New article – “Light Revolution” – in Sky at Night Magazine
Opener image for my latest piece in Sky at Night Magazine. Credit: Sky at Night Magazine
I have a new feature in the latest issue of Sky at Night Magazine all about light pollution and what the future might hold for our view of the night sky. Specifically, the piece explores recent changes in lighting practices and the rise of LED street lighting technology. You’ll find the article, called ‘Light revolution’, on pages 40-46 of the April issue, which is on sale now.
Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) & the dark skies of Galloway Forest Park
The night skies over the rural cottage where we stayed. Credit: Will Gater
I’ve just spent the last week staying very near to Galloway Forest Park, along with my wife and a few of our friends. I’ve been meaning to visit the forest ever since it was declared the UK’s first International Dark Sky Park back in 2009. The night skies were truly incredible and we were lucky enough to have 4.5 clear nights out of seven. I’ve put together a series of photographs below that show the astronomical highlights of our trip, including several sightings of Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). If you’d like to find out more about Galloway Forest Park’s dark skies check out this page.
The Kirroughtree Visitor Centre is the site of a dark sky viewing area. Credit: Will Gater
The Orion & Running Man Nebulae, imaged from just outside the forest. Credit: Will Gater
Our first glimpse of C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) on 11/03/13. Can you spot it? Credit: Will Gater
On Monday night we ventured into the forest to see the dark skies there. Credit: Will Gater
The zodiacal light was clear to see from near Clatteringshaws Loch. Credit: Will Gater
The trees in the forest appear to stretch toward the constellation of Leo. Credit: Will Gater
Orion, Jupiter & the Hyades and Pleiades over Clatteringshaws Loch. Credit: Will Gater
The Milky Way peeking through the trees was an unforgettable sight. Credit: Will Gater
Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) was much easier to spot on 13/03/13. Credit: Will Gater
Much of the time watching the comet was spent waiting for cloud gaps. Credit: Will Gater
Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) over the hills of Galloway Forest Park. Credit: Will Gater
The Earthshine-lit Moon, taken shortly after Comet PANSTARRS had set. Credit: Will Gater
Clouds move past the Earthshine-lit Moon later on in the evening. Credit: Will Gater
A modern LED streetlight in the town of New Galloway. Credit: Will Gater
Very little light shines out the sides of the lights (great for astronomy). Credit: Will Gater
On our last night (15/03/2013) we spotted C/2011 L4 again… Credit: Will Gater
…but it soon set behind the distant hills. Credit: Will Gater
Live astrophotography from the Brecon Beacons
One Show presenter Lucy Siegle talks to Will live from the Brecon Beacons. Credit: BBC
I had great fun on Wednesday night in the Brecon Beacons filming a series of live segments about astrophotography for the BBC’s The One Show. The idea behind the evening was that I would help a group of twenty amateur photographers take their first images of the night sky before judging which was the best shot. When we arrived at the filming location the sky was filled with clouds, but as the Sun set the clouds thankfully dissipated and the photographers managed to capture their pictures (even despite some quite substantial haze).
If you missed the programme, and are in the UK, you’ve got a few days left to catch it on the BBC’s iPlayer; the astrophotography bits can be found here, here and here. And if you’ve captured an astro image lately that you’re particularly pleased with, don’t forget to send it into the 2013 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, which is now open for entries.
Marvelling at the mountains on the Moon
Over the last few nights we’ve had some clear skies and good seeing conditions here in the southwest of the UK. On Monday night I spent 3 hours capturing a 50 pane mosaic of the whole of the visible portion of the Moon while last night I decided to focus on the wonderfully rugged region around the lunar Alps and the crater Plato.
Both images are shown below – do click on them to see the full size versions, especially the whole-phase mosaic. They were captured with a Meade 8-inch LX200R Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and an Imaging Source DMK21AU618.AS CCD camera; the Plato/lunar Alps image is a mosaic of 17 panes made using an additional 2x Barlow lens.
50 pane mosaic of the Moon on 18 February 2013. Credit: Will Gater
Crater Plato and the lunar Alps on 19 February 2013. Credit: Will Gater
Aurora hunting along the Norwegian coast
Last week I was lucky enough to spend five days sailing up and down the Norwegian coast onboard the Hurtigruten ship MS Trollfjord. While I was on the trip, from Tromsø to Kirkenes and back again, there were several fine displays of the Northern Lights. Despite all the difficulties that arise when trying to photograph the night sky from a moving ship, I did manage to get a few shots of the lights, which I’ve posted below.
