Results of a June night at the beach with a star tracker

[mcrowle]

This past Saturday night was beautifully clear, and, although we’ve lost true astro darkness, it’s still dark enough here in Cornwall for imaging.

I walked to a beach a short distance away, with its unobstructed Southern horizon, for a session with my Vixen Polarie star tracker, modded EOS 600D and a handful of lenses, and here are the results.

They are a bit noisy, as I opted for 3 compositions, rather than maximising sub exposures for one subject, but still I’m happy with them. The frames were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, and the results post-processed to increase contrast and reduce noise and colour gradients. I also used Starnet++ to temporarily remove the stars before most of the contrast stretch.

First up, Antares and Rho Ophiuchi. Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm f/3.5 lens; 31 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 exposures at f/4.

Next, the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae, Sagittarius. 135mm lens again. 16 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 exposures at f/4.

Finally, the Milky Way in Sagittarius. Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens. 23 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 exposures at f/4.

Edited June 11 by mcrowle

[carastro]

Wow, great results from the UK.  I particularly love the Antares and Rho Ophiuchi, one of my favourite regions.

[carastro]

Oh wow, the Milky way shot hadn;t even been posted when I looked the first time,  that's great too.  

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Those are absolutely fantastic.

[woldsman]

Agree fantastic. Takes a lot to beat a session like yours. 

[Giles_B]

Yes, really smashing, thanks for sharing them

[bosun21]

Inspiring photographs. Thanks for posting.

[AstroNebulee]

Beautiful images, nicely done and overall stunning 👌. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

[mcrowle]

Many thanks, all, for your kind comments. After the dismal April and May, it was great to finally get some clear skies in June, even if the nights are short and not truly dark!

Regards, Mike.

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

These are really beautiful. If these were in one of the daily APOD emails, I'd file them in my "favorites" folder 🙂

[FenlandPaul]

Really beautifully done. I absolutely love the Rho Ophiuchi region; getting the opportunity from further south to capture it is always a pleasure. These are awesome images. 👍

[PeterStudz]

These are great! I was out the same night (although by that time it was Sunday) in my Bortle 7 back garden, 200p Dob and it was one of the most transparent skies I’ve had. I could even see the Omega nebula & Lagoon for the first time from home. Just shows you what you can see even with light pollution and when it’s not properly dark. 

[WolfieGlos]

Wow, for such short times those are incredible! Great work.

[Tony Acorn]

On 11/06/2024 at 21:51, mcrowle said:

This past Saturday night was beautifully clear, and, although we’ve lost true astro darkness, it’s still dark enough here in Cornwall for imaging.

I walked to a beach a short distance away, with its unobstructed Southern horizon, for a session with my Vixen Polarie star tracker, modded EOS 600D and a handful of lenses, and here are the results.

They are a bit noisy, as I opted for 3 compositions, rather than maximising sub exposures for one subject, but still I’m happy with them. The frames were stacked in Deep Sky Stacker, and the results post-processed to increase contrast and reduce noise and colour gradients. I also used Starnet++ to temporarily remove the stars before most of the contrast stretch.

First up, Antares and Rho Ophiuchi. Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm f/3.5 lens; 31 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 exposures at f/4.

Next, the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae, Sagittarius. 135mm lens again. 16 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 exposures at f/4.

Finally, the Milky Way in Sagittarius. Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens. 23 x 1-minute, ISO 3200 exposures at f/4.

Lovely and very inspirational - I'm going to be down on The Lizard in late September and I'm hoping for some clear skies and maybe a comet?

 

[mcrowle]

19 hours ago, Tony Acorn said:

Lovely and very inspirational - I'm going to be down on The Lizard in late September and I'm hoping for some clear skies and maybe a comet?

 

Thanks, Tony, and to everyone for your comments! With Bortle 2 skies, The Lizard should be amazing. I hope the weather co-operates for you!

My location for these images was Bortle 4, like home, but with south over the sea I was effectively looking into darker skies. I too am looking forward to Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, with fingers crossed, as I always enjoy imaging and viewing comets, probably my favourite astro subject.

Regards, Mike.