Star Trails - 4th Nov 2013

This image was originally intended to be a timelapse video of around 500 frames.  However my lens got covered in dew after around 75 shots, so I scrapped that idea (along with 425 shots :( ) and stacked them into a star trail picture instead!

It is a stack of 75 frames, each of which is a 15sec exposure at ISO 800 on my Canon EOS 550D. Long exposure noise reduction was switched on, in the camera settings, to get rid of the dead pixels and also provide a delay between shots. Stacked and tweaked in Photoshop CS5.

The Andromeda galaxy is actually visible as a smudged trail in the top center of the image.

The Triangulum Galaxy

The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 3 million light years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum.  It is also known as Messier 33 or NGC 598. The Triangulum Galaxy is the third-largest member of the Local Group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way Galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy and about 30 other smaller galaxies. It is one of the most distant permanent objects that can be viewed without the aid of a telescope good viewing conditions with no light pollution.

This image is a combination of images taken on the 10th and 17th November using an 8" Celestron SCT with f6.3 focal reducer, guided with a QHY5 guide camera and a Canon 40D DSLR as the image camera. There are 6 images of 165sec @ ISO 1600 and 19 images 245 sec @ ISO 1250, stacked in Depp Sky Stacker and finished in Photoshop. 

Constellation Photography ( The Plough )

 While up in the Lakes District near Coniston, with a brilliant clear night of 21st September 2012, I had a go at Constellation Photography.  No tripod or remote release so I used a cushion to support the camera and the time delay function as a shutter release.   Constellation Photography can be done using a wide angle lens, long exposure with  a fast ISO with the camera ideally mounted on a tripod with remote shutter release.  This image shows part of Ursa Major (The Plough) and was taken with camera settings as below: -

Canon 1D MKII “n” with 17-28mm lens set at 17mm, wide open f2.8 and using 30 seconds exposure at ISO 1600.   I took 8 images and used DSS (Deep Sky Stacker) to stack them to give this image. Final processing is in Photoshop CS5 to give a better black /white balance.

WYAS Telescope Pad + Orion

These two photos were taken on the evening of the 12th January 2012

A few club members opened up the dome as the viewing was excellent. Some telescopes were set up for viewing.

Using a Canon 40D DSLR with 17-25mm lens at the 17mm end with f3.5, with an exposure of 13sec @ISO 800 mounted on a tri-pod produced these two photos.

The Orion constellation can clearly be seen in the sky. Including the Orion nebula but faintly.

The Moon, Venus, Jupiter and the Winter Constellations

This image was taken on 25th March 2012 and shows the Moon, Venus and Jupiter alongside the great Winter Constellations of Orion and Taurus. In the foreground is Darrington Church.

The image was taken with a Canon EOS550d on a tripod. Exposure was 15 seconds at f3.5, ISO 200 and a focal length of 18mm.