# 339 | The Pleiades
The Pleiades, often mistaken by beginner amateur astronomers as the Little Dipper, is the brightest open star cluster that can be observed.
The view through binculars or a telescope that allows a wide-field view is magnificient. Those wishing to see the Pleiades should act quickly — the cluster is sinking into the sunset shortly after dusk and will soon disappear from evening observations.
From St. Luc, Quebec, expert astrophotographers Marc Paradis imaged the Pleiades over two nights in September 2007 to create this splendid photo.
Image specifications:
- William-Optics Fluorostar 100mm f/8 with 4-inch field flattener
- CCD: STL-11k operating at -20°C with LRGB Astrodon filters (self-guided)
- Mount: Losmandy G-11 Gemini
- LRGB composition: (180:80:80:80) for a total of 7 hours of exposure.
# 338 | When The Stars Aren't The Star
A fantastic astrophoto can capture the eye rather quickly. While a galaxy or nebula are themselves the focal point of a deep sky image, on-tripod astrophotos have a key ingredient in order to be a splendid image: an interesting foreground.
Almost a decade ago Steve Irvine and Bill Loney created Keppel Henge, a large megalithic circle in Big Bay, Ontario.
Using his Canon 350D digital camera, on April 23, Steve took 183 twenty-second images overlooking Keppel Henge and then combined the files to create a 61-minute star trail composite photo.
The foreground was illuminated by some nearby lighting and contrasts greatly with the dark sky.
# 337 | A Young Moon Hovers On The Horizon
In the spring the angle of the ecliptic is almost perpendicular to the western horizon at dusk. This results in the ability, provided that the clouds cooperate, to view a very young Moon. Besides a clear sky, the other key ingredient to viewing a young Moon is a flat, unobstructed horizon.
David Chapman of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia captured this image of the thin crescent Moon — only 19 hours and 28 minutes after new Moon — on the evening of April 6.
David used a Canon PowerShot G3 digital camera to take his image. The 28.8mm lens setting was selected and a 1.75x tele-extender was used. A 1/10 second exposure at f/3.0 using ISO 200 was taken.
# 336 | The Moon Occults M45
On the evening of April 8, viewers with clear skies were treated to another occultation of the Moon by the Pleiades, also known as M45.
The last in a series of occultatons of the Pleiades over the past two years, this event was the most beautiful for some since the Moon was only a few days old. The result was a striking slender crescent Moon gliding across the cluster.
From his home in Calgary, Alberta, SkyNews Associate editor Alan Dyer captured this image using a Canon 20Da digital camera and an 80mm A&M apochromatic refractor operating at f/4.8. A 2-second exposure at ISO 400 was taken.
# 335 | M101
M101, also known as the Pinwheel galaxy, appears exactly as its name suggests — as a pinwheel. A dark sky free from light pollution and a 10-inch or larger telescope is usually required to see the pinwheel shape.
Located within the constellation Ursa Major, M101 can be found slightly north of Alkyd, the last star in the handle of the Big Dipper. Due to its orientation (face-on), M101 can appear very diffuse and can easily be missed.
From his backyard in St. Liborer, Quebec, Martin Bernier imaged M101 on March 5/6.
Martin used a Celestron C9.25 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, operating at f/6.3 and an SBIG SBIG ST2000XM CCD camera.
Post processing was completed using CCDSoft, Photoshop and Astro Tools.
LRGB = 215, 40, 40, 40 minutes.
# 334 | First Quarter Moon
In the spring the angle of the ecliptic is inclined quite steeply towards the western horizon. For lunar observers and photographers, this results in a well-placed Moon in the evening sky, high above the horizon and away from our murky atmosphere which affects seeing and photos.
On March 14, Stuart Heggie of Flesherton, Ontario used his Astro-Physics 155EDF f/7 refractor and an SBIG ST10XME CCD camera equipped with an Astrodon 6nm H-Alpha filter to create this images of the Moon.
Ten images, each .12 seconds were taken and combined afterwards using Maxim DL and Photoshop.
# 333 | The Shuttle Soars Again
Florida is a popular destination for Canadians in March. Those who were visiting the state earlier this month had the opportunity to watch the Shuttle Endeavour launch from the Kennedy Space Centre during the night of March 11, 2008.
Though all launches are a spectacular event, the rare night launches become a sight to behold when the rocket boosters illuminate the dark.
James Fougere, a member of the New Brunswick chapter of the RASC, was vacationing in Florida and was able to capture this image of the Shuttle seconds after lift-off.
A Sony A700 digital camera, equipped with a G-series 300mm f/2.8 lens and a 1.4 teleconverter, was used. With the lens set to f/8, a 1/100 second exposure at ISO 200 was taken.
# 332 | Alberta Auroras
Edmonton has long been known as an excellent location for aurora watchers due to its proximity to the auroral oval — the ring of auroral activity that continually hovers overtop of the Arctic.
Now that we are exiting solar minimum, there should be more appearances of northern lights in our night sky.
Those who wish to photograph auroras are advised to use a fast (f/3.5 or lower) wide-angle lens and a tripod to hold the camera.
On the night of March 8, 2008, a bright aurora developed and Zoltan Kenwell took this image using a Canon EOS 1D Mark III digital camera equipped with a 12mm lens operating at f/4.5. A 44-second exposure was taken.
# 331 | Star Trails
When astrophotography became more popular to do with digital cameras , film wasn't the only thing to essentially go by the wayside. Star trails, images taken with exposures ranging from minutes to hours, were not seen as often since noise, digital artifacts that affect the quality of an image, were prevalent in long-exposure images taken with digital cameras.
Fortunately, in the past year the quality of digital cameras has improved enough that star trail photos are once again becoming popular.
From Sechelt, British Columbia, James MacWilliam took this star trail image last summer using a Canon 300D digital camera. An exposure of almost 16 minutes was taken at ISO 400 using a 22mm lens at f/4.
# 330 | Solar Halo
Surprisingly common, a solar halo is usually not noticed by many since the light of the Sun overwhelms the observer.
Created when thin high cirrus clouds refract sunlight (or moonlight in the case of a lunar halo), sometimes an entire ring will form around the Sun, as seen in this photo taken by William McMullen of Orleans, Ontario. Other times an observer will only see the ice crystals refracting to the left and right of the Sun — called Sun dogs.
William took this image at noon on Friday, February 29, 2008 using a Canon XT digital camera equipped with a 17-40 mm Sigma lens (set to 17mm) at f/11. A 1/1000 second exposure at ISO 200 was taken.