Dark Dirlot Skies

[Space Ranger]

Myself an a few others from the local astronomy group took advantage of some clear skies to go out exploring, with a view to finding some new foregrounds for wide angle nightscape photography. Dirlot Castle seemed to be quite a good spot.........

[Space Ranger]

Forgot to add that the above vertical panorama is produced from 2 images. Both were 45s exposures at ISO 6400 and f3.5.

[saturn5]

Love it,another good site I would say,shame I missed it.

[Space Ranger]

Love it,another good site I would say,shame I missed it.

I'm sure we'll be making a return visit, so maybe you'll make it next time.

It's worth a visit in  thedaytime too, and is easier to find when you can see further than the beam of a torch.

[idigitize]

Love the composition, great shot!

[WaveSoarer]

Lovely photograph and very nicely composed.

[tingting44]

lovely pic, how did you get a 45sec exposure with no tracking?

[Space Ranger]

Thanks all - glad you like the image.

lovely pic, how did you get a 45sec exposure with no tracking?

Sorry for the delay replying, I've been away enjoying light pollution ( ) at the Enchanted Forest near Pitlochry.

The photo is a stitched panorama covering a large area of the sky (Deneb at the top and Jupiter in Gemini at the bottom). It was captured using a Sigma 10-20mm lens set at 10mm (16mm full frame equivalent). There is trailing as the attached 100% crop of the area around Deneb shows. You'll also see that the image doesn't look anywhere near as good close up either, but probably not too bad for a single exposure at ISO6400.

Because of the wide field of view and the fact that the camera isn't pointed at the celestial equator, the star trailing during 45 sec isn't too noticeable. There is discussion on this topic here - http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/90390-dslr-plus-lens-rule-of-thumb-to-avoid-star-trails/ and www.astropix.com/GADC/SAMPLE7/SAMPLE7.HTM or www.wilmslowastro.com/software/formulae.htm#StarTrails

[JonH]

That's a cracking foreground and perfect for wide fields. Great shot!

[laser_jock99]

Keep the 'astro landscapes' coming!

[Space Ranger]

That's a cracking foreground and perfect for wide fields. Great shot!

Thanks JonH. It was a memorable night and location.

Keep the 'astro landscapes' coming!

Thanks laser_jock99 - I'll do my best whenever the weather allows. It can be a difficult decision sometimes, whether to get the telescope out and set up or go exploring with the camera and tripod.