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Last night I decided to astro modify my trusty D5500. Up until now it had remained completely stock, doing a great job for regular photography and astro work. But by replacing the hot mirror with a UV/IR cut filter, the sensor crucially receives around 5x as much signal in the...

As summer turns to autumn, one of the jewels of the northern skies moves directly overhead in the evening hours, making it the perfect target. The great galaxy in Andromeda almost fills the entire frame at 400mm with the Tamron lens and the D5500’S crop sensor. With polar...

Yet another big improvement on my old attempt at capturing the cluster, way back in 2014. It’s encouraging how well the AstroTrac performs at longer focal lengths without the need for autoguiding. The ability to capture two minute sub exposures at 400mm gives a huge jump in...

Comets like NEOWISE don’t come along often, so it’s worth making the extra effort to get a better view. My views to the north are hampered by the bright city lights of York, so set off at midnight to my nearest dark sky site in the Yorkshire Wolds. The elevated view...

Comet Neowise C/2020 F3 taken last night at 1:45am local time. I haven’t seen such an amazing, naked-eye comet since the great comet Hale Bopp in 1997! Image details: Nikon D5500, Nikon 180mm f2.8 @ 180mm/f2.8. Total of 13 minutes exposure time (39 x 20 seconds) at iso 200....

Living in northern Europe has some serious disadvantages for astrophotography. We mostly miss out on seeing the galactic core, with all its incredible sights. Light pollution is pretty bad. We’re also forced to down tools as twilight veils the night sky for a couple of...

With the whole world battling through the coronavirus pandemic, most nations are in lockdown mode. If you’re reading this now, maybe you’ve found yourself with some free time on your hands. Time to do things other than work. More time to indulge in old pastimes. More...