Archive for the ‘Astrophotography’ Category

Henry Draper

Henry Draper took the first successful photograph of the Great Orion Nebula on September 30, 1880 using his 11 inch Clark Brothers photographic refractor he took a 50 minute exposure. Draper was one of the pioneers of astrophotography and he took the first stellar spectrum in 1872 that showed absorption lines.

Read more about Henry Draper here.

It’s been hot and hazy for the past week and the skies are murky at best. After a long hiatuses, I’m anxious to get back out under the stars. Since the skies are a bit hazy, I stroll outside around 10:00pm local time and behold, the skies are a little better than I thought.

Since photography is another passion of mine, I always wanted to try shooting the night sky. I don’t know why I haven’t tried it before, just busy I guess. So, I grab my DSLR and tripod and make my first attempt at astrophotography.

Not knowing what to expect, I setup my camera in manual mode, a Pentax*ist DS (a 6.1 megapixel camera) with an smc Pentax-DA 18 – 55mm lens set at 24 mm;  f/4.0; ISO 3200; tungsten white balance.

First test - image 1