Now for something different from birds and dragonflies!
Judging from the recent discussion amongst local birders in comets and other celestial events (e.g. aurora), I thought this post might be of interest.
It has taken me sometime to get to grips with some new gear for astrophotography, but last week I finally managed to get a sequence of Milky Way shots from a location on the Downs that, after a fair amount of processing, formed a presentable final image (see below).
This image was obtained using an astro-modified Canon RP, a 16mm wide angle lens, mounted on an iOptron Sky Guider Pro tracking mount. Note I didn't use any light pollution filters. This location appears reasonably dark by local standards.
I took around 20 shots, each with a 2 min exposure time. In addition, I took a similar number of "darks" with the lens cap on, for calibration purposes.
This time of year is good for Milky Way photography, as the brightest section is on display in the south, with the galactic core just above the horizon at our latitudes. The distinctive small red fuzzy blob just above the horizon is M8, the Lagoon Nebula.
Now I've got a worthwhile result I intend to try out some different lenses on a variety of astro subjects!
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| Milky Way above the Downs © Stephen Burch |
