Night Skies 3

 

Normally when I go out with my camera for  3 or 4 hours I will come back with hundreds of shots and several that I will want to share via this blog. However, when I went out to photograph the night sky I was left with effectively just two views one to the south with the headland illuminated by the beam from the lighthouse and a second facing west taking in the lighthouse itself and the skies above. Not a lot for the time and effort you might think, but actually I learned a lot from this trip and I am very pleased with the images I got. If you look at the posts over the last two days you will see some of the better images and today I have posted my favourite images from the night.

Firstly you have the view to the south, this was a 90 second tracked exposure (ISO 1600, 17mm F/4.0). The bright orange star slightly above the horizon and slightly to the left is Antares, the 15th brightest star in our night sky and the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpio. If you can zoom in you will see the other stars in Scorpio fanning outwards. Above that you have the constellation of Libra, and then above that slightly to the right is the bright white star Arcturus the brightest star in Bootes. 

I know it is hard to make things out and so I am aided by a neat app called Stellarium and another called Star Walk 2 which help to nicely map the sky and get my bearings on what is where. Stellarium is great because I can go back to the sky map for the exact date and time I was there and it takes out the guesswork.

In the second image, which I love, we have the lighthouse casting its beam into the Irish Sea. We are looking west and in the sky above the lighthouse we can see the constellation of Leo, the two bright stars in the centre sitting almost horizontally to each other mark the top of the constellation they are Denebola and Zosma and then towards the top of the frame almost directly above is a lovely cluster of stars, which are part of Coma Berenices, they just have numbers instead of names (eg 12 Comae Berenices).

I don't know about you but I am fascinated by the night sky, just being there in the early hours, despite the biting cold, it was a real treat to be able to look up at the vastness of space and to be able to see so many celestial bodies and to marvel at the beauty that we so rarely get to see.

Night Skies 2

 

So here are two more night sky shots from South Stack Lighthouse. They were taken about an hour apart, the first one was a 20 second exposure (ISO 1600,  17mm  F6.3) and the second was a tracked shot with a 60 second exposure (ISO 1600, 17mm F/4.0)

The camera is pointed almost due west and you can see the constellations of Cancer (centre) Hydra (left of centre) and Leo  upper left.

Depending on how large you are viewing these images it is possible to make out a blue cluster of stars (Praesepe) about 3/4 of the way up just right of centre in the first image.

In the second image you can see how the constellations have moved further to the right as the night has progressed.

The bright white light on the horizon in the second image is a Holyhead to Dublin ferry.

Starry Starry Night

 

So I have interrupted my intended series of "A Few Days in December" by posting these night sky images that I shot last night and really didn't want to put them off to a later date.

As you can see from the first image (taken using the night sight mode on my Pixel 6Pro) I had set my camera up on the beach using my Sky Watcher Star Adventurer 2i Pro star tracking mount. It really is a cool piece of kit that I am just getting to know.

There have been a couple of nights recently when we were promised clear skies and I have been desperate to get out to shoot the night sky. Last week there was very little moon but sadly too much cloud spoiled things and I couldn't get any good images, I just got very cold for nothing. Although every minute getting to know your kit is time well spent (that's me putting a positive spin on a failed trip).

Last night however the sky was clearer but the moon was more than half full and very bright so as well as the light pollution from Liverpool and Deeside I was up against excess light. Never mind, I am not making excuses and I didn't let that or the biting cold stop me.

In the first image you can see my camera mounted on the tripod and tracking mount pointed north west over Liverpool Bay, the lights along the bottom are from the Burbo Bank wind farm and in the distance you can just make out the shadow of the Pennines in Lancashire. More importantly you can make out a few bright stars, the bright one most central in the image is called "Vega" and top left there are a few from the constellation Cygnus, the bright star at the top is called "Deneb".

The second image is the shot that I captured it is an image comprised of 5 stacked photos using some software called Sequator which is fantastic and so easy to use. Each individual photo was a 2 minute exposure so using this process lots more light is picked up by the camera sensor and more distant objects that the naked eye cannot see become visible. Hence in this patch of sky which has the constellation of Cygnus we can see thousands of stars which are just not there in the first image, if you zoom in you will see what I mean. For reference the brightest star lower right in the second image is Vega. What you also can see in the second image is the range of colours of the different stars and galaxies which are not just white but reds, greens and purple. It really is a beautiful universe.

The third image is also comprised of five stacked images. It is facing south and although the stars are not quite as crisp in this image I really like the picture because the foreground adds context to the overall image. Also I think the stars are probably more recognisable to most people this being "Sirius" (the brightest star lower down in the centre) and the constellation of Orion with the three stars in a line forming Orion's belt and above that are Betelgeuse and Bellatrix. If you look closely you will see more than just three stars along the belt and the three stars below it are actually part of distant galaxies. As this was shot using a wide angle lens I couldn't get more detail of the distant objects but in the future that will be something I will want to explore more. For now I need to hone my skills and practice with the equipment and hope for clear skies.

Ursa Major and the Milky Way

Following on from last night's super moon I thought I would share some more pictures of heavenly bodies.

These photos are from my very first attempt at photographing the night sky.  They were taken in Cumbria on the night of the 18th September. I wasn't trying to capture any particular constellations I was really just practicing to try and get the settings right.  I was amazed to see a sky so full of stars and the milky way so bright and spent quite some time looking up in awe. All of the pictures above were taken using a 30 second exposure.

Today is the first time I have looked at these pictures properly and I was thrilled to see in the first picture Ursa Major being so clear so I had to post that one first.

I saw a number of shooting stars on that night and I cannot be sure whether the light trail in the second picture (and the fainter ones in the fourth and fifth shots) are shooting stars or light trails from aircraft. I hope they are shooting stars.

I cannot identify the constellations in the other pictures but in picture three there is a bright planet just right of centre, it has a particular glow around it and I am curious as to which planet (if any) it is.

I had such a good time taking these pictures and just observing the night sky.  I will definitely be doing it again and maybe I will try doing some star trails.  I think I need to learn a bit more so I can try and photograph the specific constellations.  If anybody viewing this can tell me what can be seen in these pictures I would be very grateful.