AstroNebulee

My first milky-way of the season. Taken looking over Delabole Slate quarry on 18th April 2024 4am with a 75% lit moon around. So I'm hoping that I can image it soon, when the moon is out of the way to get more detail.

Taken with Canon 600D and Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens on a static tripod. 

Sky 15x13secs 1600iso f2.8 stacked in Sequator
Foreground 1x30 secs 800 iso F4 lenr. 
Merged in photoshop.

Clear skies 

Lee 

3 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Interesting list of updates on the synscan pro update just released, I've installed it and just need the sky to clear

That's good to hear, let us know how it goes, I've yet to update my dedicated phone for my scope yet. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

Thank you, I will have try and find it somewhere on catch up to watch. 

Hope your ok. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

Brilliant, I'm so pleased you managed to capture it down here in Cornwall too. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

Wow! How amazing Paul. Such a beautiful image and timelapse. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

11 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Well done Lee. I missed this as I was dealing with some unexpected smoke, and then found my camera battery was almost dead. But I did get some decent images last night.

Thank you. That is a real shame about the smoke and flat battery. I'll be looking forward to seeing your images. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

12 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

He's on fire!!! 🔥

Great work, Lee.  Fantastic to get two nights out of three.  That's better than I did in Norway in February!! 🤣🤣

Thank you Paul that very kind of you to say. It as a shame the Aurora readings didn't hold on from earlier in the evening. 

Let Cornwall be the new Norway 😂

Hope you're well. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

Hi

A timelapse and still from the completely short Aurora on 19-4-24 here in Delabole, North Cornwall. Completely washed out by the bright moon. Blink and you'll miss it but Aurora was seen. But 2 Aurora events in 3 days here is nothing to be sniffed and so chuffed, even if this one didn't live up to expectations and was quickly over.

Taken with Canon 600D and Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens 6 sec exposures at 1600iso. 

Cheers and clear skies 

Lee 

It's beautiful Paul. So enchanting. Top work on continuing to build on an already brilliant image. 👏

Clear skies 

Lee 

7 hours ago, Gerr said:

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.

Thank you Geraint, that's lovely of you to say. It was a bit of guess work your right. Just great to get some aurora this far south. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

8 hours ago, geeklee said:

Great results Lee and well worth sticking it out after 11pm.  The timelapse is fantastic.

2 minutes ago, davew said:

Loved the timelapse Lee. Nice twinkly stars and good exposure timing. Just the right speed for those clouds,

Dave.

Thank you guys, I'm blown away by your kind comments. I'm just so pleased you both enjoyed it. I do enjoy Widefield astrophotography with the simplicity of a camera, lens and tripod. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

Finally I was able to get out to image my first milky-way of the season. Following the rain of the evening that as forecasted passed over and led to clear skies from 12am right though the night. I set off at 2am to my best milky-way imaging site overlooking the village quarry. Though the moon was just past the first quarter and bright, I had time to take in the perfect silence and wildlife noises of the owls, foxes, bat's and scurrying rabbits. 

I took my static tripod and dslr and as a quick experiment my alt az az with dslr bracket to see if I could get 1min exposures with no star trails on my samyang 14mm f2.8 lens. Success so something to work on next time for the core. 

I then set up my static tripod, Canon 600D with Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens and took some long exposure foregrounds whilst I waited for the moon to get lower and the milky-way to rise higher as the moon was really blowing it out. Eventually the moon set enough to crack on. I have manged to capture 3 sets of landscape panoramic 5 panels in each and 1 portrait panoramic set of 8 or 9 panels for processing. The latter finishing imaging just as the dawn was beginning to try and end the darkness up in the east. So probably around 30 minutes of good darkness before that happened. 

It was lovely to see Scorpio and Antares, the teapot asterim, the great rift through Cygnus, Aquila and Lyra again after such a long time. It's even better now looking south, that the town 3 miles away in that direction now turn off almost all their streetlights at night. 😊 So I packed up and headed home for a coffee to warm up, with the dawn chorus starting up and the belt of Venus in its early stages. Though chuffing cold by the end of it and lots of dew, good job the dew heater did its job admirably. A most enjoyable session though I'm going to be knackered later at work. Thank you for getting this far on my ramblings. 

Clear skies. 

Lee 

7 hours ago, John said:

Also, not far from the Rupas Recta, the crater Davy and it's famous chain of tiny pits - the Catena Davy. The larger ones resolvable with the 100mm frac, the smaller ones hinted at and form the curving line. Another of my favourites 🙂

That's a cracking image and lovely seeing that line of craters. Not seen that before. Thank you. 

