Rob Tilsley

@stargazerrob.bsky.social

2228 Followers 598 Following

Astrophotography shenanigans.

Night landscape photograph. A brown field (dry grass) in the foreground. In the distance a woodland and gentle hills. The starry sky appears blue-ish from twilight and moonlight being picked up by the long exposure. Near the horizon, ethereal white Noctilucent clouds are apparent, they are wavy with intricate patterns. In the upper right, the streak of a meteor, and a nearby small cloud left a smudge due to its movement.
Monochrome night landscape photograph. A road starts in the centre foreground and goes away and to the left with hedgerow either side. Trees frame the view on either side, and some branches are visible above too, at the edge of the frame. Rolling fields appear in the distance. The Milky Way spans the sky prominently as a large bright streak going from the centre right, just above the horizon to the top left, bright and dark patches apparent. Due to twilight, the foreground is illuminated with ambient light, and the sky is a bit washed out.
Night landscape photograph. A road in the foreground goes away from the view and disappears behind hedgerow as it curves to the left. Large, and close trees frame the view on the left and right, rolling fields in the distance. The sky is clear, appearing light blue-ish from the twilight. The Milky way divides the frame diagonally stretching from the top left to the bottom right. The 'teapot' asterism of Sagittarius is centered, just above the horizon.
Landscape photograph - huge bolt of lightning in the centre of a landscape. The clouds above are illuminated by the strike, and the fields and distant hills are also apparent. Some town lights near the centre, below the strike.
Landscape photograph, lower third is foreground - a road, centered, is going away from the view, there is a junction to the right, road framed on both sides by hedges. In the middle distance is fields, and the far distance is high ground of Dartmoor national park. The mostly clear sky is blue from twilight, Jupiter and Venus in the center, the only celestial objects visible, Venus the brighter, above and to the right of Jupiter. A large cloud towers on the left, and there is thick band of cloud on and above the horizon.
Monochrome landscape photo. Completely dark foreground, silhouette of hedgerow on the left, and trees on the right. Deep twilight adds light to the sky, although it is quite dark, with a number of stars scattered around. There is some distant cloud just above the horizon. Two very bright star-like objects are near the center, Venus the brighter, higher and to the right of Jupiter.
night sky scene, with rolling fields in the foreground, and a large tree to the centre right, most of the image is the sky though, virtually cloudless, deep twilight bringing a gentle blue tone to the sky background. Timelapse, with time appearing sped up - stars gently drift, and many many satellites whiz through
night landscape image. Wide angle. Dark silhouette of a hedgerow (left) and a few distant trees (right). A long exposure picked up twilight, concentrated near the horizon with a yellow-ish red-ish colour. There are thin clouds near the horizon and a streak of high cloud going from the center to top left of the image. Jupiter (middle left), and Venus (low center) appear as very bright white objects. Many stars scatttered around the rest of the sky. The 'fishhook' of Perseus on the right hand side, Auriga near the center, and Gemini on the left. In the far top left the 'Beehive cluster' appears as a compact smudgy area.
Monochrome lunar closeup. Part of Mare Imbrium's floor. A smooth region with some wrinkles, lunar alps to the top right, a large crater Aristillus in the lower centre, and in the middle, a small hill/feature that resembles Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer)
Monochrome telescopic view of the lunar surface. Mare Australe is presented as 'up' in the image. It is near the limb. A large vally (Vallis Rheita) is in the foreground, a vertical line, curving gentle to the right. Mare Australe is a busy region of dark, oval patches.
Monochrome telescopic closeup. North is to the top right, the terminator is in the upper left. The lunar alps form a prominent vertical row near the centre left of the image, jagged shadows casting onto the surface. Vallis Alpes emerges from the mountain range, horizontally, spanning all the way to Mare Frioris
A short video clip, telescopic view of the lunar limb, a dark, blurry flapping shape briefly passes through the frame
Monochrome telescopic lunar closeup. North diagonally left and up. The terminator divides the frame going from top left, down to the middle bottom. Aristoteles and Eudoxus are near the middle of the image, both large, with terraced walls and center peaks. The Montes Caucasus range of mountains start near the craters and go down, there are shadows cast by the peaks, revealing details of the mountains' shapes. Elsewhere in the region there are large comparatively feature-less areas, Mare Serenitatis to the lower right, Lacus Mortis in the middle right, and Mare Frigoris spanning the middle top.
Monochrome telescopic view of the lunar surface, presented roughly east 'up'. Moon is near first quarter, the terminator goes from the lower left to mid right, where the lunar south pole is. The surface is heavily cratered with many craters just catching their first light of the lunar day. Maurolycus appears as a large, complex crater, the floor is partially illuminated revealing smooth and rough areas, and craterlets. The peaks near the centre are bright, and in two groups, with the lower group noticeably elongated in a left to right configuration.
