Astro Digiscoping

I purchased a new digital camera last week, a Nikon P5100 advanced point-and-shoot, to replace our Canon S400 that developed a quirky problem. First it started reporting a "Memory Card Error" which required a reformat of the memory card in order to use it again. This error didn't occur all the time, but when we lost about 100 pictures from Christmas we knew we could no longer use it reliably for special occasions.

I, being the physics geek, found a "fix" that required opening the case of the camera and removing the internal battery. This reset the BIOS and seemed to have fixed the "Memory Card Error" problem. However, after doing this the camera's flash no longer worked. I guess I bumped something I shouldn't have. So, we got a new camera. Since the Canon still takes pictures in natural light, we can use it as a backup.

We finally had a sunny day yesterday, so I tested the new camera with my digiscoping setup (a digital camera attached to a spotting scope). The waxing gibbous moon was high and bright in the sky, so I thought "Astro digiscoping? Why not?" Here is my first attempt at this method of photography.

I plan to astro-digiscope the lunar eclipse this Wednesday if the sky is clear. Check back for images.