The Cheshire Astronomer

Good evening "Skywatchers" Well, what do you know? We have had three evenings with clear skies and know Moon. Surely this has to be a record for British Skies and Astronomers. Last night I wanted to say farewell to our old friend Orion. So- I spent the evening imaging the area surrounding the three belt stars and Messier 42. The camera was my trusty Canon 1000D and the lens, my new Tamron zoom. I had that set to 140mm at F9. Here then are 34x3 minute exposures Un-guided.

How sad I am now my dear old dad and mentor has " Changed his Cosmic Adress " It was on 22nd January 2018 that he made his ascent to his celestial home in the sky. By now he is no doubt wondering through the heavens watching his home planet, with all the troubles it has. And shaking his head in dismay. I like to think he was able to have a word about the weather up there. Because. For part of the evening on, 02-02-18 the skies in East Cheshire cleared and we had 4 hours of a clear Winter sky. Thanks, Dad 😁 This allowed me to get out and go into my control room that is "Whirlpool Observatory" And collect some ancient light. On this evening. I decided to keep it all low tech and image Messier 35 with a camera and lens on my Losmandy G11. The camera. Canon 1000D and the lens. Tamron AF 70-300 F4-5.6 Di I now use APT for digital imaging. I think this program is excellent and does everything I want. How do you focus your camera lens, I hear you ask! W...