Telescopic , closeup view of the limb of the moon. Dark valleys snake along, roughly parallel to the edge, Mare Orientale is a dark flat area on the horizon
Night scene: dark foreground of rolling hills and fields, town lights in a valley on the right in the middle distance. Sky is bright due to the moon, a long exposure has brought out blue in the sky, with Orion on the left, and the Pleiades on the right, they’re framed by some low cloud
Night scene. Dark foreground, town lights clustered in the middle distance and off to the right. Top two thirds of the image is a clear night sky, despite light pollution, a fairly dense covering of starts. Orion centre left, Taurus centre
Night scene. Foreground fields and hedgerows, some trees distinguishable in the middle distance amongst the mist. Church spire breaks the horizon on the right. Sky largely overcast with thin cloud, bright, nearly full (waxing gibbous) moon left of centre surrounded by a '22° lunar halo'. Jupiter appearing in a less cloudy area in the top right as a bright star-like spot.
Night scene - streetlight is in the centre (it is not on/illuminated), with the lamp covering the moon, in the sky a large circle ‘halo’ circles the image, almost to the edges, it has subtle spectra, primarily just appearing as a bright white circle. Some clouds intrude into the halo in the top right, and Jupiter appears as a bright white star-like point of light at the 2 o’clock position.
Dark horizon. Bright green aurora in lower sky, with some cloud. Bright red/pink aurora above that in clearer sky, stars apparent, including the constellation of Cassiopeia in the top left. Some horizontal ’pillars’ towards the top right, and over to the left
Misty/murky sky with bright green and pink, over houses of a small visage
Telescopic view of Jupiter. Jupiter appearing as a large disk in the centre, presented at a tilted angle with north pointing in a top left direction. Jupiter takes up most of the frame, background completely black and featureless. Numerous belts and zones visible. Great red spot close to transiting.
Telescopic view, Saturn to the lower right, tilted at aprox degrees. Planet's equator appears as a bright band, bordered by a dark band in the north and south hemispheres. Rings very narrow, can just make out the gap between the ring and the planet on both sides. Titan is a small white blob in the top right,
View through a ‘finder scope’, of the lunar eclipse, this is after totality, with the earth’s shadow carving out a portion of the moon (lower left third brightly illuminated, the rest appears dark). The moon has just risen above the horizon with trees and a TV aerial in the frame. Ghost image of the moon faintly appears above
View of the moon rising over a distant wooded area (shot on the standard ‘wide’ lens of an iPhone, so the moon is an absolutely tiny white disc). In the sky, a diffuse, dark line goes from the middle right to lower left.
Monochrome night photograph, looking up at a street light that is off (which is just right of centre). Behind it, the Milky Way streaks vertically through the frame, dividing the sky roughly in half. There's a bit of mist and murk around but it's a very starry sky. The Andromeda galaxy is just to the right of the to of the lamp, appearing as a small smudge. There's a tree on the right, lit by another street light, one that unfortunately stays on all night.
Starry, cloudless, night scene photo. Field in the foreground, with fence posts going to a vanishing point on the right. Single house light shines brightly on the far side of the field. Hedgerow high on the right. Milky way starts in the top left, and finishes just off to the right of centre near the horizon. The image has been processed to appear reasonably ‘natural’ so the cloudiness of the Milky Way is whitish. There are two planes that have drawn short lines in the sky during the exposure. The rest of the sky is densely packed with stars, the ‘teapot’ asterism in Sagittarius is low in the centre, and the ‘Altair Family’ appears quite clearly near the top left.
night sky timelapse, frames have been added together and saved after each addition, so they leave persistent trails. Gardens in foreground become illuminated as the moonlight comes around. Looking north, with the north star just off centre to the left (near a pole in the foreground). The stars appear to be moving anti-clockwise around the pole star. A few scattered airplane trails stand out against the consistent movement of the stars. Possible small meteor or two, not overly sure about those.
Night scene, dark foreground with a few scattered streetlights and houses. Deep blue and yellow twilight colours, with white and delicate noctilucent clouds spanning the frame horizontally
Night landscape. A road in the foreground goes away and to the left, surrounded on either side by bushy hedgerows. A small tree on the right rises out of the hedge, and branches from a tall tree enter the top of the frame. The sky appears blue due to the long exposure picking up moonlight. Starry sky, with a small patch of clouds in the top left. The constellation of Corvus (the crow) is centered, the brightest stars appearing as a trapezoid.
Night scene. Star filled sky. Perseus and the 'fish-hook' asterism on the right, appearing horizontal. Hugely overexposed crescent moon just left of center, shining brightly with diffraction spikes and internal reflections. A road in the foreground curves off rightward into the distance framed by hedgerow on either side. The road leads to a small group of trees in the distance.
