Les

Images wouldn't upload on the same post so put them on 3 separate  posts

I was burning some wood in my burning bin around sunset and the flames took on some interesting shapes with grotesque faces and figures and other weird random contortions.

Taken with a Nikon 3200 DSLR

Spectacular.

Thanks Clicker,

I have a brass something or other with a lid and spout which may be based on the sort of vessel you see people in Arab counties to pour tea. I got it from a charity shop and I think it would make a good candidate for my first try at still life. I'll have to gather up all my gooseneck lamps and experiment with different lighting angles. A bit Heath Robinson but sounds like something new to try and have some fun with.

I've managed several images of Woodpeckers over the last few years but only hanging from peanut feeders. Great kudos for getting on in a tree!

I've come to the conclusion that Woodpeckers are camera shy because over the last couple of Spring/Early Summer's I've had one tapping away on a telegraph pole outside my house but as soon as I appear with a camera it either flies off or more annoyingly shuffles to the back of the pole out of sight.

Interesting. Never really considered still life photography, may give it a go with some of the nik naks I've collected from charity shops over the years.

Imaged these sunspots today using a 90mm f9 refractor. The camera used was a Nikon L29 compact coupled to a 40mm Plossl eyepiece using a digiscoping bracket. The objective filter used was Baadar foil solar filter. 

One of the most glorious sights in the night sky are Globular Clusters. They are vast globes of thousands of stars that surround our galaxy in a sort of halo. About 100 of these semi independent cluster bound together by their own gravity but also held firmly by the vast grip of the Milky Way. Other galaxies have their own family of globulars. This one is M3 that contains over 45,000 suns, in a globe 200 light years across.The distance is 48,000 light years. Being so compact any alien observer near the centre of such a system would witness dozens of blazing stars brighter than a full Moon appears to us. It must be a spectacular sight but the sky would never be dark the drawback being that any beings would not be have any idea of the Universe beyond the confined of the cluster itself.

Luckily globulars are easily imaged with DSLR's attached to a suitable driven telescope.

The image was taken at 4:30 this morning using a Nikon 3200 DSLR attached at prime focus of a 16" f4.4 Newtonian reflector. Exposure was 15 seconds at 3200ISO 

Thanks for the replies.

Clicker, the Universal astro digiscoping  bracket that I use is ideal for astronomical telescopes and spotter scopes with a eyepiece barrel diameter of 1.25". I don't know anything about the optical characteristics of rangefinder scopes but if you can somehow attach a digiscope bracket or adaptor to the device I cant see why results cant be gleaned.

Smart phone digiscoping adapters are available but as I have never used one I cant comment, but seeing that everything must hand held no matter what the smart phone route would probably be the better route than a cumbersome  and heavy astro adaptor.

One major problem with digiscoping is vignetting  and a certain amount of digital zoom is necessary when using a compact camera so in a fixed magnifying device this will need to be dealt with  by cropping when processing the image.

I thought you would like to see the setup when these images were taken. Look closely you'll see the Moon's image on the L29 screen. Because the Moon is so bright in the eyepiece it is advisable to set the Exposure Compensation setting to at least -1.3.Its better to have the original image too dark than over exposed and washed out as a darker image can be brighten up using Faststone without losing detail.

A digiscoping bracket is not strictly necessary as I've heard of people using phone cameras free held at the eyepiece getting decent results but a bracket make the chance of getting a really good image much greater especially if the delay timer is used.

The humble compact can give relatively good results with the naked eye planets, and even the brighter wider binary stars. With   the proper filters I've had success imaging sunspots with this system.

A compact and a digiscope bracket can be a ideal setup for Lunar work with any sized telescope.

These images of two of the Moons finest craters were taken with a Nikon 29L compact attached to a 16" Newtonian reflector.

The first image shows the wonderful Copernicus a vast 95km diameter 4km deep pit with terraced walls with Mt Blanc sized mountains in its floor The  shadow filled crater above is the 50 km Reinhold. Below are the  Carpathian Mountains that rival the European Alps height wise.

