The STELAS (Stop The Earth, Lock All Stars) drive
with camera and tripod.Comets that we have seen (and photographed)
Jim began photographing prominent comets starting with Halley's comet in 1985. Photographs were made using tripod-mounted Olympus 35mm SLR cameras (either an OM-1 or OM-2 ). Exposures for durations up to about 20 seconds can be made from a fixed tripod using a 50-mm lens before tracking of images caused by the earth's rotation becomes obvious. Longer exposure times were achieved using a home-made clock-drive; construction of this drive is described in Halley's Comet Finder by Ben Mayer.
The STELAS (Stop The Earth, Lock All Stars) drive
with camera and tripod.
Click on the thumbnail photos for larger views best when viewed with millions of colors.
Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet adjacent
to the constellation Sagittarius, as observed from our rooftop in Castro
Valley, CA, 5:00 AM on March 20, 1986. 50 mm lens, f1.8, exposure time 60
seconds using Kodak Plus X (ASA125) film.
Comet Austin
May 25, 1990; 50-mm lens, f1.8, 15-second exposure, 200 speed Kodak
Ektachrome film, taken at about 10:00 PM from our backyard on Greenridge
Road in Castro Valley, CA.
Comet Hyakutake
March 24,
1996; 50-mm lens, f1.8, approximately a 4-minute exposure, ASA200 speed
Fuji Sensia film, taken at approximately 9:00 PM from our backyard on Greenridge
Road in Castro Valley, CA.
Comet Hale-Bopp
April 3, 1997; 135-mm lens,
f3.5, 4-minute exposure, Fuji Sensia 200 film, taken at 9:30 PM from near
the top of Welch Creek Road adjacent to Sunol Regional Wilderness, East
Bay Regional Parks.
Greenish cast is due to sodium- vapor street lights that have become pervasive throughou t the Bay Area. Note the pale blue plasma tail just above the primary white dust tail.
Ben Mayer, Halley's Comet Finder, 1985, Perigee Books, published by Putnam Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016.
Small synchrotron 1/24 rph motors are available from Celestron International, 2835 Columbia Street, Torrance, CA 90503.
Return to the Home Page Extension
or 
or for topics on the primary home pages:
