Astrophotography with Celestron 114 Telescope

[Scott M]

I had fun with my new Celestron 114 (4.5") reflector (no drives) and my Mavica digital camera the last couple nights. I merely put the camera lens right up to the eyepiece, jockeyed it around to get the best focus, and took a few shots. Nothing spectacular, of course, but I'm pleased with the results.

In a shot of Jupiter's moons, they did not show up at all on the viewfinder or when I loaded the image (JPG, unfortunately) into a paint program. Luckily, I decided to try increasing the contrast, and they showed up nicely.

I'd like to try some multiple-exposure digital imaging, where you process a set of images into one (in lieu of long-exposure), but that does require a motor drive. I'm looking at perhaps the Meade 10" on eq mount ($700) next.