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Re: [OM] one more astro Q please

Subject: Re: [OM] one more astro Q please
From: Thomas Bryhn <thomas.bryhn@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 19:54:19 +0100
At 10:10 27.09.99 -0700, Acer Victoria wrote:

>:Each lens takes in a different angle of view. An apparent small movement
on a 
>:wide angle will become an apparently longer movement with a telephoto. Or
in 
>:the alternative it, the telephoto, will form a star trail faster. It has 
>:nothing to do with the point source image. Did I understand your question 
>:correctly?
>
>Yes, that was my question...although I still don't get it. 

There's no magic going on here: The sky rotates at a fixed angular rate
(about 15 degrees per hour) as seen from the earth, and you're framing a
portion of the sky with your lens and camera.
Assuming you're using a lens that covers 15 degrees (~200mm) it will take
an hour of exposure before a star has created a streak across your entire
film plane. Use a normal lens that covers ~45 degrees and it will take 3
hours before a star has travelled across your film. As you generally don't
want star trails on your pictures you must use a wide angle lens to have
long exposures. If you aim for star trails, choose any focal length you
want, but  I would still prefer a fast wide angle and get a celestial pole
somewhere somewhere in the frame.
BTW, the above example assumes that you aim your camera at celestial
equator, otherwise a star will take longer to cross your field, and your
exposures can thus be longer without trails.

Happy shooting!


Thomas Bryhn

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