Monday, December 1, 2014

Detecting remote planets using old DSLR cameras

eBay, $100 or so, and some DIY know how made a system that can detect planets around other stars:
Your DSLR can do much more than just take a few nice portraits or the occasional vacation photos – with some DIY magic you can actually turn it into a device which can detect planets outside our solar system – something that 20 years ago was impossible even with the most sophisticated telescopes.

So how can you achieve this? David Schneider who you can see in the video above was able to use his Canon EOS Rebel XS (a.k.a Canon 1000D) camera. With old manual-focus 300mm Nikon telephoto lens he got from eBay for under a $100 with a $17 adapter
I'd expect that Tam and Roberta would be able to replicate this sort of thing.

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