Keyword: tracking

As you browse through telescope selections, you inevitably come across all kinds of telescopes and may wonder why I never mention these. Here I'll talk about the differences between VISUAL OBSERVATION and ASTRO- PHOTOGRAPHY. Visual observation is just as amazing as astrophotography and I suggest you do BOTH. The requirements for visual observation are more relaxed compared to astro-photography and if photos are your main goal, you always can swap the camera for an eye-piece and go visual. The opposite move, using a telescope setup intended for visual use to do photography, isn't that easy.

A standardized image format is something most users take for granted -- JPG, GIF, PNG and even TIFF are household names when it comes to (web)-images & editing. If you use a dSLR, you have gotten used to adding a tool or two, to process the Nikon or Canon RAW formats. With the astronomy cameras, the formats & necessary conversions become a real mess -- especially if you use a one-shot color "OSC" camera.

For this article, I use the eclipse on April 15th 2014 as an example and as a location I have picked San Francisco. The path of the moon & the timing is dependent on your own location and you will have to make adjustments for that. Here are some examples and a bit of background of the various attempts : www.ipernity.com/doc/stargazer95050/album/389379