The second image is Plato a shallow crater 100km wide almost completely flooded billions of years ago by ancient lava from the nearby Mare Imbrium  (Sea Of Rains) seen above right.

The eyepiece used was a 25mm Plossl.

The camera was set at Landscape mode.

Thanks for the comments.  

WOW. This was the first thing that hit me as I logged on this evening, and it immediately cheered me up

The Sun is in the minority being single in its journey through the galaxy most stars form pairs and multiple systems. Luckily a telescope DSLR combination are ideal for imaging many of these binaries.

This example is 61 Cygni a pair of little red dwarfs. This pair were the first stars to have their distances measured by Fredrich Bessel in 1838. They are among our closer stellar neighbours at a distance of just over 11 light years. Less than half the size of the Sun each and a combined luminosity 1/10 solar they require binoculars to see them despite being so close.

Taken with a Nikon 3200 through a 16" f4.4 driven Newtonian 8" exposure at 1600ISO.Take last night before the snow set in!

Not contributed for a while so decided to submit this mornings Sunrise. The temperature at the time was exactly 0.0C!

Not seen one of these for a while and so late in the year too. Only got one shot of this lovely Goldeneye Lacewing  before it gracefully fluttered up into a tree.

Used the standard lens of my Nikon 3200 set at 50mmfl. The camera was set on auto mode and auto focus. 

Great image. Who's watching  who, did you go to the deer park to get looked at?!

The nettle may much maligned but they have many beneficial uses. They can be used to make wine ,soup and tea that are chock  full of vitamins ,in fact weight for weight they contain more vitamin C than oranges and are a great source of iron.

They can be useful in the garden too breaking up and feeding the soil, and can be fermented in water to make a excellent  (albeit a rather smelly fertilizer). The caterpillar of the Peacock Butterfly rely on nettles in the spring

I knew one old woman who rubbed her hands a wrists in stinging nettles to ease arthritis ,she swore by it! 

I hope your right maybe I'm just unlucky and not seeing them(maybe their hiding because their having sex)!

Get out the Dock leaves! These hypo leaf hairs of this nettle leaf are what spoils many a walk in the countryside.

Taken with Nikon 3200DSLR attached to a vintage Vickers microscope via a M42 threaded 21mmfl Celestron astro eyepiece.100ISO 1/30th sec exposure. The sample was lit from both below and above.

Shield Bugs are always a delight to  see, not seen one in years from my locality, along with the Hedgehog and Curlew that  no longer grace my area.

Thanks for the comments.

Its totally amazing what even a basic entry level  DSLR can do these days in the astro field so a lot of the credit must go to wonderful modern equipment.

I have a large back catalogue of astro photographs dating back to 2006 and even some B/W film images dating as far back as 1996 and even one from 1979.

However I will submit only the most up to date images with details of how they were taken so maybe other might have a go.

BTW I no expert I'm still learning new stuff, so any details  given may not necessarily be the best way to get the best results.

Thanks again Les

Thanks for all your comments.

HI Clicker,

No this nebula  needs a sizable telescope to glimpse visually. I have seen it with difficulty in the past with a 150mm reflector but have found it takes at least a 200mm reflector to see it comfortably.

Of course it can be photographed with smaller telescopes if the sky is transparent enough with no much light pollution but will require longer exposure times. I have managed to image it with a ordinary telephoto lens so that is possible but a driven mount is needed .

The M42 Great Nebula Of Orion is nearby below the belt in the Sword Handle that is visible with the naked eye and is an interesting object with binoculars.

There is a much fainter extension of the Flame  the contains the Famous Horsehead  Nebula which is backlit by several bright new born stars, but although I have imaged this using the above equipment not well enough to submit anywhere yet,but I'll keep trying.

Earwigs are not much to look at but they are very caring of their young nurturing them into adulthood and must be given kudos for that. The more I see of humanity the more I respect the Earwig (present company excluded of course)!