Ironically, the best display we saw — with several spectacular auroral coronae and countless multicoloured rays — appeared just as we docked in Tromsø at the end of our voyage, late on Wednesday night. So it seems fitting to start the picture collection with a shot from that display showing the aurora over Tromsø’s famous Arctic Cathedral.
Aurorae over the Arctic Cathedral. Credit: Will Gater
A faint auroral display over the bow of MS Trollfjord. Credit: Will Gater
A bright and dynamic auroral corona near The Plough. Credit: Will Gater
Animation showing evolution of auroral coronae over about 2 minutes. Credit: Will Gater
A faint rayed auroral band over a fjord. Credit: Will Gater
A faint but extensive auroral display flutters over a fjord. Credit: Will Gater
A bright rayed arc extending across a large swathe of sky. Credit: Will Gater
Bright auroral curtains shining through gaps in the clouds. Credit: Will Gater
A faint auroral band with signs of a few rays. Credit: Will Gater
Bright auroral rays dance against the constellations of Gemini & Cancer. Credit: Will Gater
A flame-like aurora (had to use my head to block some blue lights!). Credit: Will Gater
Auroral swirls near the magnetic zenith. Credit: Will Gater
Watching the show through some thin cloud. Credit: Will Gater
Don Pettit talks about seeing the aurora from the International Space Station
If you’ve ever gazed in wonder at some of the spectacular timelapses from the International Space Station, there’s a good chance it was captured by NASA astronaut Don Pettit. Don has photographed the Earth from space extensively during several missions to the space station. Late last year I spoke to him about one specific phenomenon that he’s imaged from orbit – the aurora. The interview has now been released by Sky at Night Magazine as a podcast and you can listen to it here, or with the audio player embedded below. And if you want to get a sense of what it’s like flying over the aurora, have a look at some of the stunning videos over at NASA’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography.
Top aurora image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. Audio courtesy of Sky at Night Magazine.
New article – “Stargazing for Beginners” – in Countryfile magazine
Just a quick heads-up to say that I have a new article in the January issue of the BBC’s Countryfile magazine. It’s called “Stargazing for Beginners” and it’s illustrated with a gorgeous opening picture (above) that was produced especially for the feature by artist Angela Harding. In the piece I offer some advice on how to get started in astronomy and suggest a few objects that can be seen with just the naked eye. There’s also a guide to locating some of the more prominent constellations that are visible in January.
Jupiter and the Moon shine through steady skies
Here are a few pictures of the Moon and Jupiter that I captured on Friday night/Saturday morning under some great seeing conditions – in fact the best seeing conditions I’ve seen all year. All of the images were taken with an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, an Imaging Source DMK21AU618.AS CCD camera and a 2x Barlow lens. To create the colour Jupiter image I also used a set of Astronomik RGB filters and a 3x Barlow lens (I used the 3x Barlow for the Atlas/Hercules shot too).
Jupiter and the Great Red Spot. Credit: Will Gater
The rille network within crater/walled plain Posidonius. Credit: Will Gater
The walled plain Janssen and the crater Fabricius (top). Credit: Will Gater
Long shadows on the floor of the walled plain Cleomedes. Credit: Will Gater
Crater Messier (left) and Dorsa Geikie (centre). Credit: Will Gater
Crater Gutenberg (upper left). Credit: Will Gater
Vallis Rheita and crater Rheita. Credit: Will Gater
Crater Copernicus lit from above. Credit: Will Gater
Craters Atlas (right) & Hercules (left). Credit: Will Gater
Sinus Concordiae & Rima Cauchy. Credit: Will Gater
Dartmoor’s delights make up for lacklustre Leonids
Jupiter with the Hyades & Pleiades (also shows NGC 1647 & NGC 1746). Credit: Will Gater
Last Saturday I headed up onto Dartmoor in the hope of seeing a few meteors from the Leonid meteor shower. Even though I had clear, dark skies on my side, the Leonids put on a rather feeble display this year; in a 3-hour observing session I only saw four, though I did see around twenty respectable sporadic meteors. After a good few hours of trying (and failing) to catch one of the blighters on camera I gave up and decided to have a go at imaging some other targets.
I couldn’t resist photographing the superb sight of Jupiter with the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. The image above is a stack of six three-minute exposures taken at ISO 400. I used an unmodified Canon 550D DSLR and 90mm lens with an HEQ5 Pro mount (which was autoguided by a Sky-Watcher SynGuider attached to an 80mm refractor). The picture of the North America Nebula below was taken with the same setup, but it’s composed of about 30 minutes of exposures at IS0 400.
