At the end of March, 2008 the European Automatic Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was being tested and orbitting close to the ISS. On 30th March I photographed them in the same patch of sky 2 minutes apart but on slightly different orbits. On 31st March they were much closer and I took a 68 second capture with the EOS350 at ISO1600 with an 18mm lens expecting the ISS and ATV to see parallel tracks. I kept the shutter open as first the ATV, then the ISS dissapeared into shadow. As it turned out they were on the exactly same orbit (as seen from Earth) and the ISS track “overwrote” the ATV.
The image on the right was the next day when I captured the ATV and ISS as seperate tracks using a 17 second capture with the EOS350 at ISO1600 with an 18mm lens. I estimate the ISS was about 22 seconds behind the ATV.
Images of the International Space Station docked with the Space Shuttle Atlantis passing over my home location. These images have been edited to remove the effects of light pollution, but there is still an orange reflection from the clouds.
Passing by the Pleiades and Mars on February 17, 2008. Twenty second exposure at ISO1600 with an 18mm lens on the EOS350 DSLR.
Atlantis and the ISS dissappearing into the bow of Orion on February 18, 2008. 35 second exposure at ISO1600 with an 18mm lens on the EOS350 DSLR.
Just a message to all you spam merchants out there.
I will NOT publish your comments with links to innapropriate sites selling medication and other assorted irrelevant products.
My spam filter is working well, so you are wasting your time not mine!
Picture taken from the UK on 1 August 2008 with a Canon EOS 350, 300mm lens, 2x converter and a home made solar filter. Camera set at ISO400 with an exposure of 1/250 of a second.
Warning observing the Sun is dangerous – never look at the Sun through a telescope or camera without the use of a properly secured, working solar filter.
My first Iridum flare captured on April 1, 2008. I used the Heavens-Above site to predict the position then set the EOS350 at ISO1600 with an 18mm lens and a 20 second exposure. I didn’t see the flare visually but it was bright and clear on the capture.
Leonid meteor trail captured in March 2007 with the Canon EOS350 DSLR and the shutter under control of the PalmV DSLR software. I captured about two hundred 15 second images and among them a dozen meteors but this was the best image.
Cassiopea is clear in the centre and the ionisation trail showed some good colour.
Experimental shot with the Meade DSI and a 50mm camera M42 lens wide open. As these were experiments, I didn’t record the exposure details but I seem to remember stacking 40-50 two second exposures. Because the mount is unguided, trailing of the stars limited the exposure time.
Aquilla captured with the Canon EOS350 at ISO1600 using a 50mm lens and manual focus. Eight second unguided exposure. This image has not been edited to reduce the light pollution but even so the Milky Way is clearly visible and the Coat Hanger asterism can be seen towards the top right of the centre of the image.
One of the problems of living under the flight path! Aircraft regularly spoil my images and look like satellites or meteors although the navigation lights usually identify them as unwanted guests!
Comet Lulin in March 2009 is just visible in this light polluted, widefield shot with the Canon EOS350mDSLR, 30 second exposure at ISO1600 and 18mm lens.
Right – EOS350 at the prime focus of the WO66SD and focal reducer. Unguided 20 sec frame to bring out the comet.
This was Lulin almost at closest approach and it never got to be a naked eye object as expected.
I received an email alert from the SPA that 17P Holmes had an outburst of gas around the orbit of Jupiter and brightened a million fold. It was four days later on 28 October 2007, before a gap in the clouds appeared and it took 20 seconds to find the comet in binoculars. I then set up the Canon EOS350 on a tripod and took a 5 second exposure ISO1600 using a 55mm lens and manual focus.
From there I looked at it through the William Optics SD66Z and then mounted up the Canon EOS350 DSLR to the focal reducer to get an image before the weather closed in again. 2.5 second exposure, ISO1600, unguided.
The 29 October was clear and I used the Meade ETX125EC telescope with the Canon EOS350 DSLR camera at prime focus to get a more detailed image. 20 second exposure, ISO1600 with the ETX125 tracking based on the normal alignment process. The coma was starting to develop and the bright point close to the centre is a background star and not part of the comet.
Out again the 30th October! Comet 17P Holmes captured with the Meade DSI with an Atik 0.5 focal reducer at the prime focus of the Meade ETX125. DSI software used to track the object and stack 125 two second exposures over 10 minutes.
Widefield shot with the Canon EOS350mDSLR, 20 second exposure at ISO1600 and 18mm lens. I was trying to catch Comet Tuttle, but Holmes is still visible in Perseus.
My first decent image with the Meade DSI and Meade ETX125. Only about a dozen frames and I stopped quick just to make sure I captured the image.
This second image with the Meade DSI and ETX125 showed better definition and focus.
This was 50 images stacked in a 10 minute period. It was taken a few days later than the first hence Saturn is in a different orientation.
My first shot at capturing Jupiter with the Meade ETX125 and the DSI at prime focus. Not a great image and the dec drive broke just seconds afterwards.
