AstroJournal - First Light
This is a part of my #AstroJournal documenting my foray into #astrophotography.
Back Story
About 10 years ago we bought our daughter a Nikon D3400 Compact DSLR. And for a fair few years, it was used extensively. But the last 2-3 years, it has sat in a corner of her old bedroom - an orphan - as she moved out of the house into her adult life.
So, I decided to repatriate it and start a new hobby - astrophotography.
I had some background in photography (including dark room work) and in backyard astronomy. I had made my own Dobsonian - grinding the mirrors - and also had owned a cheap Newtonian with an equally cheap tripod and EQ tracker. Man, did that thing suck, but it was fun.
It seemed natural to smash the two together and give it ago. And with a "free" DSLR, this could be kinda cheap - to start.
Planning
I spent a few days reading the manual and making sure I had some plan. I figured out how to get into full manual mode and turn off the auto flash.
I decided to try to capture Venus framed through the bare limbs of the Maple in the backyard. A second target would be a snapshot of Jupiter and Aldebaran together.
First Light
Well, as you can see below, that didn't go so well. But lots of lessons learned!
Things to solve :
- I need to find a way to keep my hands warm. I can't wear full gloves - even thin ones and operate the camera or tighten the set knobs on the tripod.
- I am 73" tall. The tripod is 60" - which is fine until the target gets more than about 50 degrees above the horizon. Jupiter was well above that and I couldn't really use the viewfinder to aim since my neck couldn't do the necessary contortions. Maybe lower the tripod and use a chair.
- The D3400 supposedly has a way to release the shutter from a smartphone app. I need to get that working (as you can see).
Well - onward and upward!
