Neowise over Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall

[KernowBeard]

Jumping on the ever-so-busy Neowise train I've got some shots of it myself.  Living in Cornwall I'm quite lucky with the local skies but even still I ventured out to Bedruthan Steps. One reason is that it's darker and so it was a no brainer. Secondly I also wanted a widefield shot since the 'steps' are North-facing. I arrived around 9pm to make sure I got the spot I wanted and ended up staying there until 2:30am - if only I hand't forgotten the bleddy binos!

The first is at 200mm although I didn't realise the full extent of its tail! Bigger than I thought and so I could've framed it a little better but I'm still happy with it.

I remember seeing the first shot come up on the camera screen and fist-pumping the air in excitement! I also learnt how to stack a comet sequence in DSS as I didn't realise I had to. My first run-through of it returned a stretched comet.

It was shot on the Star Adventurer Pro at 200mm, f/6.3, ISO 2500 and 45s subs. Along with darks and bias frames. 

Before I got into taking dso images I was huge on widefield imagery. While I know my dso imagery has a way to go (though I'm still happy with it) I always knew that I was better at widefield. I've not posted on here in quite a while with any dso shots even though I finally acquired a tracking mount; I'm not entirely sure why I've not posted but I've definitely improved since then. Either way it was fun to go back to what I was, once, most fond of. 

So, here it is.

It is a stitch of 2 shots, one exposing for the foreground and one for the sky, both at 24mm. When the first shot came on screen I was back to fist-pumping again and this time joined by giddy laughter. Lots of "Wow" "My days" "Aha!" and "Getton!" Needless to say I'm chuffed to bits with this one. I do wish the ion tail showed more of its colour as it does in the first image but I'm glad to have caught it in this at least.

This shot is as follows:

Sky: f/3.2, ISO 4000, 45s exposure.

Foreground: f/2, ISO 2000, 120s exposure.

After this venture last night I think I will try and get back into nightscapes more, like I used to, as I forgot how much I enjoyed them. Part of the fun is the planning of the shot and travelling down/up to wherever it is I go. 

Clear skies.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Very nice images - plus I liked the Places Afar video on your website.  

[MartinB]

Oh wow!  Fist pumping 100% appropriate.  Both images are superb but the wide field has been put in my "sublime" category.  Well done indeed!

[KernowBeard]

2 hours ago, MartinB said:

Oh wow!  Fist pumping 100% appropriate.  Both images are superb but the wide field has been put in my "sublime" category.  Well done indeed!

Thanks Martin! It's easier to fist pump when it's dark and no one can see you!

2 hours ago, Philip R said:

Very nice images - plus I liked the Places Afar video on your website.  

Thank you Philip, glad you enjoyed it!

[Scooot]

Great shots but the second is awesome  

[Hallingskies]

They are both beautiful images, well worth the effort you obviously put in.

[KernowBeard]

20 hours ago, Scooot said:

Great shots but the second is awesome  

Cheers! I'm glad I managed to get the shot.

9 hours ago, Hallingskies said:

They are both beautiful images, well worth the effort you obviously put in.

Thank you! It certainly paid off.

[andy fearn]

lovely images. the widefield is stunning .congratulations on efforts.