Now before we go further let me recommend this to you. Some time soon, find a dark place and a clear sky. Admire the universe. Take a photograph for your friends abed. Simple.
Oh and forgive me if it drives you mad.
Over years I have built up a collection of kit that assists in just such an endeavour and, despite a desperate chest infection I was determined to marry some of the old and the new (noted below) and cast my lot. The weather was pretty good. No wind. Not even too cold. The moon absent and unable to interfere.
Just as you were probably thinking about cocoa and an improving book, I stole away to a layby in the Essex countryside and, with the cover of a dark sky, set about my erection.
Tripod locked tight, leveled and on a firm base. Telescope, focal reducer, T adapter, camera, shutter release. All assembled. Adjust the mount, make sure everything is tightened down. Swing round to a long distant village and check the focus. Final adjustment of the finder alignment. Look around for three bright stars. Sirius, Procyon, Betelgeuse in the bag. And ping….its a match. The little gadget in my hand is pleased with where we are and what it has seen so far and is eager for adventures. The lights of the car go down and the universe goes up around us.
So begins the happy hours of a dark sky. I am cast about on the inky seas of memory and experience. Awed as we must surely be against such majesty. My gaze wanders through seasonal friends and favourites.
A hunter, the bull, seven sisters, Neptune, a hero, a princess. Spiral swirls and rich fat globs of stars in iridescent colour.
These spring to the eye and run around my imagination casting me back and forward through our local backwater then off through the milky way and to shores beyond.
Along the way I have see the back of my camera light up with minatures. Nebulae, clusters, a planet, asterisms, and galaxies have lined up two by two and are in the box. I can’t wait to see what I have seen!
And there’s the rub of course. Eventually I grew cold enough to consider it done. Packed up my kit, emptied the last drop from the flask, and drove home. Content and warm again in the drive. The chip of dreams ready to slip in to the side of my computer.
The pictures were every bit as perfect as I could’ve wished. I got the timings right. I nailed the framing. They were great. Except…. and here I learn the lesson for next time…. they were all slightly out of focus!
Hey ho. It was a grand night out. Lets hope it’s clear dark again tonight!
Finally a big thank you to:-
The Widescreen Centre for an amazing telescope, a rather cool offering from Celestron, and Canon for making great cameras that work even when you make them do stuff other than snaps.
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