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Astronomy

Astrophotography

You are never too old to learn, and one of the thing that has opened my eyes  has been discovering the quality of astronomical images that can be produced by amateurs with very modest equipment. By using digital cameras and image processing software it's a realistic ambition to produce images that compare favourably with those produced by the world's biggest telescopes fifty years ago - right in your back yard!

This website does not showcase the best astronomical pictures on the internet! It's a selection of pictures I have taken myself with basic equipment and free software. Producing images like these below, or even better ones, is within your reach!

Most importantly, you don't have to spend a fortune. My first serious scope, mount and tripod cost £180 on Ebay. I spent £40 on a more solid tripod, and about £200 on various bits and pieces including books and an ancient Canon EOS DSLR and a seconhand Microsoft HD Webcam. The results shown before are  some of my best so far, and will be updated from time to time.

Perhaps the easiest target in the sky is the moon. You can get good pictures with any long or zoom lens, this is a 'stack' of six pictures taken with an ordinary bridge camera:

A Gibbous Moon photographed over thr Isle of Skye in near-poerfect seeing conditions

A gibbous moon photographed on the isle of Skye.

Follow the links below for introductions to some of the other things you can image in the night sky:

The Moon

The Sun

The Planets

Messier Objects

Star Clusters

Nebulae

Galaxies

Constellations

Meteors

Have a go!

I hope I have convinced you to have a go at photographing the night sky - these photos may not hold a candle to some of the work of professionals like Damian Peach or even dedicated amateurs, but I hope you are surprised what can be done with kit that has cost me well under £500.

There are lots of places to find out more on line, but perhaps the easiest place to start is the StargazersLounge webiste.

As well as the subjects covered above there are all sorts of other things to look out for - comets, asteroids, meteors, aurorae, noctilucent clouds and various metereological effects such as sundogs and lunar halos. And sometimes there are just picturesque events such as this near conjunction of the Moon and Venus.

Conjunction of Moon and Venus seen ona slightly misty night, with teh moon partly behind trees

A Conjunction of Moon and Venus

 

M23 is an open cluster of stars discovered by Charles Messier himself.

M23

M23 open cluster.

Details
Category: Astrophotography

This complex nebula is also known as the Swan Nebula (look at the picture upside-down). It is an enormous cloud of hydrogen and has a mass equivalent to 800 suns.

M17

M17 the Omega or Swan nebula.

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Category: Astrophotography

M16 is actually the open cluster of stars within this complex area of nebulosity. The 'eagle' is the central dark feature made famous as the Hubble Space Telescope's 'Pillars of Creation'.

M16

M16, imaged using a tri-band filter.

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Category: Astrophotography

M15 is one of the oldest known globular clusters and it may have a central black hole.

M15

M15 has around 100,000 stars.

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Category: Astrophotography

This globular cluster was discovered by Gottfried Kirch in 1702.

M5

M5

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Category: Astrophotography
  1. M3 - Globular cluster in Canes Venatici
  2. Lifting Weight Adaptors for Telescope Mounts
  3. Tracker Tester
  4. 14 December 2016 Supermoon
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