Astrophotography With a Camera and Telescope

In a pair of postings awhile back (Jupiter and His Minions and Astrophotography With a Camera and Tripod, I said, One of these days, I'll mate my camera to a telescope, and then I'll be a "real" amateur astrophotographer.

Well, I guess that day has finally arrived. The photo above is a full-frame view of the Moon, shot through my telescope.

In contrast, here is the equivalent full-frame shot taken at maximum zoom with my longest telephoto lens:



But the difference is most noticeable when we zoom in on some detail:



The telephoto "detail" is not very usable, as you can see. In contrast, the telescopic shot's detail looks like this:



Of course, a "true" amateur astrophotographer will get results that are much sharper. And indeed, my later shots will improve, once I get an official camera mount and can then do image stacking. (This "Proof of Concept" was taken by pointing my camera into the telescope's viewfinder, hand-held.)

In any case, I'm happy with the results of this casual Proof of Concept! I see much potential for future astrophotos. :-)