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) & Pelican Nebula. Credit: Will Gater
Happy Halloween!
I carved the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory into my pumpkin this year; after all nothing’s scarier* than the “seven minutes of terror”.
*If you’re a MSL scientist or engineer at least.
Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards night
Following my post about the results of this year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, here’s Sky at Night Magazine’s video from the awards night.
Video courtesy of Sky at Night Magazine. Remember to select the 720p HD option.
The One Show & Astronomy Photographer of the Year
Martin Pugh’s winning image of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). Credit: Martin Pugh
If you’ve been following my Twitter feed you’ll probably know that on Wednesday night the Royal Observatory Greenwich, in association with Sky at Night Magazine, announced the winners of the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.
This year’s overall winner was Martin Pugh, from Australia, who won the top prize with a truly spectacular image (above) of M51. I was on the judging panel again this year and, in my opinion, it was the hardest year to judge in the history of the competition. The standard of entries across all the categories was, as ever, superb, but this year I was particularly impressed with the quality of the images submitted in the Best Newcomer and Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year groups – something that really bodes well for the future of the competition.
To tie in with the competition, myself, the ROG’s Marek Kukula, and Andrew Steele – whose striking moonrise image was highly commended in last year’s competition – also appeared in a segment about astrophotography on The One Show last night; my role was to help presenter Jamie Crawford take his first ever astro images. You can currently watch the whole piece on the BBC’s iPlayer here.
Jamie and I looking at some basic astrophotography kit. Credit: BBC Television
All the winning images from this year’s competition are on the ROG website and, if you get a chance, be sure to also visit the stunning free exhibition in Greenwich.
Stargazing from the Gower
Rose and I admiring the summer Milky Way. Credit: Will Gater
With the awful weather we’ve had here in the UK this summer I’ve had hardly any astro images to share here on the blog. Thankfully, things seem to be improving* as we enter autumn. Here are a few shots I captured last weekend while camping in the Gower with my wife, Rose.
We camped at Three Cliffs Bay on the south coast. It’s a beautiful part of Wales with clear views out over the Bristol Channel to the south — perfect for observing, low altitude, summer objects like the Lagoon Nebula and the many interesting star clusters in and around Sagittarius and Ophiuchus. The skies were wonderfully dark looking out over the Bristol Channel to the southwest; sadly the same can’t be said for the view looking east, towards Swansea and Port Talbot, where substantial light pollution masked everything but the brightest stars.
Anyway, if you’d like to see some of the objects in these images yourself you’ve got a few weeks before they disappear into the twilight for a while — September’s Sky at Night Magazine has a great observing article on pages 32-37 to get you started.
* I may regret writing that.
The Scutum Star Cloud, within the Milky Way. Credit: Will Gater
The Eagle Nebula (M16), with the ‘Pillars of Creation’. Credit: Will Gater
The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae among the Milky Way star fields. Credit: Will Gater
Nature Guide: Stars and Planets – out now!
I’m very pleased to announce that a new astronomy handbook that I helped to write, Nature Guide: Stars and Planets, has just been published by Dorling Kindersley.
The book is a 352-page, lavishly illustrated, introduction to astronomy complete with equipment advice, star charts and in-depth guides to all of the constellations. You can see some sample pages from the book on DK’s website.
If you’d like to pick up a copy, the book is available from all good high-street bookshops as well as online via The Book Depository, Amazon etc.
Observing the 2012 transit of Venus
The 2012 transit of Venus imaged at h-alpha wavelengths. Credit: Will Gater
A week ago I travelled to the Greek island of Kos to observe the 2012 transit of Venus – a rare celestial event where the planet Venus drifts in front of the Sun’s disc, as seen from Earth.
The hotel where I stayed was located on the north-eastern end of Kos, close to the village of Psalidi. I had chosen this site for two main reasons. The first was its shoreline location and clear view to the northeast out over the Aegean Sea.
Only the distant mountains of Turkey interrupted the horizon, but as they reached less than a degree above the horizon I knew they wouldn’t obscure much of the transit. Besides, when the Sun is that low down the distorting effects of the atmosphere are so great that getting a sharp view of the transit (when the Sun is barely a degree above the horizon) would be almost impossible.
