Greetings from Shetland

[RoryG]

Hi from sunny (!) Shetland, a group of island 120 miles north of mainland Scotland at 60° north. We’re blessed with long dark winters (only around 5 hours of daylight in mid December) to virtually no darkness at all at this time of year, just short of 19 hours of daylight at the summer solstice with no astronomical twilight until the end of August.

I’ve been interested in astronomy for all my life, and thanks to my late dad I can name all the constellations in the northern hemisphere, and many of the brighter stars, galaxies and nebulas. He had an enormous refractor telescope - about 8’ long if I remember (this would have been early 70s) - that had terrible CA but you could just about see the rings on Saturn and the moon looked amazing as did Andromeda.

Last winter I bought a Seestar which rekindled my enthusiasm. The first night I had it the seeing was great, and as it’s so simple to set up I was rewarded with an amazing image of M42 in just a few minutes (I ended up letting it run for over an hour saving the individual subs). The next morning I downloaded Siril on my Mac Studio and had a go at stacking with a Seestar script then processing, it’s still one of my best images! Since then I’ve become reasonably proficient with Siril, and recently started a trial with PixInsight. During the summer I’ve been imaging the sun (on the rare occasions we see it) with a Baader filter, stacking raw video in ASIVideoStack which produces excellent images.

I run an aerial media business, mainly drone surveying and mapping but we do a lot of corporate video production, site monitoring, time lapse, etc., and even film and TV productions, we’ve filmed all the aerial footage for BBC’s Shetland crime drama since 2017. We’re currently working on a very exciting project (more on that soon) which allowed us to invest in some great Astro kit including a CPC Deluxe 800 HD and an Askar 65 PHQ. Although the primary use is not astronomy in the true sense, the kit will be available when not in use for work so I’m planning some planetary and DSO imaging when the dark nights return. A big shout out to Chris at FLO who’s helped considerably with my kit list!

We’re lucky to live in a Bortle 4 area, and Bortle 3 just five minutes drive. And in less than 15 minutes I can get to an elevated Bortle 2 area with an unobstructed 360° sky view! The 8” Celestron is fully mobile in its own environment controlled trailer so easy to get to dark skies and not long to wait for acclimatisation.

Here’s a few of my Seestar images, including M42 from the first night I had it. Orion Nebula (around 250 x 10s), Horsehead Nebula (around 150 x 10s), first quarter moon (2 minute AVI 50% stack), waxing gibbous moon (3 minute AVI 50% stack), sun with Baader filter (2½ minute AVI 50% stack), Rosette Nebula (just 50 x 10s).

 

 

Edited July 10 by RoryG
Typos and added integration times)

[Vroobel]

Tell us something about disadvantages of living there to not make us too jealous... 😁

They are very good pictures, congrats. 👍

 

 

[RoryG]

19 hours ago, Vroobel said:

 

 

 

Edited July 11 by RoryG
Something went wrong with the quote!

[josefk]

hello @RoryG , cool location and cool day job. Sounds great. 

We visit Shetland in two or three weeks as part of our "summer" holiday so hold on to that weather for us 🙂. As we're coming in August I'm not packing an astro  scope but i'm looking forward to some northern bird spotting on your cliff tops and beaches!

The trailer mounted scope sounds interesting...

 

[Tony Acorn]

Hi RoryG and welcome - I would be very happy if I could demonstrate such great imaging and processing. Living in deepest, undarkest Hertfordshire, I have to travel 30-odd miles for even Bortle 4 skies but that doesn't put me off with my next target being The Lunart Occultation of Saturn early on 21st August - if only we got some clear sakies round here!

Tony

[Vroobel]

10 hours ago, RoryG said:

 

Should I take it as nothing to say about disadvantages? 🤔 Well, I'm jealous then! 🙂

[bosun21]

Welcome to SGL Rory. It's been a few years since I last visited Shetland. You may want to learn how to collimate your SCT scope with it being on a trailer and driving around the island.

[RoryG]

8 hours ago, Vroobel said:

Should I take it as nothing to say about disadvantages? 🤔 Well, I'm jealous then! 🙂

The weather is likely the worst thing, although it can be amazing like Tuesday, 17.5°C and clear skies. And if you want to go south getting to Aberdeen and back by ferry (overnight, 12 or 14 hours depending on the route) with a cabin and a car on the dates you want to travel is nigh on impossible between April to September unless you book months in advance.

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[Gonariu]

Welcome to SGL from distant Sardinia! Post some photographs of your father's achromatic refractor, it must be a beautiful optic!!!

[Travelman]

Hi Rory

I have been planning to visit Shetlands (from Denmark) for quite a while.

As I would definately bring a scope, I wonder if you could suggeest a few places for accomodation outside of Lerwick or, if you could point be to a good ressource?

 

Clear skies

 

Torben

Copenhagen

[RoryG]

On 17/07/2024 at 02:53, Travelman said:

Hi Rory

I have been planning to visit Shetlands (from Denmark) for quite a while.

As I would definately bring a scope, I wonder if you could suggeest a few places for accomodation outside of Lerwick or, if you could point be to a good ressource?

 

Clear skies

 

Torben

Copenhagen

Hi Torben,

A good resource is https://www.shetland.org/visit/plan/accommodation, there should be plenty accommodation available after the summer season. There are some great Bortle 2 areas when you’re away from Lerwick and the other villages (and in the north the Sullom Voe terminal and gas plant is a major light polluter).

If coming by ferry from Aberdeen I suggest you book well in advance as it can be difficult to get a cabin and a vehicle, it’s not a pleasant 14 hour overnight journey without a cabin!

Cheers,

Rory

[carastro]

Wow, remarkably good photos for nly 10secs exposure time.  Those Seestar scopes are excellent esecially for travel if the target's are not too dim. 

Envy your location, I live in SE London with Bortle 8 skies.  😢  the best I can get to is Bortle 4 an hours drive away.

Nice to have you here and I bet you get cracking auroras too. 

I visited Orkney a few years ago in June and remember the lack of darkness.  

[Travelman]

1 hour ago, RoryG said:

Hi Torben,

A good resource is https://www.shetland.org/visit/plan/accommodation, there should be plenty accommodation available after the summer season. There are some great Bortle 2 areas when you’re away from Lerwick and the other villages (and in the north the Sullom Voe terminal and gas plant is a major light polluter).

If coming by ferry from Aberdeen I suggest you book well in advance as it can be difficult to get a cabin and a vehicle, it’s not a pleasant 14 hour overnight journey without a cabin!

Cheers,

Rory

Hi Rory - very helpfull indeed, miuch appreciated.

I gotta say...I admire your pics (and location)....