The man himself, Albert Einstein. This bronze life size statue is sitting on a bench inside the observatory. Frozen in deep thought, he uses his finger as a reference for something much grander, what is this grander entity you ask? We may never know. I set the aperture to f4 for this photograph; his finger is the focal point therefore it made a better subject than his face from this angle. It was important to have the general details of his face still recognizable in order to give more meaning to the photograph.
Timed exposure (approx. 30 sec) allowed the city lights to create a subtle glow that illuminated the otherwise pitch black night sky. The ghostly figures are caused by 30 seconds worth of movement from the visitors, recorded by my camera as motion blur. If you look in the background you'll see the same blur in the form of a white dotted line; this is from the flashing lights on a plane as it flies over the city.
As I waited in line to have a look through the Zeiss telescope, I set up my tripod and went to work. I set the aperture to f11 and set the exposure for 30 seconds. The telescope was focused on a cluster of stars which included Orions Belt. The telescope is a perfect example of refracting light in order to capture an image, no matter the distance.
The viewing machines enable you to see the city below in better detail. Greater detail can also come from a 10 megapixel camera set on a tripod set to an exposure time of 20 seconds.
As the pendulum swings side to side it is affected by the rotation of the earth. The pendulum shifts clockwise with every passing swing. It rotates at a constant rate so with the right dimensions you have a method of accurately keeping track of time.