Although the transit would be well underway by the time the Sun rose from Kos, the island’s position on the Earth meant that around 2 hours of the transit would still be left to observe. And the Sun would reach an altitude of about 20 degrees, from Kos, before Venus moved off the solar disc.
A view of the north-eastern horizon from my observing site near Psalidi.
The second reason I chose Kos as my transit observing location was that the eastern end of the Mediterranean had the best weather prospects in Europe for the time of the transit. I later found out that I wasn’t the only one with the eastern Med in mind as an observing site, as several other astronomers — including well-known German astronomer Daniel Fischer — travelled to Rhodes.
Moonrise over Kos two nights before the transit. Credit Will Gater
Imaging the transit with a static photo tripod, PST & DMK 21AU618.AS CCD camera
I was able to take two telescopes with me to Kos. The first was the de-mounted optical tube assembly from an ETX90EC with a Baader AstroSolar Safety Film solar filter. I have used this telescope on observing trips several times, including the 2006 total solar eclipse in Turkey, as its compact size is perfect for travelling. However this time because of hand luggage weight constraints I had to carefully pack it up and send it to Greece in my hold luggage.
Unfortunately a quick star test on the night of my arrival in Kos showed that it had slipped slightly (but noticeably) out of collimation — so my transit images from the ETX OTA are not as sharp as they could be. The second scope I took with me was a Coronado PST. I carried this as hand luggage along with a DMK 21AU618.AS CCD camera and the Baader solar filter.
A test image captured with a static photo tripod a few days before the transit.
Both telescopes were used, one at a time, with a heavy photographic tripod. Imaging the Sun with my Canon 550D DSLR and the ETX scope was a fairly easy affair — only single, short, exposures were needed. However the PST/DMK/static photo tripod setup presented a few imaging challenges. Namely, how to capture an AVI video through the DMK/PST without blurring the image or letting the Sun drift out of frame while the video was being captured.
There was no way I would be able to take a tracking mount with me to Greece; so in the months leading up to the transit I practiced hand guiding the alt-azimuth controls of the photographic tripod so that the Sun stayed in frame, in roughly the same location. It was difficult to say the least, but it did work and Registax was able to process the videos without any ‘ghost’ images. Above is a test — hand tracked — PST image captured two days before the transit.
Dawn breaks over Kos on the morning of the transit.
The morning of the transit was clear, with only a few thin haze clouds hugging the horizon. Yet as the dawn began to break a few clouds started to bubble up over the coast of Turkey. One cloud in particular (seen in the image below) had me worried, as it was threatening to move right in front of where the rising Sun was about to appear. Thankfully though these clouds moved away — and some of the haze appeared to dissipate — a few minutes before the first rays of sunlight appeared over the mountains.
The north-eastern horizon moments before sunrise.
My first view of the transit was, as expected, heavily distorted by various atmospheric undulations. It was actually quite surreal to see the silhouette of Venus, through the eyepiece, being smeared up and down — as if someone was stretching and compressing the whole solar disc. The series of images on the left (click the thumbnail to get a bigger version) shows this effect clearly; they were taken just as the Sun was appearing over the distant Turkish mountains.
As the Sun climbed higher in the sky the atmospheric distortion lessened and I was able to begin imaging the transit in earnest. Below are a few of the shots I was able to capture.
The 2012 transit of Venus imaged at h-alpha wavelengths. Credit: Will Gater
A full disc view taken with a 550D, ETX90EC & Baader solar filter. Credit: Will Gater
The 2012 transit of Venus imaged at h-alpha wavelengths. Credit: Will Gater
The 2012 transit of Venus imaged at h-alpha wavelengths. Credit: Will Gater
The development of the famous ‘black drop’ effect. Credit: Will Gater
Almost over! Venus edges off the solar disc. Credit: Will Gater
Towards the end of the transit a large cumulus cloud bank formed to the southeast and began to slowly drift in the direction of the Sun. As Venus was moments away from slipping off the solar disc the wispy edges of the cloud began to encroach onto the Sun, until finally the transit was completely obscured. And so began the 105 year wait for the next time that Venus glides gracefully across the face of our star.
One final note: throughout the transit I was using specialist solar filters to observe and photograph the Sun. Never point an unfiltered telescope, unfiltered pair of binoculars etc. at the Sun. You will damage your eyes and almost certainly blind yourself. If you want to observe the Sun only use specialist certified solar filters that have been fitted correctly (and thoroughly checked) and that have been purchased from a reputable astronomical supplier. Be sure to follow any usage instructions carefully. Finderscopes etc. should also be filtered or removed.
