John Griffiths Astro Pages > GCSE Astronomy

John Griffiths Astro Pages

GCSE Astronomy — Straightforward Astro Photography

GCSE Astronomy > [Revision] > Astro Photography > [Useful Links]

Star trails can be reduced to points of light by using a device that can allow for the Earth’s rotation and move the camera to compensate for it. The camera can be mounted on a simple equatorial mount - as show in the picture below. These mounts are inexpensive and are driven by a battery pack and a small motor built into the mount.

Suppliers include the Wide Screen Centre . This model is called an EQ1 and is just less than £100. The mount proper can be taken off the short tripod and placed onto a larger tripod. A telescope can then be mounted on top. The mount comes complete with a motor, that drives the axis at the right speed. This is powered by a battery pack.

Of course if you have the camera on a mount that can follow the stars, you have the capability to take some good wide angle photographs of the constellations. Here is an image of the constellation of Orion taken with a digital camera—exposure time of three minutes.

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