Gerr

Nice capture Lee with a lovely smooth timelapse - clouds flow nicely. It's always a bit of a guess in getting exposures right for the occasion as too many variables to play with!! Geraint.

Great video and lovely images Paul. I love the peace and tranquillity of the night when there is no wind and you only hear the sounds of Nature. So peaceful and serene it is a tonic to the soul. Sometimes Dawn comes too soon! I especially like the lake with reflections of the trees and stars. The cool blues and pale yellow horizon also makes the shot stand out. Hats off to you for getting out there when you have work next day. I struggle to do this admittedly and need a good forecast to venture forth. I had opportunity for early MW core a few days ago but had just returned from Tenerife having already got a great shot of it so I stayed in bed!! 😂 Keep up the excellent work and am looking forward to your next adventure and astrophotography. Geraint.

Thought I’d try a shot at the moon whilst my other camera was targeting the Heart nebula two evenings ago when I was able to see clear dark skies. I tried several shots in succession and combined two of them for the HDR effect in Photoshop CS. Canon 6D with Canon 100-400mm lens at the long end. Shot from tripod - no tracking. f/9 ISO 800 and exposures of 1/4sec and 1.3 secs were used. The stars were added from an old image of the Sunflower galaxy to provide added effect! This mage was for a bit of fun but I did like how it came out and so I thought I’d share it here too. CC’s welcome. HDR Crescent Moon:

Thanks Lee. I was lucky enough to be in La Palma in early Jan for the winter Milky Way and then last week I got the Summer Milky Way arc. When we plan holidays now I always check for night sky quality abroad before we book (don’t tell the missus)! I forgot to mention I used Sequator as I took at least three panels of each image in the panoramic sky row. This meant any ‘blurry’ ones could be discarded in post processing. It is very difficult to spot this in the field and I only had one night with no return ticket! Gerr.

Felt like the shot would never end! I still had to clone stamp myself where my sides were still a bit blurry but that also helped me lose weight as an added benefit!! Skies were so clear that night - very lucky! Cheers Paul. 👍

Ha, I nearly fell off that rock!! I am always mindful of foreground subject (often supplemented by me) and try and remember composition aspects. Cheers. Gerr.

Unlikely to get the Summer Milky Way arc in Wales so on a family holiday to Tenerife last week I took my camera and star tracker to try my hand there! I was allowed one night star gazing on top of Tenerife in its volcanic caldera at the base of Mount Teide and ‘wow’, blown away I was by the beautiful clear sky with the core clearly seen rising from 3am. I started taking a few shots and the one below was my highlight image. Located at Minas De San Jose where the terrain looks like something on the Moon with the galactic core rising in the east and having the place to myself was what I really enjoyed here. Selfie a must! The sky was tracked and consisted of 1 row of 7 images in portrait orientation at ISO1600 f3.2 60secs with a Canon6D and Samyang 24mm lens. The foreground was done in landscape orientation at ISO1600 f1.8 60secs (5 images). Selfie was done at ISO3200 f1.8 14secs - some rocks were lit up quite nice too. The image was stacked in sequator, stitched in PTGui and processed in Photoshop CS. Hope you like?. CC’s welcome. Summer Milky Way Arc:

Wow, that must of been a privilege. My head on astrophysics is not that great but if I can get a pretty picture of it’s visible characteristics than that is enough for me. 😀Geraint.

Totally shocked by the news! Alyn was an inspiration to me and I loved watching his videos. Very sad. He will be missed very much in the astrophotography world. 😢 Gweld chi yn y ser Alan.

Hi Olly, I see your point and it is easy to overdo the saturation in processing without too much effort!! I had another go at this and maybe this image shows where you are coming from better but to my eyes it is a fine line indeed to tread. The M101 core re-done (better hopefully)?? Geraint.

Hi Olly, Core isn’t saturated in the linear data. I guess I like the centres bright as long as I don’t obscure the dust lanes. A number of processing connotations can be followed dependent on your ‘artistic’ side. It’s what makes astro processing so difficult as there is no hard and fast rule to follow - whatever looks good I suppose!! 😂 Thanks, Geraint.

Been interested in the Redcat51 for a while and I bagged one second hand for a great price and had opportunity to test it last night. Conditions weren't great - some haze in the upper atmosphere and dew forming on everything but also a big 80% illuminated gibbous Moon next to my target! It was a test - so hey ho, I had a go!!! I coupled the Redcat51 with my Canon6D and inserted a 2" Optolong L-eNhance filter (to try and counter the Moonlight) in the imaging train of the Redcat. I mounted this on my Star Adventurer 2i and balanced it nicely with the help of the counter-weight. I took aim at Orions Belt (Alnitak region) and shot off 45 images of 90second duration, ISO1600 with Redcat giving a focal length of 250mm at f/4.9. The polar alignment and tracking were pretty good for this small mount and only 7 frames had to be excluded from the stacking process in Siril. Bias, Darks and Flats were also incorporated into the stacking process. The image was then processed in Photoshop CS with Starnet GUI and Topaz denoise helping out. I think I'll be using this set-up again!!! CC's welcome. The Result:

I could sharpen it further and improve contrast more but where do you stop!! 😂👍

Hi Cozzy, Yes - I went back to the image data and this time ran it through Siril which seems to be better at stacking and preserving image details. I did background extraction and colour calibration before stretching using hyperbolic transformation tool. I then exported into photoshop to finish it off (star extraction and RAW camera filter) with some gradient removal tools. I think the result is better. Gerr. 😀

This time of year the Zodiacal Light should be quite visible after sunset in the West (apparently) and if you have dark skies that way! I've yet to see this phenomenon here on Anglesey where I live!! However, I did go to La Palma (Isla Bonita) in the Canary Islands in January this year and took quite a few memorable images of the night sky there. It is a magical island for Astro photographers! Whilst there, for the first time, I saw the Zodiacal light. I could not believe my eyes at first and didn't fully comprehend what I was seeing! This glow with the Jacobus Kapteyn Observatory at the base of it seemed to trigger understanding and then I knew I needed to get my camera out and shoot the scene. I managed a panoramic composite image which included the Orion Nebula as well as the Zodiacal light taken on top of the Roque De Los Muchachos. The Sky shots were tracked with my Canon6D and 24mm Samyang 24mm lens at ISO1600 60secs f4. I took 12 in portrait orientation and 5 for the landscape (ISO3200 30secs at f2). These were stitched in PTGui and processed in Photoshop Lightroom and CS. Some hydrogen alpha was also blended in for the nebula. Hope you like? CC's welcome. The Zodiacal Light: