A month or so ago I was contacted by Essential Media, a production company who were putting together a series on the solar system and the planets for National Geographic. They were after some video footage of what Saturn looks like through an amateur telescope, and of course I happily supplied the best footage I had!
Well the series is now finished and goes to air soon!
In the US the series title is A Travelers Guide to the Planets, and goes to air on the National Geographic Channel US on Feb 14th.
In Australia, it will be screened as Voyage to the Planets, shown by the ABC some time in May.
Last week I had my birthday, turning 35.. I don’t feel older at the moment. I still call myself low-mid 30’s
I’m feeling fit and strong, which is a good thing as I continue preparing for my black belt grading in June! I’m still doing the regular 5km run at Adcock Park, followed by 100 squat kicks, 100 pushups and 100 situps. To push myself, I’m then doing another lap, and then another 100 pushups. It’s feeling good – I’m feeling ready. I’m only doing it once a week at the moment but will be trying to increase it to twice a week in the next month or so. Finding time is the hard part!
The official “prep cycle” for the black belt grading starts in about a month – right after the Sydney All Styles tournament which is on March 7th. I’m really looking forward to getting the prep cycle underway. I’ve been training hard, and the prep cycle is going to be even harder. Bring it on!
From an Astronomy point of view, well, I haven’t really done much. I’ve been trying to motivate myself to get back out there with the Mars image a few weeks ago. Unfortunately it’s been cloudy since then, which really hasn’t helped. The 2010 CWAS “David Malin Awards” have just been announced, and hopefully trying to capture an image for that competition will inspire me to get out there more. I certainly don’t have anything worthy of submitting right now – I haven’t taken a single decent image in 6 months!
I’m motivated for IceInSpace though. With the IceInSpace Community Survey 2010 finishing up the other week, I’ve been busy analysing all the data and making plans for changes to IceInSpace to take us forward for the next 5 years. I have many lofty ideas! Pages and pages of them! I just hope I can get hold of enough of Terry’s time to implement my ideas
On the family front, it’s been very busy! Jacob started at a new school for year 5 – in an Opportunity Class at Gosford Primary School. So far it’s going really well and he’s enjoying it heaps. Abbey also started kindergarten this year! Our baby is now at school! Eliza started year 3 and got the teacher she wanted and the classmates she wanted! So far so good!
Jacob, Abbey and Eliza starting school in 2010
I guess that’s enough for today.. I’ve committed to try and update my blog more regularly this year, but finding the time is proving much more difficult than I imagined.
I’ll keep trying though and hopefully have more updates over the coming weeks.
Well this has been a long time coming… It’s been over 4 months since my last planetary image!
A combination of bad weather, bad seeing and very low motivation for astrophotography (mainly the latter) has meant I just didn’t have my telescope out for literally 4+ months.
I’m trying to force myself back into it, and with Mars almost at opposition (although still very small at 14 arcseconds and very low in the north) I figured now is as good a time as any to get the scope out and take some images again.
So here is a very ugly Mars from Friday night in typically below average seeing and with the planet under 30deg in altitude.
Mars - 22nd Jan 2010
I didn’t really forget anything, but it did feel a bit clunkier – everything took a little longer to get going and be up and running.
But anyway, it’s a start. It’s ugly, but it’s Mars all the same. And hopefully the motivation can climb a little higher and encourage me to get the scope out again the next time it’s clear (it’s been cloudy since then :)).
Back on the 17th September 2009, there was a lovely dawn conjunction of Venus and the Crescent Moon. I woke up early and was greeted to some beautiful clear skies, so I headed out to Terrigal to capture the pairing.
Click each image to see a 1200px wide version.
Venus and Crescent Moon at Terrigal. Click for larger image.
The data has been sitting on my hard drive for almost 3 months waiting to be processed, but I finally managed to find some time to finish them off. And I’m glad I did – I’m happy with how they turned out.
Continue reading to see all of the conjunction images captured in the twilight glow.
This image shows the Orion Constellation in its natural environment. It’s a widefield vista showing all the major components, including Betelgeuse, Rigel, the belt stars, M42, the Running Man, the Horsehead and the flame, parts of Barnards Loop and a faint display of IC 2118.
It’s only 35 minutes exposure, with no flats calibration, so it’s not as smooth as I’d hoped, but like all of my IISAC2009 images, it’s given me a glimmer of hope and something to aim for next time.
The Orion Constellation. Click image to see larger version.
The image was taken at IISAC2009, on the Friday night when my USB hub was playing up and I couldn’t control the camera from the laptop. I mounted my Canon 20D and my new 24-105mm L IS f/4.0 lens on top of my ED80 and pointed it at the Orion Constellation.
