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Next, 5 x 15-second exposures with a Samyang 24mm at f/2 and ISO 6400:

The forecast was very promising for Friday night, but with only 40 minutes between the onset of astro-dark and Moonrise I opted to head to a local coastal spot for a brief session imaging the Milky Way over St Austell Bay. Though I also took along a star tracker and astro-modified EOS 600D, given the limited time I actually only used an off-the-shelf EOS 5D Mk III on a static tripod. Still, via 4 lenses from 14mm to 50mm, I came away with 17 different compositions. Here are a few results. The frames were stacked in Sequator and post-processed (for curves, colour balance, vignetting, gradients and noise reduction) in CyberLink PhotoDirector. First up, my least favourite of the 4 to be honest: the Milky Way via 6 x 30 second frames with a Samyang 14mm at F/5.6 and ISO 12800. Regards, Mike

Hot off the press and received this afternoon - a signed copy of Alyn Wallace's "Photographing the Night Sky". Not a cheap book, but looks fittingly spectacular! Regards, Mike.

I owned a Meade Starfinder 12.5" dob for many years, and it gave superb views of the planets. Jupiter showed incredible detail within its many bands - and that's despite it then being low along the southern ecliptic as it has been in recent years. Sadly, I sold that scope for a pittance as I was moving to a smaller house. I was later tempted to buy a GSO 12" Newtonian. I don't know how that compares with the Skywatcher Dob, but I have never had planet views approaching those with the old 12.5" Meade, or those with my Meade 5" ED refractor. That's despite replacing the mirror springs with stronger ones and tweaking the collimation before every use. Like Dave, the best I've seen in 10 years of use on Jupiter are the 2 main bands and no more than a hint of some detail within the bands. Wish I still had that Starfinder Dob! Regards, Mike.

There were some spectacular displays, even to the eye, here in Cornwall around the 2000 solar maximum, so I live in hope even this far south! Regards, Mike.

Excellent capture, especially given the conditions - M10, the comet and M12! Regards, Mike

Many thanks. Not Carlyon Bay, but very nearby - Spit Beach, close to Par. You have the light dome of St Austell to the West, Fowey to the East and industrial lights at the old port to the North, but pretty dark and very unobstructed views to the South - ideal for the Milky Way core! Regards, Mike.

Thanks, Lee! 🤣 Yes, War of the Worlds crossed my mine at the time, and others have said so since. However, it takes more than a Martian invasion to derail my astrophotography session . Here's the resulting image (16 x 2-minute exposures at f/4 and ISO 3200. Astro-modified Canon 600D and Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens on a Vixen Polarie star tracker). Regards, Mike.

I've received kit this afternoon from Shoestring Astronomy in the US, so I can hook up my Losmandy G11 mount, PC and guide camera - and start autoguiding (after 30 years of manual guiding). In reality it probably means several months of shouting at my computer, pulling my hair out, and continuing to guide manually 🤣. We'll see. Regards, Mike

I'm torn between the Great Comet and the meteors. I've never experienced a meteor storm, having been clouded out for the 1999 Leonids, so it would be a unique event for me. I have seen several bright comets over the years, including Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp, so not so unique. However, I'll opt for the Great Comet anyway, as comets are my favourite astro subject, can offer weeks or months of observing and/or imaging and don't rely on one particular night being clear. The excitement around Neowise was a highlight of 2020, and it was wonderful to see interest from non-astronomer friends and relatives. As for the supernova, I think I'd be cursing its light pollution after about half an hour! Regards, Mike.

Imaging the Milky Way, with a modded EOS 600D and Vixen Polarie star tracker, at a local beach:

Actually, it was wulfrun with those suggestions, but fingers-crossed we all get a chance to practice our lunar imaging on the eclipse next Monday morning. Going to be tricky, though, with the Moon so low in advancing twilight! Regard, Mike.

In addition to the above, I've found that autofocus can be unreliable on the Moon and stars - and that this varies depending on the autofocus mode selected. Therefore, if you are not doing so already, I'd suggest manually focusing via magnified LiveView. Regards, Mike.

Can I suggest you try a higher ISO setting? I used to go no higher than ISO 1600 with my EOS 600D, but during an astrophotography workshop it was suggested I try 6400 - the highest standard setting the camera has. I was shocked to be honest, but tried it anyway - and the results were great, as long as I had a good number of frames to stack of course. Since then, I reserve ISO 1600 for when I'm piggybacking the camera on the scope or I'm guiding (which I do manually). If I'm not guiding, for whatever reason, and want to keep the exposures shorter, I no longer have qualms about setting ISO 3200 or 6400. Just my thoughts and experience though - it may not work for everyone. Regards, Mike.

