Lunar New Year, Day 2.

Before I begin with this blog post, I need to tell you something important. WARNING: DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN THROUGH ANY OPTICS THAT IS NOT PROPERLY MADE FOR SOLAR USE. NO, YOUR SUNGLASSES CANNOT PROTECT YOU AND CAN CAUSE IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE TO YOUR EYES! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Firstly, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year! It's the second day of the Lunar New Year and I was kindly invited by Dave to come over to Bishan Park for some solar viewing. I was doing customary house visiting at a friend's place. So, I left after awhile and got to Bishan Park. Dave just bought himself a sweet, new 50mm solar telescope from Lunt. Gary and Ava were there as well.

The skies were cloudy when I arrived at about 4pm. We waited for the clouds to clear and it took about half-an-hour before we could see anything. Through Dave's telescope, we saw magnificent images of the Sun, its prominence, and sunspots. It was a Hydrogen Alpha filter telescope. What a gorgeous sight, thank you, Dave!

That's me!

That's Dave!

That's me taking a picture of Gary taking a picture of the scope.

Observing the Sun with a solar telescope and a pair of solar filter glasses.

I was there for about one-and-a-half-hours before Dave decided to pack up and go home as he had to do some Lunar New Year visiting in the evening. Then, Gary and I headed to a nearby coffee shop for a drink. I must say, I learnt a lot from Gary today. He was telling me that a normal compact digital camera is able to take decent astronomy pictures as well, and that I don't need a really high-end DSLR or SLR to do that. What a revelation!

He was also sharing with me on what are the important aspects of getting a compact digital camera for the hobby and how to operate it to take pictures of the Milky Way and star clusters.

As of now, I am purely doing visual astronomy. Getting a compact digi-cam, I thought it was a really cheap and good way for me to learn about astrophotography if I wanted to start from somewhere. I am being held back from astrophotography because of two major turn-off factors and they are; 1) Cost, and 2) Steep learning curve. But after speaking with Gary, I think I can afford a decent compact digital cam and start something basic. He advised me to look at the Cannon G1X.

Important things to note: *If I could still accurately remember what he said*
1) Get a compact digital camera with manual settings.
2) Get a fast focal ratio camera. (If you can get a fast focal ratio camera, then more light could enter the shutter faster, thus reducing exposure time and the ISO need not be that high so as to reduce "noise" caused by high ISO settings. Ideal range for f/ratio is about 1.2 to 2.4)
3) ISO setting should be in the range of 400 - 800
4) Exposure time (Observe the exposure time so as not to generate star trails in the picture.)
5) Exposure value (Set as low as possible to capture the lights from the stars.)
6) Focus set to infinity.
7) Very sturdy mount and tripod.

No hurries. I am going to learn more about digital astrophotography next month when we go to Bekok, Malaysia for stargazing. Gary says he will teach me and let me try out on my own using his camera. Then, I will decide whether I like it or not before making any purchases.