Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

A clear and warm spring evening showed off a wonderful crescent moon on the 7th May. The above left picture showing the crescent moon and the above right picture is an over exposed image (3.2 seconds) taken right afterwards to illustrate 'Earthshine'. During a crescent moon, the Earth is in such a position that sunlight is reflected off of the Earth surface on to the dark side of the moon making it visible. The bright crescent phase is normal, direct sunlight being reflected off the moon. This effect is easily seen with the naked eye although the features of the dark side of the moon are rarely seen in as much detail as in an over exposed photo.
 

One of the finest examples of an 'edge on' view spiral galaxy. Simply known as NGC4565 (its catalogue number), it is located in the constellation of Coma Berenices. This area of the sky is literally riddled with galaxies, many of which are visible in amateur telescopes. I was told that this is a good galaxy to photograph but at the time did not know what it looked like. As you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised with what appeared on screen. You can clearly see its bright core with a dark dust lane running right through the middle of it
 

I've been anticipating capturing these for a long time and the wait was worth it. Three galaxies in the same field of view, all located in the constellation of Leo. The galaxy on the left is NGC3628, The two on the right are M65 & M66. A total of 37 exposures at 30 seconds each
 

During springtime, our own galaxiy, the milky way hugs around the horizon at night time so that means when looking upwards we are looking right out in to inter-stellar space without the milky way blocking our view. As a result, there are many galaxies on show at this time of year. Some quite dim even in a 10" telescope and some others visible as grey smudges (The Leo Triplet being a good example). Galaxies are often dissapointers for many new to astronomy. This is because they are so faint even in telescopes. No colour is revealed and its a hard job seeing much detail in them.

I mostly get joy out of finding them and realising just what I am looking at and at what distance. These galaxies are immense in size, not 'a single object' in its own right, just a collection of billions of stars held in one place by gravity (like the stars we see in our own milky way every night). Its so many stars in fact that it gives galaxies a dusty, cloudy look never being able to distinguish any individual stars at all. I get the most joy however out of imaging them. Photography 'brings them alive' revealing colour and detail.

Zoomed in Click image to enlarge

Original Photo Click image to enlarge

M97, known as the Owl Nebula resembles the two wide eyes of an Owl looking back at you in the sky. Another example of a planetary nebula created as a star sheds its outer layers towards the end of its life

At last I've finally bagged a half decent image of our closest star cluster, The Pleiades. Well known as "the seven sisters" it is an easy target to find in the sky and easy to image. However it is more difficult to capture the nebulosity behind the stars some of which I have captured in this image. It took quite a number of 90 second exposures to capture this. 90 seconds seems to be the limit on my new setup before I start to get star trails.
 

Plato Click image to enlarge

Theophilus Click image to enlarge

These are the highest magnification photos I have taken to date at an estimated 1500x mag. Plato crater (left) is 67 miles wide and features a distinctive smooth, dark basin. Theophilus (right) is 62 miles wide and 2 miles deep featuring 3 mountain peeks at it's center which rise up to 1.2 miles high. These very large craters are easily visible in small binoculars. Both taken using ToUcam webcam and 2x plus 3x barlow lenses attached to 250px telescope

My first Saturn photo this year and the rings really are closing up now. The picture almost looks like a drawing or artist's impression due to the lack of shadows from the rings. 1000 frames taken with webcam & 3x barlow attached to 250px telescope
 

My third attempt at capturing the International Space Station was once again successful. Out of a 2 minute movie containing over 2000 frames only a mere 2 frames had captured the station in full. Unfortunately 2 solar arrays were not reflecting any sunlight however Shuttle Atlantis is docked there somewhere but can't pick it out in either photo.

Overhead shot

Eastern sky shot (setting)

These two galaxies are in gravitational combat with each other and m82 (the cigar shaped galaxy) is the one loosing the battle hence it's irregular shape. A combination of 30x45 second exposures taken with DSLR through the 250px telescope.
 

The Andromeda Galaxy taken through the new telescope setup. My first shot at this galaxy can be seen further down the page. 10x60 sec images

This is my first photo of the new year and first photo taken with the new 250px telescope mounted on the EQ6 Mount. The Great Orion Nebula is a true showpiece of the sky. This large Nebula is an area of collapsing gas which over time creates new, hot stars. This is the closest 'stellar nursery' to our solar system. Taken with the DSLR camera on telescope mentioned. Composite of 9 images totalling about 3 and half minutes of exposure time.

My shot from Bridgwater ISS - 12 December 2007

NASA shot from space Latest NASA photo of the ISS

My second attempt at capturing the International Space Station via webcam has been very successful. The above left photo was created from a movie taken with webcam attached to dobsonian telescope. The space station passed directly over the Southern UK which made it pass in a dead straight line from West to East right overhead. This made it easier than last time for me to keep it in view as I only had to move the telescope in one axis to keep up with it. I am delighted with the results. Above right picture is a current photo from NASA as a comparison

with 2x barlow lens 350 frames

with 3x barlow lens 530 frames

At last I have my first ever attempts at capturing Mars. The planet is putting on a fine show through this winter rising in the East in the evenings then reaching a high altitude later through the night. Don't be fooled by the photos, this thing is bright! In order to capture the surface detail, the exposure times have to be stepped back somewhat. I'm surprised with these results as there was an awful lot of air turbulence at the time. Both taken with Phillips Toucam webcam attached to 2x/3x barlow lens and 120mm telescope

30th October Click image to enlarge	15th November Click image to enlarge
23 November Click image to enlarge

On October 24th Comet 17P Holmes brightened by almost a million times in an outburst from magnitude 17 to 2. To you and me that means that up until the 23rd it could only be viewed in very large telescopes then from the 24th it is so bright it can be viewed with the naked eye. To make things even stranger the comet does not show a tail. It's just a spherical disc in the sky with a clear nucleus. To be fair it looks like a normal star to the un-trained eye, however all is revealed in binoculars. A telescope will reveal a truley haunting sight. It can be viewed anytime in the evening once it's dark visible in the North Eastern sky rising higher in the sky as the night goes on. However as it does only look like a hazy star at the moment you'll need a finder chart to know where to look

Are moon craters large? .. You better believe it!

Schikard crater on the Southern limb of the Moon is an impressive sight through a telescope at 144 miles in diameter. If this crater was in the UK it would span from Bridgwater to London! Image taken with webcam and Skyliner 250 Dobsonian telescope. 23/10/2007

Daytime Venus!

Yes this was taken in the daytime on 08th August 2007. A brilliant bright crescent Venus blazes in the midday sky. It's only a few more days and it disappears in to the suns glare. At this point Venus shines at it's brightest and is also at this time, the closest planet to Earth. While taking this photo extreme care was taken not to point the telescope to the nearby sun. The crescent could also be seen in binoculars however this would be too dangerous as the sun would quite possibly also be in the field of view of the binoculars however this risks blindness SO DON'T EVEN THINK OF ATTEMPTING IT!

Sunspots

Moon occults saturn!