Rustang

I've experienced dark skies in Norfolk and the south coast, near Lulworth Cove and down in Cornwall, both areas have plenty to do during the day. I image but also enjoy just looking up and these coastal skies are amazing.

40 minutes ago, davew said:

Well, that looks as good as it gets ! The moonlight on the rocks really makes a difference and there's not much chance of lighting that lot up with a torch ! 😎

Did you use a remote for the camera or just hope for the best with timing ?

Lovely capture,

Dave.

Thanks 😊

I set the intervalometer delay to 2 minutes and then used my phone timer to keep an eye on the 2 minutes while I legged it down to stand on the rock! 😁

It has been a very stressful few months so it was great to finally get away this week for a much needed break in Cornwall. I had a great time with my family, snorkeling with my brother and seeing some amazing sea life was certainly one of the highs. I had planned a couple of locations to capture the Milk Way while down in the stunning Bortle 2 skies, the predicted weather was looking good and thankfully I had a couple of decent nights.

This image was captured on Thursday, our last night. The 60 % moon washed out the sky a little as it was setting but it lit up the rocks beautifully. Hopefully you will spot me standing on a rock admiring the view and hoping not to fall off!

I had this a couple of weeks ago, I was looking near enough level with the horizon at the back of the camera, I had my woolly hat covering the tops of my eyes too but a bright light up above made me look up, I got to view a stunning meteor breaking up across the sky for around 4 seconds and it had a stunning green tail which made it extra special. I hadn't even begun imaging and it was already a great morning!

stunning details 👏

7 minutes ago, carastro said:

Excellent with a fantastic foreground.  

Carole

Thanks Carole 😊

Yeah very early start but worth it. The Milkyway was captured between 4-4:30am then the Stair Hole foreground (selfie) was captured around 5:30 - 6am to gain a little more light for the foreground.  Stair Hole faces perfectly South. The Durdle Door foreground was taken around 6:30 am ish I think so getting a little to light but it works. I preferred the foreground orientation I chose for Durdle door which is technically more facing South East so the Milkyway is a little off in its position but we wont tell anyone about that! 😉 Having a little of the sun rise light helps with processing and blending the sky due to the haze/ light pollution you still get when imaging at the horizon and out to sea, the light comes in brighter from the right (east) when imaging the Milkyway and when the sun starts to rise for the foreground so the light blends nicely and more naturally. 

Captured in the early hours of this morning. Everyone else has done it so I thought why the hell not! Oh and I've thrown one with me in for good measure! 😊

14 minutes ago, StuartT said:

a single image? wow. Impressive

yup, just the one 😊

1 hour ago, StuartT said:

Very good! How was this captured? What scope, filters etc? 

Thanks 🙂

Single shot using a Fuji XT2, Tal doublet f10 scope, Baader 3.8 solar film and Baader Continuum filter. 

Lovely 👏

1 hour ago, FenlandPaul said:

Love that @Rustang - the Rho Oph region is stunning.  I bet that was a fun adventure.  Looking forward to some un-light-polluted core action in the next few weeks.

Yeah you can't beat a little road trip especially if it ends at lovely dark skies! I could see the Millyway by eye all the way to the horizon 😊

31 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

Beautiful image, well worth the effort for this end result. As others have said no improvement needed, it is beautiful as it is

Thanks very much 😊

37 minutes ago, Stuf1978 said:

Very rarely venture into this section of the forum and I'm pleased I did. That is stunning, great work  

Thanks mate 👍

3 hours ago, ninjageezer said:

wow would i be able to get imaging anything like this with my william optics zenithstar 73 and a astro modded canon 60D.ive never really even thought about solar imaging before.

I have a HEQ5 pro mount and i have a 5x televue powermate. i don't want to spend lots of money on more kit at this time just wondering what was possible tbh with basic filters etc.

thanks and superb pictures.

Buy some of the film linked below and give it ago, its a cheap way to try. I've been using this film and also the Baader Continuum filter, DSLR and f10 scope and been getting some results I'm more than happy with. You wont be able to do full disc images though with the x5 barlow. Your camera will work, you may struggle with resolution, you may not, the scope, lunt wedge and camera used above will certainly be better on resolution but you never know. I've been using my 6D and Fuji XT2, live view is really handy to help locate the sun alongside a solar finder which is really easy to make, focus is made a little easier if you can zoom in with the live view. 

AstroSolar Photo Film OD 3.8 | First Light Optics 

35 minutes ago, clarkpm4242 said:

@Rustang very true!!  I use lens profile correction in Lightroom nowadays.  Though tweaked manually as 100% correction setting is too much.  Also tried GradientXterminator in Photoshop...

Well worth your trip out!

Thanks

Yeah Gradient Xterminator has been great and also the Astro-flat preset, it gets a lot of it cleaned up.

7 minutes ago, clarkpm4242 said:

@Rustang Nice one.  Great depth!

As you are using a dslr.  The lens orientation to sensor will be a constant?  You can take some flats at home??

Cheers, Paul.

Ive tried and tried on many occasions to take DSLR flats and failed with every different attempt so just gave up! I know every-which way and the info behind it all aswell but still had no decent correction with any Ive taken 😔

11 minutes ago, AKB said:

That is absolutely amazing!

Thanks

21 minutes ago, vlaiv said:

Leave it as is - I don't think you can do anything to improve it.

It looks excellent - well balanced composition, very natural blending of foreground with background, really excellent image.

One of rare images where you can just look at milky way and "feel" that you are floating around the massive bundle of stars filled with gas and dust.

Well done!

Really appreciate the comments Vlaiv 👍

at how beautiful the Milkway is 😊

The nearly 4 hour round trip in the early hours of this morning to the South Coast was definitely worth it!

x20 90sec subs iso 1600 at f2.8 

Fuji XT2 16-55mm f2.8 lens at 16mm and the SW Star Adventurer. Sky stacked and process with a single foreground image taken on location.

Absolute nightmare to process with no flats so its not perfect but happy to leave it where it's at... for now.

1 hour ago, Pete Presland said:

A fine looking disc, very nicely captured.

Thanks Pete 👍

Lovely

12 minutes ago, IB20 said:

So much going on today! The Pentax 10XW and Tak 76dcu makes the faculae pop like I’ve never seen before. Stunning, really got my mojo back for WL viewing.

 

Lovely image, and yes they definitely are popping! I'm really enjoying my first goes on the sun, wish I'd started ages ago 😊

I had the chance to get out again today around 9am, I dont think the seeing was the best. I'm finding my feet each time with processing, Ive managed to bring out the surface detail a little better and tweaked the false colour to find a colour palette I'm more happy with.

I definitely think the Fuji has done well to capture a hint of granulation, I couldn't really make it out in the first image with my Canon 6D.

I really wont a Ha set up now!

My second solar imaging session today and I decided to use my Fuji XT2 which has a slightly smaller field of view. I'm really happy with seeing some lovely surface granulation just coming through in the one single exposure.

Fuji XT2, Baader 3.8 solar film and Baader Continuum filter, F10 Tal doublet scope (my Sky-Tal!)