Below are three astrophotos that were submitted by nine year old Meredith Lorenz. Meredith took these photos (with a little help from her Mom) for a science project at school. The pictures were taken with a Minolta camera mounted on a tripod on a couple of clear nights in October 1998. Film was 200 speed Polaroid. Meredith took notes as each photo was taken. A friend of Meredith's scanned the photos and sent them in for posting. I (Joe Roberts) have provided some info as to some of the objects that appear in the photos. Specific information for each photo appears below:
This picture was taken near dawn with the camera facing southwest. It shows parts of the constellation Orion and the bright star Sirius.
This picture was taken on October 20 from 6:05 am to 6:18 am. The camera was facing roughly west. This picture shows parts of the constellations Perseus, Andromeda and Triangulum. This picture was taken in the early morning.
This picture shows the constellation Cassiopeia. The "fuzzy" object near the lower left corner of the picture is the famous Double Cluster.
The photos that Meredith took and submitted represent outstanding work for a such a young person. I remember the first astrophotos I took in 1975 and they are not nearly as good as those shown above (and I was 14 at the time). It is very gratifying to see young people taking an interest in astronomy and science. Meredith chose a challenging topic (astrophotography) for her science project and has succeeded with remarkable results! In my opinion Meredith has earned an "A" on this project!
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Images © Copyright 1998 by Meredith Lorenz.