Before the twentieth century, astronomers had already been viewing galaxies through telescopes for hundreds of years. They just didn’t know it. They called such objects “spiral nebulae” and there was much speculation and debate as to their nature. Some astronomers … Read More
The Rosette Nebula is an incredibly beautiful, and popular, deep sky astrophotography target. At its centre, is the open star cluster NGC2244, which is a handy guide to let you know you have the Rosette Nebula in the centre of the frame when imaging.
The Rosette Nebula is sometimes referred to as the Skull Nebula, as looking at it in a different orientation makes it appear as a skull rather than a rosette. It’s one of my favourite winter astrophotography targets that I return to year after year.
The Orion Nebula (M42) is arguably one of the most recognisable deep sky objects in the night sky, sitting in the most famous constellation of Orion. This diffuse nebula is a firm favourite for astrophotographers for many reasons. A wide-field … Read More
Winter is an exciting time in astrophotography. Not only are the nights longer, but there are some of the absolute best deep sky astrophotography targets available to image at this time of year!
This is a list that is accessible for everyone, no matter what equipment you’re using. You might think there are some obvious targets missing from the list, so do leave a comment to let me know what your favourite winter astrophotography targets are!
While I personally enjoy the summer months for the BBQs and warm weather, it’s not the best time of year for astrophotography at my latitude due to the loss of astro dark. However, for those of you at lower latitudes … Read More
For astrophotographers, Spring means the start of Galaxy season! Called as such due to the vast amount of galaxies available to image – clear skies permitting! Below I have compiled a list of my favourite astrophotography Galaxy season targets for any telescope.
There’s something for all focal lengths here, whether that be getting multiple galaxies in the same field of view (FOV) with a modest setup, or getting really up close and personal to a distant galaxy with a bigger scope and pulling out the amazing detail in the dust lanes. You can see which options will work for your equipment by using free software such as Stellarium to plan your imaging session.
It’s no secret that some astrophotography targets are easier to image (and find!) than others. Here I am going to break down my 5 favourite deep sky astrophotography targets for beginners, how to find them and share my images along the way. All of these targets are well suited to camera lenses, but some will really pop when using a telescope. Some of these targets are visible to the naked eye, but a couple will require a basic level of star hopping. As long as you can find the nearest bright star to the target, you shouldn’t have a problem locating any of them.
In the early hours of Sunday 29th March, the clocks went forward. A week before that Spring finally arrived to end what had been a very wet winter, which had caused lots of flooding here in the UK. Suddenly, the … Read More
The Pleiades, also known as M45 and Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster located in the constellation Taurus. It is one of the closest star clusters to Earth, at a distance of 444 light years and is easily visible … Read More
The Andromeda Galaxy was my first ever DSO target, which I shot with my unmodified Canon 1300D DSLR & 70-300mm lens. I had been struggling along with a cheap telephoto lens with my unmodified DSLR mounted on the Sky-Watcher Star … Read More