Welcome to Matt's Astronomy Website. A site dedicated to astrophotogrpahy and astronomy. All images are taken from the Bridgwater area (Somerset, UK) using the equipment as specified in the equipment section.

Astro - Photography Equipment Guide

At last I've got an image of Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1). Me not being a morning person, I've been frustrated by the plethera of morning comet's over the past month or so. Comet Lovejoy has climbed in to the evening sky quite nicely now. I only managed 5x 45 second exposures hence then grainy image and not much tail showing, but I hope to get some more exposures when the weather allows

My first attempt at this impressive nebula in Cepheus. This is taken through the 250px so not a wide view. The nebula is much larger however this is concentrated on one of the more interesting regions of the nebula consisting of vast areas of dense cloud and dust

NGC281 is a large diffuse nebula featuring a cluster of stars within it. Located in Cassiopiea, this is my first attempt at this nebula. It was taken with my ED80 scope, I'm tempted to try it with the larger 250px in time to get more detail from that nice dark region

While searching for my next deep sky image around the Cepheus area I came across this double star that looked strikingly like the Albireo double star, only it was in completely the wrong place! I thought I should image it while I waiting for my other target to rise above the house

The first time I've imaged this object. The Iris Nebula found in the constellation of Cephius is a reflection nebula. The light from the nebula is reflected light from the stars within it or near it. In this case a cluster of stars in the center. This is considered to be a bright reflection nebula, however reflection nebulas by their nature are quite dim compared to emission nebulae (which on average are easier to image). I hope to attempt this object again to get more detail from it

Another nice clear night allowed me to snap another beautiful nebula in the constellation of Cygnus. This is the eastern section of the veil nebula complex (the remnents of a supernova). An image of these the nebulae in full can be found at the bottom of this page

The last night of August boasted a very clear, crisp sky. So I decided to photograph this beautiful area of Cygnus sometimes called 'The Great Wall'. It's part of the North America Nebula (a full image of this nebula is featured further down this page). The great wall is the part of this nebula that resembles the Mexico region. However, the orientation of this image is as if America has been turned on it's side

On the 14th August a Nova was discovered in the small constellation of Delphinus. I took this image on the night of the 16th when it was estimated at magnitude 4.5 (within naked eye visibility). It's slowley starting to fade however.

My first image since April. A day of torrential downpours was followed by a crisp, clear night on the 5th so I attempted an area of the Milky Way that's difficult to image from my location due to some obstructions to my Southern sky. This was taken with a DSLR and 70-300mm lens (set to 70mm). I'm relatively pleased with this image although some false colouring can be seen towards the bottom (this is a result of reflected light from a nearby wall that my camera was barely peering above.

The cluster just above and right from the center of the image is the 'Wild Duck Cluster' (M11). A very impressive cluster when viewed with a telescope

My latest image of Comet Panstarrs. Now much dimmer than it was, however in much darker skies as it travels further from the sun.

You can probably tell that spring is galaxy season. This is the first time I've imaged this galaxy. Nicknamed the sunflower galaxy for obvious reasons, it has some beautiful intricate spiral arms with many tiny colourful nebula inside.

Only my second deep sky image this year but worth the wait. This is my second attempt at this faint galaxy which literally comes alive through the camera. Thought to be 20 million light years away, amazing detail can be seen in this classic spiral

The Comet was looking fantastic tonight (18th March) in binoculars, and even better through my DSLR attached to my ED80 telescope. After finding it with binoculars, I could also see it with the naked eye as a faint star kind of smudged upwards. The first image was taken with my Canon 1000D attached to my ED80 telescope. 10 second exposure @ ISO400

Comet Panstarrs has just passed its closest approach to Earth and will pass closest to the Sun on March 10th. Southern sky observers have been enjoying some nice views of the Comet as it has brightened enough for naked eye visibility (currently at mag +2.5). From 7th March, Comet Panstarrs will begin to climb in to the Northern sky and be visible low on the Western horizon just after sunset by mid month. Latest observations are at magnitude 2.5