Sunday, June 12, 2011

Our Milky Way Galaxy's Central Bulge

I just spent several days of the last dark run photographing this area with different films and lenses. I concentrated on the Scorpius / Ophiuchus regions as the summer may prevent further attempts due to weather conditions. Those will be back and posted here within a few weeks. Until then, here is a reprocessed image from April 2008 I've been playing with.

How Edward Emerson Barnard would have loved to have seen this region in color.

Southwest Sagittarius, Southern Ophiuchus, and northwestern Scorpius. Perhaps the most exciting area within the visible Milky Way. Full of bright and dark nebulae amongst the starclouds of our galaxy's central bulge.


Early morning, April 11, 2008. Pentax 67 with 105mm f/2.4 @ f/4 and 30 minutes exposure on Kodak E200 film push processed +2 stops. Film scanned on an Epson V600 and processed in Adobe PS and PixInsight.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Flanders Pond Observatory

Flanders Pond ObservatoryFlanders Pond ObservatoryFlanders Pond ObservatorySpotmatic PiggybackedSpotmatic with 300mm Takumar PiggybackedPentax 67 Piggyback Mounted
Meade 2080 Schmidt-CassegrainThe Light Gathering Equipment!Equatorially Driven Cameras

Welcome to a tour of my humble facility.  Located under the dark skies of eastern Maine, it is a paradise for astrophotography.  I continue to use my vintage equipment to capture the beauty of the Milky Way and other interesting objects in the sky. These methods include correcting tracking errors manually using an illuminated reticle eyepiece, just like E.E. Barnard did over a hundred years ago!

Built in 2003 with leftover materials from our house contruction. It resides in my front yard where anytime use is a major conveinience.  It would be impossible for me to persue traditional imaging as a hobby otherwise.

Click on the images above for more details.