We bought our Panasonic SDR S26 last summer (2009).

 

Panasonic SDR S26, using it for night recording.
Use candle mode instead of magic pix (similar to night shot). Magic pix mode claims to pick up 2 Lux illumination. The panasonic has a Lux rating of 6 on candle mode. In magic pix mode the camera goes into DSS mode (Delayed Slow Shutter) which makes any objects leave a blur trail at the slightest movement.

Stars:
Some individual stars can be picked up in candle light mode if you preset the focus and zoom in around 20x.
The auto focus is way too quirky. What I do is set focus on a distant bright light (1/2 mile or more away) at a zoom of 5x to 10x and leave it set or locked there on manual focus. You can then zoom in up to about 40x without much blurring as long as you don't go back to auto focus.

Moon recording:
This camera does fair to good at recording the moon. At 70x optical zoom, it can pick up some details and larger craters on
the lunar surface. With the panasonic mounted on a 1.25" telescope 26mm eyepiece and aimed at the moon, it can pick up much
more detail. You can zoom in to about 22X and get some decent details of the lunar surface. You will need to make or purchase an adapter. 37mm to 1.25" Adapter.

Meteors:
The Pansonic SDR S26 only picks up the brightest of meteors. To use this camera to record a meteor shower is a waste of time
and effort. You will be greatly disappointed after recording for 2 hours to sit and review 2 hours of black fuzzy static with maybe one or two meteors having been recorded.

The Panasonic SDR S26 is a SD (Standard Definition) camcorder. It's good for daytime, dawn, dusk, indoor lighting. SD does
not pick up finer detail. When reviewing recordings, it appears as though you are trying to peer through a light haze or fog. The images are not sharp or crisp.

 

The video of the moon to the right was taken with our SDR S26 mounted on our 60mm Meade telescope using a home made adapter made out of plastic from sour cream containers.

 

The video to the right is a short demonstration of one way to convert or rig up a smoother mount instead of using a cheap, jerky tripod. If you have a telescope tripod, try this. Also shown is my home made adapter for the SDR S26 to the telescope eyepiece.