AstroLandscapes #59 - The 60 Minute Nightscape Challenge

[FenlandPaul]

Taking nightscape images can be time-consuming.  Most of us live under fairly mediocre skies so a drive of maybe a couple of hours to a darker location isn't uncommon, and once you've made that journey you may as well stay a while.  Unless you happen to live atop a cliff or in an attractively derelict stone barn, you probably don't have the ideal foreground in your garden, so the comforts and advantages of deep sky imaging - sipping tea inside while the gear does all the work - often aren't open to you.

But not everyone is able to spend hours away from home at night.  Work, family, or even health concerns could mean we're limited in the time we can spend outside trying to capture usable images of the night sky.

So what would happen, I wondered, if I only had an hour?  An hour to leave the house, get to a decent location, capture a shot and get home.  Could I capture a nightscape shot I was happy with and enjoy the experience as well?

Back in January I had the perfect opportunity to give it a go.  A crystal clear evening - like hens' teeth so far this year - coincided with a commitment I had later that night.  So I had a crack at The 60 Minute Nightscape.  And because I'm a little unhinged, I filmed a vlog of the attempt as well (hint: don't film a vlog if you want the evening to also be relaxing!).

So here below is my final image and the video of its capture.  It won't win any prizes, but in the circumstances I was reasonably happy, and when I posted it on my local village Facebook page it got quite the reaction.  It turns out it is possible to take a nice image whilst only being away for an hour.  For the avoidance of doubt, however, I don't plan to share that revelation with my wife……

Hope you enjoy….

📷 Canon 6D (astro-modified) with Samyang 14mm f/2.8 lens on Skywatcher StarAdventurer tracker

🔧Sky - 13x60 second exposure at ISO 800 and f/4 + 1x300 second h-alpha exposure at ISO 800.  Foreground - 1x20 second exposure at ISO 1600

🎞️ Stacked in Sequator. Edited and blended in PhotoShop and Starnet++


 

 

[AstroNebulee]

It's an outstanding image Paul, you say it's not your best image but it's much better than I could get in 3 hours. I'd still be faffing about after an hour. Hope you're all well, take care

Lee 

[FenlandPaul]

1 hour ago, AstroNebulee said:

It's an outstanding image Paul, you say it's not your best image but it's much better than I could get in 3 hours. I'd still be faffing about after an hour. Hope you're all well, take care

Lee 

Thanks Lee - I really appreciate that. It showed me how much faffing I usually do when I’m out!! 🤣