A clear, cold night with excellent seeing was the forecast for Monday, 28th November, so I set up in the back yard for an overnight session. Messier 45 “The Pleiades” would clear the tree line at 21.33 (south-east, elevation 53°) and disappear behind the roof line at 02.29 (south-west, elevation 45°) the following morning. Perfect … Continue reading
For some reason I never thought I would be able to photograph this galaxy. Wasn’t it supposed to be too faint, wasn’t the surface brightness too low, wasn’t it a target for much better systems than mine? I’ve no idea why, but that barrier had stuck in my mind. Looking for targets on my Sky … Continue reading
On 9 May 2016, shortly after 12 noon, the planet Mercury passed across the face of the Sun and the whole transit, lasting over seven hours, was visible from the UK. Resistance is futile, and the prospect of the transit screamed “TIME LAPSE VIDEO!” even though Mercury would be only 9 pixels in diameter on the 12MP … Continue reading
Monday night was forecast to be clear until midnight, but Monday night was also this month’s meeting of the Eddington Astronomical Society, where I was scheduled to be a contributor. The second hour of the meeting was a presentation by another member and it would have been rude to cut and run, so I arrived at my dark … Continue reading
Sometimes it’s really hard to motivate yourself to get up at 3am for astronomy. I’m more of a late night person myself, and early mornings are not my style. One way to make it happen, to get that motivation going, is to share your intention with a friend – preferably one who is relying on … Continue reading
I’m slowly moving towards full automation of my astrophotography. My mount and camera form a stand-alone system which is more than good enough for me to take great pictures, but the addition of a computer-controlled guide system has drawn me into using the computer to manage taking the pictures themselves. Canon users will be familiar with the well-known … Continue reading