The exposures were guided through my 80mm refractor and the DMK21AU04, using PHD Guiding. The camera was controlled using the timer remote. The lens was at 47mm f/5.6, and each exposure was 5 minutes. Dark frame subtraction was done in-camera. 7 exposures @ ISO800, 35 minutes total data. No flats.
I’m really pleased with how the 24-105mm lens is performing – it’s a definite keeper and will definitely make a return to this part of the sky in the future.
I really wanted to capture a great image of the beautiful Andromeda Galaxy (M31) from IISAC2009, but everything conspired against me and it just didn’t work out the way I’d hoped.
With a host of problems, I only captured 15 minutes of data and no flats calibration. Despite all that, it’s my first image of M31 and even though it was only at 10deg altitude, it gives me some hope that I can capture a better image in future.
Click the image for a larger version and read more below.
M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy. Click image for a larger version.
On the first night, I started capturing data but wasn’t happy with my framing so I started to change the composition, and then I had problems with guiding and clouds. On the second night the guiding problems continued to plague me, and once they were sorted out, I had issues with my USB hub which took quite a fall during the day when a big gust of wind blew my laptop hutch off the table. On the third night, clouds low in the North prevented any imaging of M31, so I turned the scope to something else.
So all I ended up with was 3 usable frames from the first night, with no flats calibration and an awkward composition.
The image was captured with my normal Deep Space Imaging equipment – the unmodded Canon 350D with the ED80, riding on the EQ6 and guided with an 80mm refractor using my DMK21AU04 and PHD guiding.
Exposures were 5 minutes each, with dark frame subtraction in camera. 3 exposures @ ISO800, FL ~ 480mm, F/6.
The Open Cluster M7 (or Ptolemy’s Cluster) is situated in the constellation Scorpius, near the centre of the Milky Way.
This image was taken at IISAC2009, early on the Saturday night before it clouded over. The Milky Way was setting in the West, and I captured 50 minutes of data on this object before it set behind the mountain.
Click the image to download the 1200px wide less compressed version.
The M7 Open Star Cluster in Scorpius. Click image for larger version.
This image is my first real deep space (prime focus) image in some time (since January this year!!), so while it’s not in the league of Louie’s beautiful version of M7 that appeared on APOD last week (congrats Louie!), I’m reasonably happy with the image given the lack of data, no flats calibration and the guiding problems I was having at IISAC2009. It really needs to be much deeper and longer to get the golden star field of the Milky Way.
The image was captured with my normal Deep Space Imaging equipment – the unmodded Canon 350D with the ED80, riding on the EQ6 and guided with an 80mm refractor using my DMK21AU04 and PHD guiding.
Exposures were 5 minutes each, with dark frame subtraction in camera. 10 exposures @ ISO800, FL ~ 480mm, F/6.
On Thursday night when the sky was clear, the Milky Way looked lovely setting over the mountain in the West. So on Friday night, 16th October at IISAC2009, I setup my Canon 20D and 24-105mm L lens on a tripod, and programmed it to take 30 seconds exposures on repeat.
I combined the result into a timelapse movie. There’s also a single star trails image with all of the frames combined.
On top of one of the hills facing South East at Lostock Scout Camp, there’s a row of 5 trees that really stand out. I always wanted to make them more of a focus of something photographic. I used them in my Raining Stars at Lostock image from IISAC2008, but it was a much wider field.
On Friday night, 16th October at IISAC2009, I wanted to try again with a longer focal length. I setup my Canon 20D and 24-105mm L lens on a tripod, and programmed it to take 30 seconds exposures on repeat.
I combined the result into a movie – showing both timelapse and star trails. There’s also a single star trails image with all of the frames combined.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had any images to post – fortunately that’s changing now.
We had some great skies up at Lostock at IISAC2009, and I was able to capture some widefield images and some experimental stuff. This image is the first I’ve had a chance to process since coming back, and it’s my first attempt at “light painting“.
It’s called “Milky Way For Sale” and was taken on Saturday night at IISAC2009. Click the image for a larger version.
Milky Way For Sale. Click image for 1200px wide version.
The Milky Way Galaxy was positioned beautifully above the mountain, and Andrew Catsaitis (RB) and I had a great idea for a novelty shot. Continue reading to find out how this shot was done.
My name is Mike Salway and I'm an amateur astronomer and photographer. I'm the co-founder of IceInSpace, and this is my personal blog site and image gallery. Read more about me.
Thanks for looking.
My name is Mike Salway and I'm an amateur astronomer and photographer. I'm the co-founder of 