All images © Will Gater 2012
Photography Monthly interview on astrophotography
I had a lot of fun talking about astrophotography to Fiona Keating from Photography Monthly magazine a few weeks ago. The 4-page interview appears in the June issue of the magazine, which has just hit newsstands. In the interview I talk about some of the methods and equipment that can be used to take pictures of the night sky and the technical challenges astro imaging creates.
So if you’re thinking of getting into astrophotography, why not pick up a copy of the magazine and start snapping. And if you capture a great image, remember there’s a ‘best newcomer’ prize in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.
The day I met MIRI
With MIRI in the clean room at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Video courtesy of Sky at Night Magazine. Remember to select the 720p HD option.
Earlier this month I travelled to Oxfordshire to film the James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) in its clean room at the famous Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. After several years of assembly and testing at RAL, MIRI is now ready to be flown to the US where it will join up with the other parts of the James Webb Space Telescope that are being put together at NASA. Getting to go inside the high-tech clean room was an incredible experience and one that I won’t forget for a very long while. But what’s most exciting for me is what the instrument will uncover when it first opens its eyes to the cosmos. For those revelations we’ll have to wait a few years yet.
Filming MIRI in the clean room at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
AR1476 and the seething Sun
Prominences leaping from the limb of the Sun on 11 May 2012. Credit: Will Gater
It was hard to decide where on the Sun to look first yesterday with all the activity that was going on. AR1476 was, of course, taking centre stage but there were also numerous filaments scattered over the disc, while around the limb there were several impressive prominences.
I managed to capture a few pictures of what was going on, but sadly the seeing conditions were poor and so the detail in the images isn’t very good.
The picture above and the first two pictures below were taken with an Imaging Source DMK 21AU618.AS CCD camera (shooting at 60FPS), a 2x Barlow lens and a Coronado PST hydrogen-alpha filtered telescope. The last image was taken with the DMK 21AU618.AS on an ETX90EC OTA fitted with a white-light solar filter.
A large prominence extends above the solar limb. Credit: Will Gater
AR1476 as seen in hydrogen alpha light on 11 May 2012. Credit: Will Gater
AR1476 imaged with a white-light solar filter on 11 May 2012. Credit: Will Gater
A word of warning: never point an unfiltered telescope, unfiltered pair of binoculars etc. at the Sun. You will damage your eyes and almost certainly blind yourself. If you want to observe the Sun only use specialist certified solar filters that have been fitted correctly (and thoroughly checked) and that have been purchased from a reputable astronomical supplier. Be sure to follow any usage instructions carefully. Finderscopes etc. should also be filtered or removed.
Solar imaging after the rain
With all this rain we’ve been having I was starting to wonder if we’d ever see the Sun again here in the UK. Thankfully, a few small gaps in the clouds last week did give me the chance to get the solar imaging kit out. The first two images below show the main active regions visible in hydrogen alpha light on the 6th May. These include AR1476 which had then only just appeared over the Sun’s limb. The third is from the 1st May.
The pictures were all taken using an Imaging Source DMK 21AU618.AS CCD camera (shooting at 60FPS), a 2x Barlow lens and a Coronado PST hydrogen-alpha filtered telescope.
As for AR1476, it has grown substantially since these pictures were taken. It now measures roughly 160,000km across according to Spaceweather.com. What’s more, as the Sun gets increasingly active in the run-up to solar maximum we can look forward to seeing more enormous sunspots and active regions, like AR1476, appearing on the Sun’s disc. As long as the clouds stay away that is.
A word of warning: never point an unfiltered telescope, unfiltered pair of binoculars etc. at the Sun. You will damage your eyes and almost certainly blind yourself. If you want to observe the Sun only use specialist certified solar filters that have been fitted correctly (and thoroughly checked) and that have been purchased from a reputable astronomical supplier. Be sure to follow any usage instructions carefully. Finderscopes etc. should also be filtered or removed.
Watching a wandering star
Over the past few weeks it’s been hard to miss Venus shining away high in the west after sunset. At the end of March it was less than 3 degrees from the crescent Moon, while the first week of April saw Venus drifting past the Pleiades star cluster. Below I’ve collected together some pictures of the planet that I’ve taken recently; clicking on each one will take you to a larger version.
