Temecula Valley Astronomers

Over 2 months Comet Holmes changed dramatically in size, as shown here. All photos were taken with a Televue 76 (420mm focal length at f6.3). The field of view of the largest image is a little smaller than what you get with a pair of 7x binoculars. As of January 08, the comet is still visible in binoculars. Note that it is now so faint, that I needed to enhance the contrast in the January photo. I could have achieved the same result using a longer exposure, or by stacking images, but time and circumstances didn't allow for that. (I was short on time, and when photograph, Comet Holmes was right in the flight path of a nearby airport. Planes passed through my photos every 3 minutes, limiting my exposure time.

Comet Linear c2006vz13 was notable for its green hue as shown in this picture taken on July 13, 2007. Photo spec's: Televue 76 at prime focus; Canon digital rebel at 1600 iso; 1 minute exposure.

This image combines two photos taken six months apart and at different times of the day. The left is the sun setting on June 26, when it is close to its most northern position. Six months later, when the sun is setting near its most southern position, the moon was swinging high in its path and set as far north as I've ever recorded. Here, it's shown on Jan. 4, 2007, setting farther north than the sun sets near the solstice.
As these photos were taken with the same magnification, it's interesting to see the apparent size of the sun and moon, which of course varies monthly for the moon and yearly for the sun.

Single exposure taken with Canon Digital Rebel through a Televue 76 at prime focus. The photo was taken east of I-15 at about 1700 ft elevation, allowing a view of the ocean.

The photo of the sun was taken with a 8-inch schmidt-cassigrain using a white light solar filter. The camara is a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. I believe the sunspot is named 930 and has been shown on Spaceweather.com creating a shockwave on the sun when it released a coronal mass ejection. The photo has been reduced in resolution, except for the circular inset.

Composite of 13 photos taken during the transit of Mercury on 8 Nov. 2006. The crooked path is a result of my frequently swapping my camera for an eyepiece.
John Garrett

Sunset over Santa Ana peak, 6/26
Photo by John Garrett
The usual caveats apply—never look directly at the sun unless you have proper filters.
Since I don’t have a solar filter, I’ve been waiting for the right conditions where the clouds allow the sun to be safely photographed. This event occurred on 6/26. To the naked eye, the sun was a faint disc, barely detectable, and even dimmer through the view finder of the camera. To emphasize how dim this sun was, I had my telephoto lense at its widest aperture and my shutter speed an 1/30 second, and still the light meter reported an underexposed photo. Even then, I didn’t stare at the sun, but took brief glances through the camera’s view finder.
My mistake was to shoot too many photos while the sun was above the horizon. After I ran out of film, the sun dipped halfway below the mountains, providing a perfect frame for the distant towers. The sun should set in the same location this same day next year. By then I hope to have a solar filter to get the photo.

MK-91, ToUcam 740, 1.8X TeleVue barlow - 625 of 900 images stacked and processed in Registax 3

Jupiter shot through an I.R. pass filter

MK-91, ToUcam 740, 1.8X TeleVue barlow - 650 of 905 images stacked and processed in Registax 3