Astronomy Diary — BLT Astro

The Celestial Collection NEW

An unlikely collaboration with a cosmetics company brings my images to a new audience.

Southern Polar Alignment Hack

I’ve been working on miniaturising my travel rig, and think I’ve found a great hack for polar aligning in the Southern Hemisphere for my travels later in the year.

Double Published 2022 NEW

I submitted images for Sky at Night Magazine & Astronomy Now and got published in their April editions.

BLT on Tour - AstroCamp Apr ‘22 NEW

I booked onto my first AstroCamp in Wales. Would I survive the cold and return with any images?

Portable Astrophotography Galaxy Hunter NEW

Experimenting with a focal reducer to make a portable deep sky galaxy rig.

RedCat 51 Summer Challenge 2021

Calling all William Optics RedCat users to participate in a collaborative image capture of The Veil Nebula.

Imaging Jupiter

Further progression of my planetary imaging journey on Jupiter, capturing the Great Red Spot and learning to de-rotate my image stacks.

Top 10 Biggest Improvements in astrophotography

In the post I run down the top 10 things (techniques, hardware, software…) that have kept me on a steady path of incremental improvements with my images.

Meteor Detection Camera

Using online instructions I have set up a meteor detection camera that watches the sky while I sleep, joining a global network of home camera waiting for the next big fireball.

DIY All Sky Camera

I built a simple waterproof casing for housing an All Sky Camera that I can leave outside overnight.

Drift Stacking Technique

I experimented with a new technique combining stacking and star trailing which I’ve dubbed Drift Stacking. The images received a great reaction online, so I’ve written a blog about how I made the images. Enjoy!

iOptron Skyguider Pro Portable Rig

Everyone needs a lightweight rig; small enough to take away for a weekend to a dark sky site whilst not compromising on capability. This can also double as a quick home set-up if you’re not blessed with long periods of clear skies.

Journey to Mars

2020 saw me rejuvenate my attempts at planetary imaging. This blog post covers the theory, my imaging rig, tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way and my first set of images.

ZWO Cooled Camera Condensation

If like me you’ve had strange marks appearing on your images, here’s some advice I’ve learned from the experts.

Chasing Comet NEOWISE

During July I have had a number of late nights and early mornings photographing Comet NEOWISE on various set ups from different locations.

Go like a Pro

The astro imager’s holy grail is the ultimate lightweight rig to take ‘off road’. With it’s diminutive size, super wide lens and smart phone compatibility, could the GoPro camera paired with a pocket-sized tracking mount be the solution?

DIY Flats Cap

Follow this step-by-step process to make a Flats Cap for your scope to save time and fiddle at the end of an imaging session.

Jargon Busting - Filters

I’ve been doing some reading up about filters and found the terminology very confusing. Therefore I have compiled a jargon busting list of what filters are available and when they should be used.

Supermoon Planning Monday 9th March 2020

I found the location, I booked the time off, I primed my equipment - would I get a glorious photograph?

Return of the Mak

New scope alert! I’ve purchased a secondhand Maksutov Cassegrain...and my wife’s gonna kill me.

The Southern Stars

Results from an evening’s nightscape astrophotography under New Zealand’s pollution free skies with a lightweight widefield setup.

Published!

My M31 Andromeda image made the Gallery in Astronomy Now’s January 2020 edition. I am now a published astrophotographer!

Capturing the Transit of Mercury 11 Nov 2019

Determined not to miss this Transit, I planned my session, practised my setup and was delighted with the images I managed to capture.

Becoming a Narrowbandido

Shooting in narrowband draws out detail that would otherwise be lost in normal colour RBG images. I was intrigued enough to buy myself a 2” dual Ha OIII (Hydrogen Alpha & Oxygen 3) filter to see what all the fuss was about. Do I have what it takes to earn my spurs as a Narrowbandido?

IAPY 2018

On Sunday 5th May I visited the National Maritime Museum to see the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition; read about my experience and my favourite image amongst an impressive selection.

Astro Pixel Processor 30 day Trial

People are raving about the results they get from APP compared to more established processing software. Some of my recent processing sessions have given me lacklustre results, so could APP be the solution?

Low cost pier project

To account for not getting great low altitude views from the BLT, I am embarking on a low cost external pier project that seeks to cut some corners (and £££s) without skimping on quality. This will hopefully provide me a second polar aligned mount head, protected against the weather, ready for lunar and planetary observing.

Lunar photography: Stacking vs Single Shot

New equipment has enabled me to try stacking images of the moon. I do not generally like the slightly artificial, over-polished appearance of stacked lunar images - preferring to pick the best individual images from a batch. Will I become a convert to the other side?

Misadventures in collimation

Like many before me, I have attempted to tweak my optics and fallen down a rabbit hole. Using low-tech methods I think I managed to fix it. Let this post either act as a warning or inspiration.

Plate solving is a revelation!

It feels like everyone else has been doing this for years and I’ve only just discovered it. It ranks up there with the greatest time-saving devices for astronomers. Why did no one tell me about this earlier?

MoveShootMove SiFo Rotator review

The MoveShootMove SiFo rotator is a tracking camera head suitable for both time lapse and astrophotography. Its diminutive size and weight make it ideal for a travel setup.

Missing Halley's Comet 1986, Bali

My first experience of star gazing was standing on a tropical beach at stupid o’clock in the morning failing to see Halley’s Comet. The year was 1986, the location, Bali.