Astrophotography

Looking to test the newly improved ‘barn door’ tracker to its limit, I dusted off my old Sigma 75-200mm/f3.8 with 2x tele-converter. But with a hefty 600mm 35mm equivalent focal length, I was prepared for the worst. After less than a minute of polar alignment, and...

First attempt at shooting with the home made ‘barn door/scotch mount’ star tracker – I’m amazed how well it works! This single 3 minute exposure was taken using a borrowed Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens in the amazingly clear skies of the North York Moors. The...

The current solar maximum is on track to become the weakest in over 100 years. That is pretty disappointing news (and slightly worrisome!) if you’re a fan of auroras, solar flares and sunspots. But despite the low activity, I have put the bargain £12 sigma and 2x...

It’s been many years since we last had clear skies for the peak night of the Perseid Meteor shower. Thankfully that run came to an end last night, when skies were as clear as the come around these parts. Making use of the D7000’s ability to take a long series photos...

At the mercy of the weather for the last couple of weeks, I finally managed to grab a shot of comet PANSTARRS C/2011 L4 with a clear sky. Luckily for me, the clear night coincided with the comet gliding past the Andromeda galaxy. Still quite low on the horizon, it was only just...

Comet Holmes was an unusual looking comet, with its huge coma making it look almost jellyfish like. Although I only had my Nikon D70 and a static tripod back in 2007, the comet was bright enough (and big enough!) to take some single photographs as it passed overhead during...

Images taken on the afternoon of the 10th of January 2007 at around 4.30pm, half an hour after sunset, with the comet at a magnitude of -2.2. Comet McNaught went on to become a stunning comet which lit up the skies of the southern hemisphere. Becoming one of the greatest comets...

A spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis as seen form North Yorkshire in January 2005. This satellite image shows the extent of the Northern Lights over the UK and Northern Europe on the night of the 21st January. Thankfully I was just on the right side of a large bank of...