The wide-field pictures were all taken with a Canon 550D DSLR and a zoom lens, while the close-up (showing Venus’s phase) was captured with a Philips SPC900NC webcam and an 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
Two glittering planets meet the Earthshine lit Moon
Venus, Jupiter & the crescent Moon. (Click for full-size version) Credit: Will Gater
Jupiter, Venus and the crescent Moon are putting on a wonderful show in the west after sunset at the moment. The picture above shows the view last night with Jupiter and the Moon separated by roughly 3 degrees. A close-up of the view (below) shows the Moon and Jupiter as well as two of the Galilean satellites – Ganymede and Callisto. Tonight the view is no less spectacular with the brilliant Venus and the crescent Moon a little over 2 degrees apart. Pop out and see them if you can.
While you’re out, look out for the effect known as ‘Earthshine’. This is where sunlight reflected off the Earth’s bright cloud tops lights up the part of the Moon that isn’t directly lit by the Sun; it’s best seen when the Moon is a thin crescent, like it is at the moment. You can see Earthshine clearly illuminating the face of the Moon in the image below.
Jupiter, the crescent Moon & Earthshine. (Click for full-size version) Credit: Will Gater
A cold night imaging crater Copernicus and friends
Last night the atmosphere was particularly clear and steady here, so I took the opportunity to image some of my favourite lunar craters. All of the images below were captured using a Meade 203mm aperture Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a Philips SPC900NC webcam. I also used a red (Wratten #23A) filter in front of the webcam to filter out some of the wavelengths of light that are more detrimentally affected by atmospheric undulations.
The images below are all mosaics. Each mosaic pane was made by taking a short video with the webcam and then sifting out the best 250 frames to be stacked and processed together into one more detailed image. Then each of the panes are arranged together to create the final mosaic image you see below. For example, the Clavius & Tycho image was made by stitching together 16 individual panes.
- The floor of crater Copernicus in shadow & the ghost crater Stadius. Credit: Will Gater
- The Tycho, Maginus, Clavius & Moretus region (click to enlarge). Credit: Will Gater
- Crater Plato, the Vallis Alpes and the Montes Teneriffe. Credit: Will Gater
Exploring the dark skies of Mid Wales
Back in November I spent a wonderfully quiet week staying near the town of Rhayader, in Mid Wales. The Welsh countryside around where I stayed is renowned for its wildlife and dramatic scenery, but the reason I went there – of course – was for its dark night skies. Unfortunately of the seven nights I was there only one was clear enough to get the telescope out.
Below you’ll find a few of the images I captured over the course of that evening. As you can see, thin patchy clouds and haze enhanced the small amount of light pollution visible, so I didn’t experience the skies there at their absolute darkest; which I guess means I’ll just have to go back and visit again next year.
- Venus sparkles above the vibrant glow of twilight. Credit: Will Gater
- Jupiter shines through thin mist against a starry backdrop. Credit: Will Gater
- The magnificent Orion rises over the skyline. Credit: Will Gater
- The Triangulum Galaxy. Taken with a Canon 550D on a William Optics 66mm refractor, autoguided by a Sky-Watcher SynGuider & an 80mm refractor. Credit: Will Gater
- The constellation of Auriga (and several bright star clusters). Credit: Will Gater
- The Crab Nebula (M1). Taken with a Canon 550D on a William Optics 66mm refractor, autoguided by a Sky-Watcher SynGuider & an 80mm refractor. Credit: Will Gater
An astronomical autumn on Dartmoor
Autumn is easily my favourite season for astronomy, partly because of the return of the dark skies but also because of the wealth of objects visible in the sky around this time. On the one hand some of the stunning summer sights are still visible low in the west, while at the same time the grand winter constellations are beginning to appear over the eastern horizon.
This autumn I’ve managed to get to my favourite dark sky site, on Dartmoor, a few times – though, admittedly, the imaging conditions haven’t always been great. Below are a few of the astro-images I’ve got to show for those trips.
All were taken with an unmodified Canon 550D DSLR camera. The wide field images were captured with the DSLR on a tracking mount. The close-ups were taken with the DSLR mounted on a William Optics ZenithStar 66mm refractor on an HEQ5 Pro mount. The whole setup was autoguided by an 80mm refractor and a Sky-Watcher SynGuider.
- The Milky Way in Cygnus, Cepheus & Lacerta. Credit: Will Gater
- The Double Cluster (NGC 869 & NGC 884). Credit: Will Gater
- The Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, M33 & the Double Cluster. Credit: Will Gater
The Hyades star cluster Credit: Will Gater
- The Dumbbell Nebula. Credit: Will Gater