I'm still in the 1990s (or perhaps earlier) with my low tech approach! While my camera is gathering data I'm sat with a hand-controller, keeping that guide star between the illuminated cross-hairs. Between RA or Dec adjustments, I'll often scan the sky with my eyes or 7x50s. On the other hand, if I'm taking short exposures than don't need guiding, I'll often be in listening to the hi-fi or catching up on TV. I've been telling myself for years that I should take up auto-guiding, but I'm getting older and less tech-savvy every day! Regards, Mike.

Yes, I often dither without guiding: I use the mount controls to move a little in a random RA and Dec direction between each frame (or between every few frames if I'm feeling more lazy than normal ). Very little movement is required, just a few pixels as far as the camera is concerned - just make sure the movements are in varying directions. Regards, Mike

Don't be put off, but perhaps start with the brightest part of the Milky way, i.e. the Core, as others have mentioned. This currently rises just before dawn, but if you wait until the Summer it will be visible all night towards the South. If the local light pollution is not too bad and the sky is really clear, a single frame will display it nicely, though it has to be said that stacking multiple frames will allow you to reduce noise and increase contrast. Using a free tool like Sequator is not too time-consuming. Good luck with whatever you try. Regards, Mike.

After spending some time deep sky imaging in my garden on Friday evening, I walked to a local beach in the early hours to view and image the Milky Way, taking advantage of the southern view over the sea. Sky transparency wasn't as great as I'd hoped to be honest - it had looked better from the garden, earlier. Still, I took some images, using a Canon 5D Mk III, 35mm and 24mm lenses, on a static tripod. Here's the 24mm lens capture, taken just after the end of astro-dark so that the Milky Way Core was reasonably high and Venus had risen. The 5x15-sec ISO 6400 frames were stacked in Sequator to reduce noise. Contrast was adjusted, and vignetting and distortion reduced, using CyberLink PhotoDirector. Regards, Mike.

What did I see tonight? Not a lot, disappointingly. I set up after work, just as it was getting dark, to find 2 periodic comets - 19P Borrelly and 104P Kowal, which are quite close together in Cetus. Unfortunately I drew a total blank, despite having seen over 100 previous comets. The problem was a lack of time before the relevant area moved behind a neighbouring property, plus a bright house light to the south that made it difficult to actually see any stars in the relevant area. It didn't help that there are few bright stars around the comets' location to enable star-hoping. Regarding the light, the neighbours do extinguish it late evening, so it's not a continuous nuisance. I think it has been there for a years, but until recently was shaded by another neighbour's leylandii hedge. That hedge is now gone, so I get the "full benefit" of the light. I should stick to starting sessions when everyone has gone to bed, rather than at 6:30pm! Regards, Mike.

If the display is very active, and changing very quickly, also try shorter exposures at a higher ISO if required - though always expose enough to keep the histogram off the left edge. The short exposures, say 2-3 seconds, will hopefully retain more of the structure of a fast-moving display. Good luck! Regards, Mike.

It's looking like my brief Comet Leonard session last week may have been my last. Perhaps I should have stayed up longer, but at least until 4am Sunday morning was poorer than previously forecast, with barely a clear patch, frequent showers and 40mph gusts. The next week only looks worse. Regards, Mike.

Great to see, there are some fantastic captures of the M3 encounter in the Spaceweather.com Comet gallery: https://spaceweathergallery.com/comet_gallery.html No chance here in Cornwall! Regards, Mike.

I did get a chance to find Comet Leonard this morning, though the opportunity was briefer than I'd hoped. It was very clear when I set up my Meade 127mm ED refractor at just after 1am, but I had to wait for the comet to clear a bush that was conveniently also shading my location from a street light. After finding Comet Leonard's elongated and easily-visible form in the 'scope at about 2:10am, I added my DSLR and started taking a series of 60-sec exposures. That's when it started clouding up, each exposure more murky than the last! I'd hoped to get around 25 frames, especially given the high ISO I was using (6400), but finished with just 8 acceptable ones. All the same, I stacked and processed them this evening, with this result. Regards, Mike.

Actually the early hours tomorrow are now looking reasonably clear, so I plan to give the comet a try - despite it being a work night! Regards, Mike.

Comets are probably my favourite subject, having seen or imaged 102 since my first in 1983, so I'm hoping to see Leonard soon! I didn't think to try last Thursday morning due to the bright Moon. It was the first clear night for ages, and likely the last for a while. Judging by images I've seen posted so far, the Moon would not have been such an issue. Anyway, regrets aside, good luck all over the next few weeks! Regards, Mike.