9.27.2015

Lunar Eclipse 2015!



Given the 2.7x crop factor of the Nikon 1 V1, even with a focal reducer I discovered wouldn't be able to frame the moon using my Celestron 8" SCT. But for exposures up to 5 seconds, I needed the C8's clock drive. Fortunately I could piggyback my Swarovski ATX 85 onto my C8, but late this evening realized I was missing the 3/8" to 1/4" adapter from the foot of my spotting scope. I drove to work to get one and was ready to go! But then the clouds rolled in and it looked like my preparations were for naught. I kept checking every every 5 to 10 minutes and eventually saw the clouds begin to break. I scrambled to get all my equipment outside, polar aligned the C8, mounted the ATX 85 on it, used my V1 with an 18.5mm lens with the DCBII adapter and presto!





All images © 2015 Mike McDowell