Interstellar Dust

Auriga, Gemini, Stars and Dust - Canon 600d DSLR with a clip in Altair Triband Filter and a Sigma EX 10-20 zoom lens on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. 12x5 minute Lights and Bias frames at f/13, f=14mm and ISO800 stacked and cropped using Affinity Photo software. Credit: Pip Stakkert.

On the 4th of February the weather in Lowestoft took a turn for the better so we decided to try out our new Triband filter. We set up the mini-imaging rig whilst the street lights were on and began an hour long run of five minute exposures. We thought that imaging the winter Milky Way, where it runs through the constellations Auriga and  Gemini, would provide a stiff test of how well the Triband filter deals with light pollution from full spectrum LED street lighting. We are pleased with the results but recognise that including the filter in the light train requires long exposure times which in turn puts greater pressure on the accuracy of polar alignment and the equatorial drive. The manipulation of the resulting data also requires a slightly different approach and skills which we hope to develop over the year." - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Orion's Belt with the Flame and Horsehead Nebulae - Canon 600d DSLR with a clip in Altair Triband Filter and Canon 90-300mm zoom lens on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. 4x5 minute Lights and Bias frames at f/6.3, f=220mm and ISO800 stacked and cropped using Affinity Photo software. Credit: Pip Stakkert.