Milky way question

[jimmym123]

Is it possible, in England, to get a very clear, very bright image of the milky way? I can see it in my garden easily but it doesn't look anything more than a normal cloud. Would a long shutter release on my camera do the job?

Thanks

[Ludd]

If you can see it easily in your garden then I think you'll have no difficulty getting good clear images on a camera with exposures short enough to avoid too much trailing (assuming you're not using a tracking mount). Be prepared to tweak the levels in a program like photoshop to bring out the texture of the MW, and if you've got a tracking mount, think about exposures over 30 seconds.

I've only seen the MW once from my London garden and haven't bothered trying to image it from here. I'll post a link in a moment to some shots I took in Australia and NZ on a photo tripod in the summer.

Here's the link: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-widefield-special-events-comets/114022-some-shots-down-under.html#post1529532