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.
