Here you will find some of my astro-photos, mostly taken in the days BC (Before CCD) but some are current. These have been digitised and subsequently enhanced. I've also included a few other pictures which you may find of some interest although they are not strictly astonomical.
This list is slowly growing (as promised) and I'll continue to put more on when I get the time. They are ordered in the order that they are added to the list, latest at the bottom.
The images are JPEG compressed and much lower resolution than the originals, but that is to be expected.
Southern milky
way (93Kb) This has to be the best region of the milky way - around
the southern cross from eta carinae through to the pointers (Alpha and
Beta Centaurus). Taken with a Pentax 50mm f/1·4 lens (stopped to
f/2-2·8).
Sunset over the
Warrumbungles (20Kb) Sunset from the catwalk of the AAT over the Warrumbungle
ranges. I've seen many spectacular sunsets (and sunrises!) but they never
come out on film as well as in real life. But the the hills makes for a
good backdrop.
Moon and Venus
(14Kb) And after sunset...
Lightning storm
(25Kb) Sometimes after a spectacular sunset in summer a storm comes.
Here is a portion of one such display.
Milky way (90Kb)
The milky way rides high overhead in winter. Here's the nicest bit.
Lunar eclipse
(17Kb) Here's a total lunar eclipse through my 20cm f/10 Newtonian.
Nice image scale for this sort of thing, but the mounting wasn't up to
it so it's a touch blurry.
Eta Carinae (55Kb)
The Eta Carinae nebula is a splendid object both visually and photographically,
but this shot doesn't really do it justice. Taken through my 20cm f/4·5
Newtonian for 20 minutes.
M42 (36Kb) When
I took this shot 12 years ago I was rather pleased with it. Film technology
has improved since then and I would expect any beginner to be able to do
better. Taken through my 20cm f/4·5 Newtonian for 20 minutes.
The summer milky
way (92Kb) I was able to borrow a super Nikon fisheye lens for a few
hours. Unfortunately I didn't have the right film, nor much time, however
the result is OK - it's just that this is really a rather booring stretch
of the sky. It shows the milky way from Centaurus and Carina in the upper
left to Orion and Taurus at lower right. The 2 Magellanic clouds are visible
at lower left (with a meteor going between them). On the original you can
just see the Rosette nebula and Barnard's loop in Orion, but they are difficult
to see here.
The winter
milky way (29Kb) I borrowed the super Nikon fisheye lens again. This
time I had some slightly better film and a better patch of sky. You can
see Carina and the southern cross and coalsack at the lower left (joins
the above image at its upper left), right through the centre of the galaxy
down to my northern horizon. Our galaxy is pretty nice from our vantage
point.
My house and
some clouds (29Kb) With the same fisheye lens I took a nice "daylight"
picture of my house. When I show people this they first think it is a daylight
picture...until they look a little more closely...
The LMC (55Kb)
The LMC with a standard 50mm lens. The bright star Canopus can be seen
on the lower left. The centre portion of this image is shown in more detail
here (58Kb).
The LMC (52Kb)
The LMC with a 179mm f/1·9 lens. This lens is from an old projector.
It is fast, but has significant vignetting and poor off-axis images. However,
it does produce some nice pictures. The "bar" of the galaxy can be seen
as can much of the outlying structure. The "tarantula" nebula can be seen
at the lower middle of the frame.
The SMC (46Kb)
The SMC with the same 179mm f/1·9 lens. The relative size of the
LMC and SMC can easily be seen. The globular cluster known as 47 Tuc is
at the middle top of the frame.
Orion (41Kb)
The Orion region through the same 179mm f/1·9 lens. M42 and its
extensions can be seen, as can the "horsehead" and "flame" nebulae. It's
just a shame this lens isn't a little better.
M8 & M20 region
(35Kb) The milky way around M8 and M20 taken with the same 179mm f/1·9
lens.
Comet Hyakutake
(16Kb) Hyakutake through my 20cm. Scanned from a print.
Comet Hyakutake
(16Kb) Hyakutake through my 20cm the next night.
Comet Hyakutake
(21Kb) Hyakutake through the 179mm f/1·9 lens.
My house from
the air. (52Kb) Definitely not astronomical. Looking south towards
my house and observatory in the early morning. The roll-off roof observatory
is aligned E-W (like many megalithic monuments!)
My house from
the air. (115Kb) A similar view to the above image, but the 2004 edition which
shows the dome and extension to the skyshed.
A lightning
movie (360Kb) Also not astronomical. My father has a video digitising
card and so we cut down about 10 minutes of a nice storm into this 24 second
compilation. The storm was some 40km away at the time, but I had a good
vantage point. This is only ¼-frame - if you want the full-frame
movie then contact me. It is 1·7Mb.
Below are stills from two of the better flashes. The video is at 25fps and so each frame is 40msec later than the other. I find it amazing how different each frame is - the frames immediately before and after each sequence are blank. (Each frame is roughly 65Kb at 768×512 resolution.)
Flash 1: frame 1 frame 2 frame 3 frame 4 frame 5 frame 6 frame 7 frame 8 frame 9 frame 10 frame 11 frame 12 frame 13
Flash 2: frame 1 frame 2 frame 3 frame 4 frame 5 frame 6 frame 7 frame 8 frame 9 frame 10 frame 11 frame 12
A view from the AAT catwalk one foggy morning
just before sunrise. West (right) through south (centre) to near east (left).
A complete 360° view from the AAT catwalk
. West (left) through north, east and back to the west. Smoke from a small
bush fire is visible to the east. An old photographic sequence taken in
November 1986. The mountain top has changed a little since then with some
telescopes departing and new ones appearing.
The total eclipse of the Sun in 2002 was viewed from Ceduna in South
Australia and deserves it's own page.
home
back
to image processing
to
publications
