The Milkyway??

[Paulus17]

I would like to get some images of the Milkyway using a DSLR camera.

My question is though,do i need a truely dark sky to do that?

I'm sure i read somewhere in all the reading i've been doing lately,too much:D that you don't,but i can't remember where i read it nor find it again:icon_scratch:

[farunj]

It depends on the amount of light pollution in your area. Where I live, if u give more than an 8sec exposure on your dslr all u get is a White image!!! So you see. The lesser the light the longer exposure you can give and the better the image!!

[Paulus17]

Thanks farunj:)

I am about six miles from the city center of Birmingham,but what i have found is i get a darker image if i shoot towards the NE sky.Whereas if i shoot towards the South and West i get more of the orange colour.

I have shot up to 60 second exposures,with a low ISO which have come out pretty good,i think:icon_confused:

I have found if i use a high ISO then i get the white out look.

[farunj]

Yes that is true. If you use high iso you do get a White image. But if you want to try and get really good pics of milky way I would recommend going some place dark!!

[ollypenrice]

The MW is faint. You need to give it a chance by shooting from a dark site and only in full astronomical darkness - no moon. With the moon as it is now it would be impossible. Quite soon it will be crossing the zenith and that will give you your best chance, but going south as well as far away from Birmingham would be a good idea because when the MW is best placed there is little full darkness in the UK.

Olly

[Paulus17]

OK thanks Farunj and Olly:)

When i s the MW best placed then for viewing??

I remember watching country file not so long ago and they took a group of London star gazers to some location in Gloucester to see the MW.

[symesie04]

The heart of the MW (Sagitariuos A) is at its highest during the summer months i believe. Try and coincide it with a new moon and a dark location. By the way unless you are using a EQ mount or a Astrotrac you wont be able to do 60sec exposures without serious star trails even at 18mm. So much better to take lots of shorter exposures at say iso800 and then stack and rotate them in one of the various packages available.

[Viv]

Paul - we've not a hope up here.

There was a site that the Stargazig team went to. It was south of here, down bottom of the Cotswolds. I think that's the nearest.

[c3po]

Paul - we've not a hope up here.

There was a site that the Stargazig team went to. It was south of here, down bottom of the Cotswolds. I think that's the nearest.

is that the same site that the BBC SGL team visited. The Roll Right stones or something like that?? If so i'm sure that there's a few members from its the local Chipping Norton Amateur Astronomy Group (CNAAG) here on the forums that could give some opinions of the site?

[Photosbykev]

is that the same site that the BBC SGL team visited. The Roll Right stones or something like that?? If so i'm sure that there's a few members from its the local Chipping Norton Amateur Astronomy Group (CNAAG) here on the forums that could give some opinions of the site?

From memory it was the Roll Right stones but I think it is located right next to a main road which could be an issue.

[Viv]

That's the one - thank you !!

[Photosbykev]

reading up on the Rollright site you need to prebook any visit outside of normal hours

[c3po]

reading up on the Rollright site you need to prebook any visit outside of normal hours

If memory serves, i think user MelSky here on teh forums is a CNAAG member, he might be able to assist if you PM??

[Paulus17]

Thanks everyone:)

The heart of the MW (Sagitariuos A) is at its highest during the summer months i believe. Try and coincide it with a new moon and a dark location. By the way unless you are using a EQ mount or a Astrotrac you wont be able to do 60sec exposures without serious star trails even at 18mm. So much better to take lots of shorter exposures at say iso800 and then stack and rotate them in one of the various packages available.

Thank you Symesie.

This is all new to me and the photos i have taken so far have mostly been trial and error,and all single frame shots so anything else i will be completely new to me like stacking:icon_scratch:

I have no EQmount.

I take it that Stellarium will show the MW getting higher as the year goes on??

Yes it was said to have been down in the Cotswolds that was on Country file,or was it country tracks:confused: