Images in the Twilight
These images have been a long time coming – they were taken back in late June/early July, at Nambucca Heads on the mid-north coast of NSW when Anthony Wesley and I were there for a planetary imaging camp.
I only just got around to processing them this week. I’m not sure why but I always left them until later. Looking at them now, I wish I’d processed them earlier – i’m really happy with how they’ve turned out. I love these type of shots – combining terrestrial photography with astronomical interests.
We had such a fantastic week there – every day was clear and every night was clear. Every morning had brilliant (cloudless) sunrises and the waning thin crescent moon made an absolutely georgeous sight each morning. Read on to see more images..
On one morning, the crescent Moon and Mercury made a wide conjunction in the twilight glow. Orion was rising just above the horizon in the East and Comet Boattini put on a nice show.
During the days, we watched through our telescopes as whales migrated North to the warmer waters. The nights were crystal clear with no dew, and fairly dark skies despite being so close to Coffs Harbour.
While imaging Jupiter with my 12″ newtonian, I set up my Canon 350D to take star trail images throughout the night.
On the morning of the 30th June, the moon was rising while the sky was still reasonably dark. A beautiful glowing reflection was cast across the ocean that I tried to capture on “film”.
All in all it was a fantastic week and although the weather was clear all week, the seeing wasn’t great and so the great Jupiter images I’d hoped to come away with never eventuated. On the very last night, the seeing was the best it had been all week while Jupiter was still very low on the horizon. Unfortunately before Jupiter had a chance to rise, clouds came and spoiled the show. The only clouds we saw all week and they had to come then!
This last shot of the early morning rays of sunshine capped off a brilliant week of astronomy and astrophotography. I wish Kate and the kids were there to enjoy it with me… maybe next time.
I’ve created a new album, Twilight, in my gallery for these type of shots. I hope you enjoyed them.
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posted in Astronomy, Astrophotography, Photography | 3 Comments
My name is Mike Salway and I'm an amateur astronomer and photographer. I'm the co-founder of 
Great website Mike !
You’ve got some amazing photographs !!
Thanks a lot, Jared. Likewise to you, I love your landscapes.