On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
While this is called “On the Road” these shots were taken about 15 feet from my front door, but they depict objects far away from Glendale California.
Last year I attempted to shoot the Rosette Nebula with my then “new to me” Sony A7r and my old star tracker. There are not many star visible in the sky here in Glendale, due to light pollution, so hopping from star to star to get to the target is not a viable option. It took me over an hour to actually find the Rosette and my shot was less that impressive.
This experience made getting a mount with goto a priority for the coming year. I got the Star Adventurer GTI in December of last year, but that only would be able to help me find targets in the sky, I still needed to cut though the light pollution. In the Spring of this year, I got a clip-in filter for the A7r that only lets in several frequencies of light which helps to better see some objects in the sky, even in a light polluted area like Glendale.
A month and a half ago I got a small telescope which gave me greater reach as well as a small astro camera for even a narrower field of view. All of these shots are about an hour if capture time, except where noted.
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This is the Crescent Nebula(NGC6888), it looks like oblong ball sitting out in space. This was one of the first targets I wanted to shoot once I had the greater reach with the telescope. It was shot with the Sony A7r using a dual narrowband filter and processed to give a faux Hubble pallet look.
The North American Nebula(NGC7000) with the Pelican Nebula(IC5070) at the bottom. Again this was processed with a faux Hubble pallet with ionized Hydrogen emissions(Ha) colored yellow and the ionized Oxygen emissions(OIII) colored blue.
This is what is called the Cygnus Loop, it is in the constellation Cygnus(the swan) and is the remnants of a supernova(a massive star that blew up) about 10,000 years ago.
This is the Heart Nebula(IC1805) and Soul Nebula(IC1848), I shot these at Fossil Falls last year and I’m still happy with that shot. However this was shot with the dual narrowband filter and I can boost the OIII emissions and really get a better rendition of these nebula.
The Dumbbell Nebula(M27), this is a pretty common first shot when folk get a new telescope. I shot this, not with the Sony, but with the QHY5III715c astro camera. It is a very smally sensor camera, designed mainly for guiding and planetary photography, but it is pretty well suited for small targets like the Dumbbell. I’m still working out focus with it, but I’m making progress(I had to resynthesize the stars due to focus issues).
As I noted above, the QHY camera is designed mainly for planetary photography, so I gave it a try on Jupiter. This is really my first attempt at planetary photography.
I mentioned photographing the Rosette Nebula(C49) in the introduction and the difficulties I had with my previous tracker. Even though it is pretty early in the year for the Rosette, I shot it the other night. I’m pretty happy with the results and it only took me minutes to find.
I thought I’d end with a shot of my rig. I have two configurations, one with just the camera and the other with the telescope. This one is the camera/lens version. The camera and guidescope are mounted on an ARCA-Swiss plate that is attached to a Vixen dovetail plate that fits on the SA-GTI. Everything is controlled by a mini-PC(I call it Astro) that I remote control either from my phone or laptop outside; or my desktop from inside the house.
War for Ukraine Day 958: A Lot to Cover Tonight
Baud
Wow. Can’t believe you shot those outside your house.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It is pretty amazing what you can get with these filters getting rid of the undesirable wavelengths of light.
J.
Very impressive, especially the photo of the Rosette! I admire your tenacity. I hate that I can no longer see so many stars at night due to light pollution everywhere.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@J.: Thanks, there are “smart telescopes” that do a pretty good job of capturing sky objects(nebula, galaxies) even in light polluted areas for around $500. Some folk have gotten pretty good results with the SeeStar S50 and the Dwarf 3 that just came out should be pretty good.
Quantum man
Absolutely gorgeous! You do amazing work.
Nancy
I can’t find you on Patreon. I looked for the nym you use here. How do you identify there?
Betty
Very nice.
Mary
Thanks for the great photos. Fascinating.
frosty
I’m very impressed with how your filters got you around the light pollution. Also, thanks for the picture of your rig. That’s kind of the equivalent of WG asking OTR posters to mention something about how they travel. Your travel was a short walk out the back door and then millions of light-years!
stinger
I love that last shot! None of what’s pictured in it means anything to me, except that it’s how you are able to make the spectacular images above. Thanks for all of these!
kindness
Nice. You and Kevin Drum are my S. Cal astronomy folk. I think he’s out of Mission Viejo, so he has to travel to get any shots.
Old School
@Nancy:
It’s the same nym.
cope
Great shots, thanks. Having dabbled in astrophotography, I know how tricky and difficult finding individual objects in the sky can be so the goto mount must be a treat to work with.
Thanks again and keep looking up.
KatKapCC
Absolutely stunning!
BigJimSlade
I see Astro in that last shot – but I hope you keep some Scooby snacks handy ;-)
Great shots! I was wondering if you attempted any planets, then there was Jupiter! We visited the observation/visitor’s center on Mauna Kea some years back. At night they set up a bunch of telescopes focused in on different things. It was really neat, actually kinda thrilling, to see Saturn with my bare eyes (well, just one eye peering into the telescope) and some glass.
You know, looking across the land from a mountain top, we get impressed that we can see something 50-100 miles away. And space (the biggest understatement possible in a single word) is so unfathomably vast that it breaks my brain thinking about trying to travel it. But with a clear sky at night you can see things light years away just by looking up.
S Cerevisiae
Absolutely amazing! I have always wanted a small Tele Vue refractor but my old eyes would make it a waste of money but your photography is showing me there may be a different way…
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Quantum man: Thanks much.
@Nancy: As noted below, it is my nym: BillinGlendaleCA | creating Photos | Patreon
@Betty: Thanks.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary: Glad you like them.
@frosty: Not only do the filters get around the city light pollution, they work mitigating the light from the Moon(as long as I’m not shooting too close to the Moon). So, weather permitting, I can shoot here even on the days I’m working and increase my output, as well as test things out before heading to a dark site. I’m glad you liked the pics of the rig, I’ll have a shot of the telescope configuration in my next post, taken at a dark site.
@stinger: I wasn’t sure about including that shot, but I thought it would give folk an idea of what a rig looks like, as I noted above in my reply to frosty, I’ll have a shot of the telescope configuration in my next post.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@kindness: I do travel when I need shots of objects where I need more wavelengths of light, mainly galaxies or astro-landscape shots. I do have more light pollution here than Kevin does in the OC(Orange County).
@Old School: Thanks, I should have included the link(I thought I did).
@cope: I couldn’t shoot here without it, I can only see about 30 stars on a really good night.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@KatKapCC: Thanks.
@BigJimSlade: I’m at home, I have snacks; actually I get home from work at midnight, set things up and start shooting and then eat dinner while it’s shooting. Jupiter was an obvious first choice since it is big and bright. I’ll try to get it next time with the big red spot in view.
@S Cerevisiae: If you really want to explore the sky, a good choice right now are the smart telescopes. They are run from a phone app, to the basic stuff, though not for planets since they usually have to wide a field of view. The SeeStar S50 from ZWO has been out about a year and I’ve seen good images from it as well as crap. The Dawrf3 just came out and has higher resolution as well as being able to track in equatorial mode for longer exposures and no field rotation, but I’ve not seen much from it since it just came out(like this month). One thing about astro photography, about 60% of the work is in post processing.
BigJimSlade
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: Nice that some of your shooting can be more convenient now (you know, and still get really good results)!
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: It really does allow me to work out the kinks in the rig before I spend the time driving to a darker place. I’ve got the basic setup down to about 15 minutes, then focus and polar align and I’m ready to shoot. My next post(already in the works) will be from a darker site, Red Rock Canyon State Park.