Lee 

8 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I managed to spend an hour or so admiring the terminator tonight, despite not feeling too well after some rat bag gave me covid.  Anyhow, I decided to try using a 1.7X gpc in my binoviewer and a 2X Barlow in my diagonal. Not certain of the magnifications, but the views were gorgeous and far more detailed that the attached hand held phone pic's. Using my 35mm Ultima's and 25mm Parks Gold eyepieces,  the eye relief was very comfortable and would be great foe eye glass wearers. Sitting back in my chair it was almost like watching TV, or looking through a spaceship window. The scope was a FS128. Some pics were taken in daylight so a bit pale.

Hope you feel better soon Mike, lovely images and report. 

Lee 

8 hours ago, WolfieGlos said:

Good job Lee, nice capture.

I kept trying to capture it from our way last night and didn’t catch a glimpse of it. I stopped trying by 11, so looks like I should have carried on.

Thank you 😊. Hopefully next time you'll get the Aurora. I would of stopped by 11pm if I didn't see the alert on Auroa hunters uk on crapbook. Maybe a couple more opportunities before darkness ends soon. Good luck and clear skies. 

8 hours ago, FenlandPaul said:

Absolute legend, Lee - that’s fantastic!! Really well done. Great image and Timelapse. So chuffed for you. 👏👏👏

Thank you Paul you're far to kind 😊though I wouldn't go as far as legend haha (maybe next time I'll remember to put the iso up 🙄) but I'm slowly learning and get a lot more joy from Widefield imaging and the inspiration you provide me. Also I now use the long exposure noise reduction on the foreground images as you describe in your journals and much easier, thank you. I'm looking forward to your next one. 

Clear skies and hope you're all well.  

Lee 

On Tuesday 16th April I went l Aurora hunting. Just before 11pm I was going to pack up my dslr after only getting mainly pink diffuse aurora. Then upon checking all the Aurora apps and page on crapbook I saw that there was to be a huge surge in activity. Then from 11pm to 12pm a huge show evolved with a pillar just visible with averted vision. 

I was freezing by the end of the session but well rewarded. At least I brought my stool and remembered my dew strap this time. 

Heres one of the better images of the main show. 

Taken with Canon 600D and Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens on a static tripod. 

Sky 8 secs at 800iso f2.8 (should of gone higher on the iso but didn't want moon to wash the sky out, sadly I got it wrong) 

Foreground 30 secs 1600iso F4 with long exposure noise reduction. 

Blended and tweaked in photoshop. 

Worth a click and turn on the image and timelapse. 

Cheers 

Lee 

1 hour ago, mcrowle said:

A short timelapse from last night.

Regards, Mike.

Beautiful pillars on your timelapse. Great work. 

Lee 

The Aurora put on a great show last night. I nearly packed up around 10.45pm but glad I stayed out for the main show even though I was frozen to bone when I left my usual Aurora spot to trudge home. 

Taken off the back of the dslr this was around 23.30. Here in North Cornwall. 

Lee 

4 hours ago, Gerr said:

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)!

When we used to go on holiday I'm like that too. Especially planning for around the new moon time 😉

Lee 

1 minute ago, FenlandPaul said:

I think Last Resting Place is my favourite too. Still can’t fathom how the boat managed to get there. I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere.

During the video as you were wandering up to the houseboat with your headtorch on, I expected a grumpy old man to twitch the curtains, open the window and shout at you. 

The houseboat would make a lovely place to live with those views. 

Lee 

Very nice indeed Paul. Sometimes you just got to brave the weather's and get out there and you've been rewarded. The foreground of the light painted barn is beautiful and I like how Leo appears to be leaping over it. 

Thank you and clear skies.

Lee

Wow that's impressive Ger. I'm so pleased you captured the core on your holiday and took such an amazing image. I agree with the landscapes in the Canary Islands are very moon like and a place I love to visit when possible. 

Clesr skies 

Lee 

Beautiful Paul. Just watched your journal and I'm blown away as usual. 

I just want to say a huge thank you for your journals, advice given on them and your enthusiasm for Widefield astrophotography that keeps me going and I'm sure many others of us.

All your images are superb but last resting place is just sublime. 

Clear skies and look forward to your next journal. 

Lee 

Beautiful image Dave. What an amazing foreground of the Abbey. I know what you mean about the wind it was extremely windy. I was out in the early hours by the quarry trying for the milky-way but clouds only gave me glimpses. Good luck for next time.

Lee 

33 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Some confusion sorry. I imaged m51 and seperately bodes/cigar but I also posted my previous best of m51 showing 2 hours versus 13 mins with my new scope.

No the confusion was all mine haha. I thought you meant above in the image of M81&82. 

Regarding the dew sheild on mine I had a look and it's the felt variety. 

Good luck with your imaging journey, you're well on the way now. I never liked spring as not into galaxies with the 72ed and also lighter evenings. Late summer into autumn you'll have so many to choose from just remember to concentrate on one target and get several hours on it especially nebula, I used to get 5 hours if possible. 

Lee