I have been interested in astronomy since I was a child and have watched countless episodes of the Sky at Night, a BBC TV show that has been running my entire conscious life.
I have filmed the Moon in several countries and one eclipse in London back in the 1990's and it was always one of those things that I was going to get around to doing...for myself.
In recent weeks I have been having a go at doing astrophotography myself and dug out an old star finder that I have had since 1982.
The pole star is in the center of the dial and the main constellations are all visible with the naked eye.
Analog Star Finder
Using this star finder I have been locating various stars and photographing them. Although I was pretty sure of the stars I was photographing it felt a little hit and miss.
This image below is Vega. It is a very bright star in the northern hemisphere. You cannot miss it. It is so much brighter than anything near it.
Vega
A very helpful steemian and excellent astrophotographer @astrophoto.kevin has been following my progress and kindly sent me a link to http://nova.astrometry.net/upload which is a brilliant piece of free software that can identify stars that you upload.
I uploaded my image of Vega and this was the result. It was confirmed.
Vega confirmed by a digital star finder
I cannot express my gratitude enough for this piece of fascination information and software link. Thank you Kevin.
Being of the scientific bent by nature and training. I thought I would give the software a blind test. I have used star finder digital apps in the past but found them lacking in many ways.
The first photo I uploaded was tagged Vega1.jpg and so I thought it may have given the software a clue. So I uploaded this photo below just called stars.jpg.
I knew it was Cassiopeia. It looks like a big W in the night sky. And that cloud it is in, is the Milky Way!
Cassiopeia
The result was again exactly right. The software identified it correctly.
Cassiopeia confirmed
I am as happy as a clam and have stepped into a whole new dimension to my understanding of astrophotography and astronomy.
This is what the web was originally designed for. For people to share ideas, grow and share their knowledge. I am fired up and more than a little excited for the future.
Thank you Steemit, Kevin and all my supporters for giving me the chance to fulfill a life long dream. I'm actually doing it and loving it.
My journey into Astrophotography.
Canon 70D camera and lens settings for astrophotography
Starry Night
Astrophotography on no budget
It's full of stars
I found a whole galaxy
Perseid Meteor Shower
Moon and Saturn
Turning the night time into day
My gear list
EOS Canon 70D
Sigma 30 mm
Sigma 20 mm
Pixel Shutter Cable Release
Travel tripod