Hi All,
I'm the man who took this photo on APOD today 8/16/07.
Here are the details on the exposure and equipment used.
It was shot from Yellow Springs, Ohio captured the morning of August 12th around 4:00am, E.S.T.
Camera mounted on a Orion EQ-1 portable mount, with motor drive/hand paddle.
Canon 10D DSLR(unmodified),
ISO 400, 20 mm lens @ F4,
Pointed towards the constellation of Taurus,
for a single 4 minutes exposure.
I Cropped the original image to show the main Objects...
M45 Pleiades Cluster (top)
Mars (center)
Hyades Cluster (bottom)
Persied Meteor (lower right)
If the mount is properly polar aligned, or the polar axis pointed at or near the north star, you will get accurate tracking for about 10- 15 minutes with this mount, using typical camera lenses. The mount runs off of 4 D cell batteries and last for weeks of use.
The EQ-1 mount is very portable and small, it literally fits in a small briefcase, it cost about $55.00 for the mount and $55.00 for the motor/controller.
For $110.00 from Oriontelescopes.com, its a steal for how accurate and portable it is.
There are many links on the web for getting started in basic astrophotography using simple camera lenses.
Robert Reeves has an excellent book($35) on "An Intro to Digital Astrophotography"
http://www.robertreeves.com/
I recommend you get started there,
Good luck and keep trying!!!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)