Friday, 22 February 2013

A Back Yard Journey Into Space


On these cold and occasional cloudless nights that have occurred these past few evenings I thought I’d seize the moment and have a go at taking a few photos of the night sky in the back garden.  It’s not as easy as I thought and takes quite a bit of trial and error.

Living in a town, light pollution is always going to be a problem, but I reckon you can still get some nice views even in these conditions.

Here’s a  few shots I thought some of you might like.


A First Quarter Moon with some reasonable crater detail along the terminator.  


The following night shows a little more.   


Almost Waxing. My latest Moon Shot.

A change of lens and a look at the stars.


The constellation of Orion, low in the sky and very prominent. I was pleased with the colours here. Note the red super giant star, Betelgeuse at the top left hand side. The streak at the top is a jet engine vapour trail.


The three stars, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka that make up Orion’s belt, and below that are three points of light making up Orion’s sword.  The centre fuzzy light with the split down the middle is the well known Orion Nebula,  around 1,344 light years away apparently.


Even though they are only pin pricks of light there’s something really special about  identifying and capturing these images. It really fires the imagination. Are any of you folk out there keen on this? and if so any tips or photos would be welcome.

I've still got a lot to learn about Astrophotography but  I’m looking forward to a few more clear nights and a backyard journey into space.    

5 comments:

  1. Brilliant! Those are great. I've been meaning to try that for years but haven't. I live in a city too but often visit a farm because I've got a horse and the view of stars from the fields at night is superb.

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  2. Thanks Kev. Sounds like this farm and the fields you visit would be perfect on a clear night . Why not take the camera ( and a tripod if you''ve got one) next time you go. With little or no light pollution you should get some great shots.

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  3. lovely stuff. I invested in a telescope a while back, as where I am, light pollution isnt too bad. But I cant get a decent photograph of anything celestial as Ive only got a compact. Having said that, the telescope isnt much cop for anything apart from the moon either!

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  4. Awesome Scoop! I used my Canon point-&-click to get some okay shots of last years 'Super Moon' but there's so many settings even on a cheap camera that it took quite a few tries to get a few okay pics. So you done good!

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    1. Cheers Ed. I know what you mean about settings it can get quite frustrating - but it hasn't put me off so far. I check out the odd webpage to see what settings they suggest. Then I try to figure out how to apply them on the camera!

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