Thursday, 9 January 2025

The Constellation Orion at 50mm

 

Orion imaged with an astro-modded Canon 200d DSLR, a triband filter and a Canon F1.6 f=50mm fixed lens. Image Credit: Kurt Thrust.

"The constellation Orion is truly magnificent at this time of year, when viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. As Orion sits within the field of view of a 50mm lens attached to the Observatory's DSLR cameras, I decided to see if I could capture Orion whole in a series of one frame shots. There is an obvious trade off in the quality of the star images, in particular a number of aberrations affect the stars toward  the edges of the field of view. However, we all agreed that the overall visual impact of the cropped image out weighed  the downside in star quality. The image was created from a stack of 45 x 1minute exposures (or subs) taken at ISO1600. The Moon, now just past 'First Quarter', was an issue, which was largely resolved by the use of a 'Triband Filter', which selectively limits the passage of light from the sky to the camera sensor, allowing only photons to pass within 3 designated wavelength bands". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Tuesday, 7 January 2025

First Quarter Moon in the New Year 2025

 

A video clip captured at F6 using a QHY5iii462c planetary camera and stacked and processed using Affinity Photo 2.5, AS!4  and AstroClean - Image credit: Pip Stakkert.

Crescent Moon and Venus Conjunction from 03-01-2025. Composite image compiled from images captured with a Canon 600d DSLR and a 135 mm. Samyang lens. Credit: Kurt Thrust.

"Nice way to start the new year with our nearest celestial neighbour the beautiful new Moon" - Joel Cairo.