wpo - digital camera sampler-Canon 300D DSLR

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2005 Feb 6: belated spectrum of V574 Pup [=Nova Pup04] still shows Ha strong emission 4 months after discovery via same arrangement to record Titan's spectrum below but with filter to block strong LP sodium light pollution at low altitude.  Unusually in the enlarged original the nova's zero order real image is a monochromatic red dot whilst nearby B type stars are expanded into tiny vertical spectra caused by atmospheric dispersion.

2005 Jan 23 - image via 30cm SCT+ grating + Canon 300D seems to record possible methane absorption line/band in red in Titan's atmosphere - overexposed blob is Saturn with inner satellites nearby.

Dec 2004:  Finally bought my Canon 300D DSLR lens kit via portable 1970 clock-drive.   Cropped images via Canon 300D + EOS 33 28-90mm lens at full zoom [16mm clear aperture] give better resolution + going fainter ~mag11.1 than supplied 18-55mm zoom.  Continued experiment with filters and large aperture lenses of 500, 135, 85 mm fl lens onto Canon 300D via EOS/M42 adapter.

2004 Dec 19/22/24/25/28/30 Jan 1/2/4/5/8/10/12/13/15/16: Canon 300D images of Comet Machholz through rising ever higher in Eridanus into Taurus then Perseus initially in bright moonlight.  Comet spectrum shows greenish bias but mainly reflected sunlight in the full range of colours - M42 shows emission of Hb/OIII [blue] + Ha [red].

Improved spectra via a 300mm fl lens + OG prism gives greater spectral resolution especially in stars like Algol [b Per] which show the Canon CMOS sensor amazingly records 10 hydrogen lines from Hb to 373.4nm for Hl=lambda in near UV where the spectrum become essentially colourless.  Balmer lines converge at 364.5nm in UV. Other 'solar' type stars record the dual H/K lines of CII in violet.
The important Ha in red at 656.3nm is well recorded [eg M42] but somewhat suppressed as noted on Internet NewsGroups.




images/text copyright - Maurice Gavin - June/Oct 2001- Nov03/Jan 04 - Nov04/Feb05 2134_191204/reduced 6984_80205