M33 is three million light years away and the third big member of the Local Group of galaxies, along with the Milky Way and Andromeda. This was taken at quarter moon, but luckily on the opposite side of the sky.I tried three different integrations in PixInsight – normal, Bayer Drizzle (1x with 1.0 drop size) …
Questions about the best choice of equipment for astro-imaging come up quite frequently. In this first of a series of posts, I will start by explaining the basics of aperture, focal length focal ratios. These troublesome topics cause many beginning imagers to jump to mistaken conclusions. If you bear with me you’ll find out how …
Basics Part 1: Understanding Aperture, Focal Length and Focal Ratios Read More »
The Jellyfish Nebula (IC443), the remains of a supernova in the constellation of Gemini. It is about 5,000 light years away and was created sometime between 3 and 30 thousand years ago. Also top centre is IC444 which is a blue nebula due to starlight being reflected off gas and dust. (No sign of SpongeBob …
This image was taken on my first night out following the street light switch-off in the nearby towns (between midnight and 5:00am), helpfully the moon was also on the opposite side of the sky by this time. As you can see, I have also also managed to capture a fair few of M101’s companion galaxies …
M42 – The Orion Nebula, plus top left M43 – De Marian’s Nebula (aka “The Running Man Nebula”). This is 30 x 30 second exposures, plus 22 x 320 second exposures in an HDR composite, taken 11th Jan 2014. Again I was battling a nearly full Moon as we seem to get nothing but rain …
Many new astro-imagers believe that they can make their camera more sensitive to light by using a higher ISO setting. This is not surprising given that there are a vast number of articles out there that continue to spread this myth (including photography magazines and other technical publications that really ought to know better). After …
Do High ISOs Make DSLRs More Sensitive To Light? Read More »
The histogram is probably the most important tool available in any astro-imaging application, both for capturing images and for processing them once captured. For those just starting out in astrophotography, the histogram is also one of the simplest but most frequently misunderstood tools. In this short guide will explain the histogram; both what it means and …
When planning to build a small observatory for my imaging gear, my aim was to make it as small as possible in order to save cost and also to make it easy to build and maintain. There are a number of rough guides to building small observatories on the web, but one key consideration seems …
Observatory Planning and German Equatorial Mounts Read More »
This is the Western part of the Veil Nebula (known as the Witch’s Broom), a supernova remnant in the constellation of Cygnus. This image was taken on Sunday 10th November 2013). The seeing wasn’t too great due to the jet stream, and I was battling the moon which was nearly half full and within 45 …
Western Veil (The Witch’s Broom) – Unmodded DSLR Quickie Read More »
Andromeda Galaxy – M31 This is the first in a series of posts explaining the general workflow I follow when using PixInsight. We will be looking at my Andromeda image in this post but will bring in other images later. This is certainly not the ultimate workflow and there are some problems I have not …
