Just recently I was able to do something I've wanted to do since I moved to Wichita: I used the telescope at Lake Afton Observatory to take a photograph of the heavens. One evening a month the observatory allows anybody with a camera to come and use the telescope for photographic purposes. The subject for the evening is pre-selected and the staff at the observatory provide the hardware you need to connect the camera to the telescope.
Part of the reason it has taken me this long to participate in the program is that it usually takes place at 11pm Sat. night; this is WAY past my bedtime. Additionally, the weather has also stymied a few past attempts. Things worked out great this month, though, as the skies were clear and the shoot started at 8:30pm Sunday night.
As for the quality of the photo, well, I don't have a ton of excuses. It was my first time on the telescope so that didn't help. The heat of the day rising off the cooling ground also added a lot of, uhmm, shimmer making a nice, solid, National Geographic photo pretty much out of the question. Plus, this particular subject is quite a ways away so even through the telescope it wasn't very large.
The mystery object: Venus.
The observatory is doing also Jupiter and Mars this year but I think I may hold out for the moon as I expected the shots to turn out much better.
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