Today I tried to capture a transit of the ISS across the disc of the sun, but somehow I missed it, even though I started my series of exposures according to a GPS clock. So the only result I can show is the face of the quiet sun, with only small sunspots littered across. Read More
Yesterday afternoon I decided to do some simple astrophotography high up in the mountains. I chose the Cavalljoch as the view to the south is unobstructed. My backpack was way too heavy, but somehow I managed to trek from Schattenlagant to the Cavalljoch. The night was the darkest night I ever experienced. M13 was clearly visible with indirect vision with the unaided eye. Read More
Currently Venus and Jupiter are pairing up for a brilliant conjunction in the evening sky, here are some images:
Astro-Professional 560mm f/7 ED, Nikon D7000, ISO 800, 0,4s, crop from image below
Yesterday evening a cold front produced some sever thunderstorms across central Europe, lightning was flashing contiuously for a few hours, here are the best images I was able to take:
M13 and M3 are two very fine globular clusters visible in the spring sky:
3x120s. 127mm f/8 refractor, Nikon D7000
After a long spell of clouds of rain, on sunday evening I took advantage of a few clear hours to get some more data on M51. This image is a combination of raw images from April 20th and May 10th. The total exposure time is now at 64 minutes.
32x120s, Nikon D7000, ISO1600, 127mm f/8 refractor
Today the sunspot called AR2339 featured prominently on the sun’s disk:
the images are single exposures using a Canon EOS 60Da, and a 127mm f/8 apochromatic refractor, using Baader Solar Film ND3.8 ISO100, 1/8000s
The VAA, my astronomy club acquired a Canon EOS 60Da for astrphotography together with a Samyang/Rokinon/Walimex 85mm f/1.4 lens, here are some first results. Accidentially I forgot to use the RAW setting, therefore all images were acquired as JPEG… Read More
The Moon, Venus and Aldebaran were grouped nicely in the evening sky above the Lake of Constance on April 21st 2015: Read More
After I acquired the 127mm refractor I was on the search for an affordable mount suitable for astrophotography, serendipitously I learned that my astronomy club is in the possession of an old but working Meade LXD 650 mount. It turns out, the LXD carries the refractor quite nicely, here are the first images shot with that combination:
NGC is a long time favourite of mine, the galaxy is beautiful in the eyepiece as well as in pictures:
NGC 4565, Astro-Physics 127mm f/8 refractor, Nikon D7000, Meade LXD650 mount, 14×120 sec., darks, flat, processed in Deep Sky Stacker, Lightroom and Photoshop