Astro Photography

From a very young age, one of my interests has been Astronomy, and I have always had a fascination with what’s ‘up there’ in the night sky. At about 10 years old I was given a basic telescope as a present, however I never followed this up with better equipment. In 2015, with retirement approaching, I decided Astronomy was something I could spend more time on, so, I bought a new telescope and began making observations. Very soon however, I wanted to attach a camera to my telescope and take some pictures, but realised I would need better kit, so let it lie for a few years.

In March 2020, Covid-19 struck, and we were all forced to stay at home under lock-down. This coincided with a number of very clear nights in the UK in April, and I began to think that Astro-Photography would be a good lock-down activity, so I bought a small refractor telescope – an Altair Astro 72 EDF, and began putting together all the other bits of equipment that are required for an Astro-Photography rig. By the end of 2020 I felt I had a reasonable set of equipment for imaging with a DSLR, however since then I have moved on to a dedicated mono Astro camera with a selection of coloured and narrowband filters. I am still building up both my equipment and experience, however the North-West of England is not exactly the ideal location for Astro-Photography due to the frequent cloud cover and light pollution. Those challenges mean that progress is slow, however that makes the final results all the more rare and special – that I have managed to pull something interesting out of our cloudy and light polluted skies . I know my images have some way to go to achieve the level of some Astro-Photographers, but I am still pleased to be able to share what I have achieved so far. Gordon Watson – Sep 2024

Astro Gallery