Star Light Star Bright

 

I have wanted to get into astrophotography for a while but previous attempts to photograph the night sky had resulted in disappointing images, there are so many things to consider; the strength of the moon, light pollution, exposure time, time of the year etc. I know that multiple exposures and stacking images in post production is a thing but I still don't know how to do it.

 Last summer when I photographed comet neowise over Castlerigg I managed to get a decent image using the longest exposure possible with my equipment but I have seen so many really excellent images since then that I knew I would need a different set up if I am to get the sort of images I crave. The more I have looked the more I have wanted to explore the night sky and capture images of deep space objects; planets, stars, constellations, bright nebulae, planetary nebulae, dark nebulae, galaxies, galaxy clusters and more, things I didn't even realise existed.

I decided I would need to invest in a star tracker mount and so I did a little research and saved up and I recently took delivery of a Sky Watcher, Star Adventurer 2i. I have been itching to set it up and start to practice but so far there have been no clear night skies so it had remained in its box. I have looked at videos and blogs trying to pick up some tips and I have been checking the forecast in the hope that there would  be a break in the clouds long enough to put it to the test.

Last night there was a promise of a few hours and so I headed out to the beach with everything set up but sadly there were few breaks in the clouds and so I wasn't able to get a clear image. There was no point trying to do multiple images of the same spot in the sky because of the clouds but I did try out a few long exposures. I realise as I look at them now that I didn't take note of what I was focusing on so they're just random images of the stars with the wispy clouds passing by. What is clear however is that having used a 2 minute exposure the mount has worked amazingly well, even doing just a very simple polar alignment, the stars remain sharp and perfectly round. What is also amazing to me is the range of colours and the density of the objects out there.

So I know they're not great pictures but they are a start and if you look closely you will see patterns of star clusters and perhaps other objects light years away. I am so glad to have invested in the tracker that has meant these long exposures have been possible and I am now going to do a little more research and keep my fingers crossed for some clear skies.