Magellanic Clouds
Photo was taken with Kodak Ektar 1000 film, 50mm f2.8 lens, for 10 minutes and manually guided by hand on
a barn-door type tracking platform.
Barn-Door Tracking Platform
A simple device used to take the photos above. It consists of two pieces of wood, a long bolt, a hinge,
some rubber bands, a spotting scope and a finder scope.
The hinge is aligned with the Earth's axis. This mount is aligned by spotting the south celestial pole using a
6x30 finder attached to the hinge. When the bolt is turned, it raises one side of the top piece of wood in the same
direction the sky appears to move. The spotting scope is pointed at a bright star and the bolt is turned by hand
at a constant rate keeping the star in the centre of the cross-hair whilst taking a photo. Lenses of up to 200mm
can be used with good polar alignment.
M20 - Trifid Nebula
Photo was taken for 15 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 with Fuji G-800.
M42 - Orion Nebula
Photo was taken for 15 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 with Fuji G-800.
The centre of the nebula was burnt in using a "dodge and burn" method
when exposing the print.
NGC 6334 - Cat's Paw Nebula
Photo was taken for 20 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 with Fuji 400 HGV.
IC 4604 - Rho Ophiuchi Nubula
Gas and Dust around Antaries and Rho Ophiuchi.
Photo was taken for 15 minutes through 135mm f4 lens with Fuji G-800.
In the photo, the bright star is Zeta Orionis. The nebula in the bottom left is NGC 2024 or the Flame Nebula. The nebulosity to the right of Zeta Orionis is IC 434. Silhouetted against it is the Horsehead Nebula which is a dark cloud made up of dust and gas.
B86 - Ink Spot Nebula
Photo was taken for 12 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 with Fuji G-800.
NGC 1365
Photo was taken for 15 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 with Fuji G-800.
NGC 4945
Photo was taken for 15 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 with Fuji G-800.
Comet 1996 B2 Hyakutake
Photo was taken on 23 March 1996 15:13 UT for 4 minutes prime focus through Nick Williams's
telescope 750mm f5 using Fuji G-800 film.
The centre of the comet's halo was burnt in using a "dodge and burn" method
whilst exposing the print.
Comet 1996 B2 Hyakutake - Post-perihelion
Photo was taken on 19 May 1996 18:55 UT for 4 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 using Fuji G-800 film
during morning twilight.
Comet 1996 B2 Hyakutake with Anti-tail
Same exposure as above. The negative was scanned using a Kodac negative scanner and
enhanced by Siegfried Manietta using Adobe Photoshop. The image is not in true colour.
Comet 1995 O1 Hale-Bopp
Photo was taken on 15 August 1996 11:48 UT for 10 minutes prime focus 1350mm f4.5 using Fuji G-800 film.
