Latest: 16 megapixel Moon - 6th April

The 'sequel' to the earlier 17 megapixel Moon image back in September, this is the other half of the Moon at a similar scale. Again taken with the SC4 modified Philips webcam and my 150mm reflector in infrared light, but due to having to rush because of oncoming clouds each video was only 100 frames. As a result it's a little noisier than the first image.
Again a warning, the large image is 4mb and may slow some browsers down.


(Click to view full image)

Images from Bayfordbury - 30th March 2009

I now have a new page here which includes all of the images I have taken from the University of Hertfordshire Observatory telescopes at Bayfordbury, both as part of course practicals and in my own free time.

17 megapixel Moon - 21st September

This image was a bit of a mini project, taken over Friday night/Saturday morning and processed over the next 36 hours. It is a mosaic composing of 64 separate videos of 200 frames each, using my new SC4 camera and my 150mm reflector in infrared light.
Just a warning, the large image is 4mb and may slow some browsers down.


(Click to view full image)

Star Map tools removed - 18th September

The recently posted Star Map tools have had to be removed due to suspected increased strain in my web host's server, forcing them to temporarily shut down the site. I am looking into other solutions, but nothing can be promised. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

Partial Solar Eclipe - 1st August

A partial solar eclipse was visible from the UK this morning, 20% from my location. A few pictures and an animation are on the solar eclipse page

Red Kites - 3rd July

Following recent interest, I now have a new page containing pictures I have taken of local Red Kites.

Horsehead and Flame nebulae - 16th September

This will probably be the last picture I post for quite a while, I'm moving into university on Saturday, and can't take my equipment with me.
Quite possibly my favourite shot I've ever taken, it's such a beautiful piece of the sky. I took this over the past two mornings, waking up at 2am (requiring every drop of willpower to drag myself out of bed), finally having everything working by 3 then imaging til the Sun came up... then going to work at 7.
This picture was also chosen to be featured on the homepage of the Society for Popular Astronomy.

M1, Mars and Xi Tauri - 16th September

This was a quick picture of a close conjunction between M1 - The Crab Nebula, and Mars this morning. The star on the left is Xi Tauri, I thought it was a nice colour, contrasting Mars, and it makes for a better composition I think.

Venus - 15th September

I was about to pack up this morning when I saw a really bright light in the East (no... not the rising sun) and I just stared at it for a while before realising what it was. The morning star, Venus! I couldn't resist getting a quick shot with my guidescope

Dusk til Dawn - NGC7000, M45, M31 & M42 - 10-11th September

First up was the end of my first multi-night project, an emission line image of NGC7000. I've been doing one filter each night for the past few clear nights. It didn't turn out as nice as I'd liked (tis very noisy), I had many problems which limited the amount/quality of subs - the Moon, tracking problems, dew.


The next two were spur of the moment shots, just to fill time until Orion rose.

M45 - The Pleiades
I had to twist the telescope around a bit to get this to fit on, but it ended up being framed perfectly. There was no hint of nebulosity in the subs, so was pleasently suprised to be able to squeeze it out of the light pollution.


I think I'm finally happy with this one of M31:


and finally - M42, The Orion nebula in narrowband.

An early M42 - 4th September

I was up at silly hours imaging the Moon, and as I was just going to pack up now I was freezing - I saw Orion low in the South-East. It was like an old friend I hadn't seen in months. I'd missed out on imaging M42 with my 350D back in March by a few weeks, so just had to have a quick bash.

Large Lunar Mosaic - 4th September

Ever since I did my last half Moon mosaic, I've wanted to do another one but have been distracted, mainly by deep sky things. Last night was the perfect opportunity, it was clear, it was a quarter phase moon again, and it was the other half to what I'd imaged before. The only snag was that it rose fairly late, so I had to set the alarm for 2am. The final image (the other half from last time) was taken in the same detail and consists of a mosaic of 36 seperate images.