop = 2.8, Exposure time 1/250 sec.

©Charles Dorn

Orion's Wonders

Belt – Sword - Nebula

©Charles Dorn

Belt: 1)Lower = Zeta Ori, 1100 ly distant, Blue-white, Mag 2.0.2) Center = Epsilon Ori 1200 ly distant, blue S.giant, mag 1.7.3) Upper = Delta Ori 2300 ly distant , blue-white, mag. 2.2. Sword: 4) Top = NGC 1981 Open cluster, 1500 ly, Mag 8. 5) Middle = Theta Ori 1300 ly distant, Trapezium, mag 6.6.6) Lower = Iota Ori 2000 ly distant, double star, mag 6.Extra:7) Below Belt – east – Sigma Ori, mag 4, 1800 ly distant, triple star.8) Below Belt – west – Eta Ori – mag 5, 750 ly distant, bright double.9)Low - south/west – Tau Ori, mag 4, 555 ly distant.

Night Sky Photography

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Tri-pod camera mount Exposure time = B 15 sec. f/stop 2.8 Age of negative caused center fogging

RA. 5h 40m 00s – Dec. -00d 18' 00”

Night Sky PhotographyOrion's Wonders

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The constellation Orion has a number of double and a very impressive triple deep sky treasures.

1)The brightest star in Orion β Ori is Rigel, (giants leg) at mag 0.1 and has a 7 mag companion. 910 ly, radius 7.8๏, temp 11,000K.

2) ṯ Ori a 3.5 mag binary with >10”separation, 560 ly, radius 8.6๏, temp 11,900K.

3) η Ori, Algiebba: multiple-variable, mag 3-5, 750 ly, binary<10” sep., radius 6.2๏, T=21,000K.

4) σ Ori multiple-variable <10” sep., mag 3-7, 1,165 ly, T=16,300 K, radius 9.8๏.

5) β Eri, Cursa (the Footstool)- Orion neighbor- mag, 2.8- 91 ly.

This photo shows a slight blurring of the stars because the time exposure was too long B-20 seconds. This time does not allow for the rotation of the Earth, thus star trails are shown.

Photo taken on 400TX film, w/SLR camera, Tri-pod mount used for camera. Exposure time = B 20 sec. f/stop 2.8

©Charles Dorn

Night Sky PhotographyThe Pleiades – Open Cluster

The Seven Sisters

©Charles Dorn

Photo taken on 400 TX 35mm film. Tri-pod mountw/SLR camera, f/stop 2.8 - Exposure time=B/8sec.Photo fogged at right due to enlargement process.

The Pleiades star cluster is contained in the constellation Taurus. The entire cluster contains about 250 stars. The brightest and youngest of these formed about two million years ago, early in astronomical time. Also known as M 45, named after the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. With a clear sky about 7 stars are visible with the naked eye, covering 1°of sky, and are 415 Ly. away. The brightest of these seven is ŋ Tauri at mag. 2.9. Other members are 16 tau/ 5.5, 17 Tau/ 3.7, 19 Tau/4.3, 20 Tau/ 3.9, 21 Tau/5.8, 23 Tau/4.2, and 27 Tau/3.6 mag.

Ra. 03h 47m 00s– Dec. +24d 07' 00”

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Night Sky PhotographyCapturing the Heavens

On FilmCredits:

All Moon photos were taken from the roof of the observatory at Bowling Green State University on clear nights during the months of December, January and February.

All photos were taken with a K1000 Pentax SLR camera with a standard lens.

The Moon photos were exposed on standard Kodakphoto paper using Polycontrast III RC paper. Film negatives were focused through #11/2 and #2 Polycontrast filters, for 6-8 seconds depending on negative quality.

Constellation photos were taken at BGSU and at sights that could be used quickly when skies were clear. The sameprint process used for the Moon were used for the constellation shots, but #3 and #4 filters were used to focusthe negatives for 7-9 seconds on the paper, depending on negative quality.

©Charles Dorn

Night Sky PhotographyCapturing the Heavens

On Film

References: Burnam, Robert , Jr. Burnham's Celestial Handbook; An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System. Constable and Company, Toronto,Canada,1978. Vol.'s 1,2,3.

Norton, Arthur P. Norton's Star Atlas and Reference Handbook; Epoch 2000.0.Pi Press, Pearson Education Inc., New York, 2004.

Price, Fred W. The Moon Observers Handbook. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, 1988.

Ridpath, Ian. Universe guide to stars and planets. Universe Books, New York, 1985.

Menzel, Donald H. A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets. Houghton Mifflin Co.,Boston, Mass. 1988.

Kitt, Michael T. The Moon; An observing guide for backyard telescopes. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1992.