Night landscape photograph. Sky appearing blue due to twilight and moon light in a long exposure. Cloudless sky, with numerous stars, Orion left, Taurus Center, and the Pleiades to the right. Jupiter a bright white star-like object above Taurus. Rural landscape of fields, lit by a low, bright moon, left of the image in shadow, right illuminated. Small town in the center shines out with many street and house lights. There's a layer of clouds just above the horizon.
Monochrome night landscape, taken from ground level. Large stone arch (Durdle Door) sits to the right of centre, framed by the Milky Way above, and a calm sea below. The shoreline curves away and to the left of the viewpoint meeting a sandy beach. The Milky Way appears as a bright area going from top left toward the arch, within the brightness there are dark lanes and details from interstellar dust.
Monochrome telescopic closeup of the lunar surface, presented East ‘up’. Gassendi is framed by relatively smooth areas either side, Mare Humorum to the left and Letronne Crater and Oceanus Procellarum to the right. Gessendi appears as a large crater with low walls, intricately patterned floor, with criss crossing fractures ‘Rimae Gassendi’, and multiple central peaks. Gassendi is said to look like a diamond ring, with Gassendi A being the diamond, seen here to the right of Gassendi.
Monochrome telescopic closeup of the lunar surface, presented east ‘up’. Mare Imbrium fills the top right of the image, a vast smooth area with a sprinkling of small craters here and there. Below that, Sinus Iridum, the ‘bay of rainbows’ is in the terminator area between night and day appearing as a large semicircle (the incomplete remnants of a crater) with a bumpy rim. Promontorium Heraclides is the western edge of the bay, a pointed cape jutting into Mare Imbrium, it may (with some imagination) resemble a woman with flowing hair looking left.
Telescopic monochrome view, presented south ‘up’. The terminator starts in the upper left and proceeds diagonally down and right due to the waxing gibbous phase. The left area of the image is a huge number of medium craters, closer to the terminator there are large craters (from left to right), Newton (floor completely in shadow), Short, Moretus, Gruemberger Clavius, Longomontanus. Further to the right, everything falls to darkness sharpy.
Telescopic view. The bright star Electra is the only one visible, twinkling brightly near the centre. The unlit moon, appearing as a ghostly grey fuzzy area encroaches Electra until it covers it, Electra disappears in an instant.
Image from original post presented ‘North up’
Crop from the above image. Image quality getting a bit rough! Hoping to draw attention to craters right on the edge, there are several large, prominent craters with central peaks casting long shadows. There appear to be many hills/mountains around the craters with detail highlighted by the low light.
Telescopic monochrome close-up of the lunar south pole region, presented ‘south up’. The terminator runs vertically on the right hand side, lunar features fall to total darkness quite rapidly. Craters on the terminator are just catching their first light, the right hand side of their rims brightly lit. The south pole region is heavily cratered, and there are many slopes with dramatic light and shadow.
Same Mare Australe region as the previous image, panned to the left revealing some new landscape. Jenner is extremely foreshortened, appearing as a dark streak, with a bright white central peak
Close up view of the limb of the moon, cropped from the first image in this thread. The horizon is bumpy with the rims of craters. Many large craters in view. Labelled craters: Lyot, very large crater with a dark basin, a cluster of smaller craters within it on the right. Jeans X, Smaller crater, very foreshortened by the viewing angel, bright wall. Jeans, lighter floor than the surrounding craters, indistinct edge. Chamberlin, dark featureless looking area just short of the limb. Gill, deep crater with a very warn wall.
Close up from the post above. Janssen is very warn and deteriorated, appearing a large rough hexagon in the middle centre. Rimae Janssen is a dark line, the main part curing in a U shape, there do appear to be other splinters fracturing off in the mid point. Fabricius sits to the left as seen in this view, crater rim casting a shadow on the left of the crater floor, and a messy, busy central peak area consisting of several little outcrops.
Telescopic monochrome view. The moon presented south east ‘up’, The limb of the moon arcs across horizontally, featureless jet black space above. The lunar surface is heavily cratered, with the intensity and roughness increasing towards the right of the image which is more toward to the south pole area. A large valley (Vallis Rheita) starting in the lower left, goes away from the view curving inward, pointing toward an area containing smoother regions, and darker albedo which is Mare Australe.
Telescopic view of the southeastern region of the 26% illuminated waxing crescent moon, presented north 'up'. The lit region of the moon appears to curve, coming to a point in the lower left of the image. There's a single isolated peak shining beyond the end of the point. A heavily cratered area of the moon. Janssen is near the center of the image and is a large crater containing many other craters. Vallis Rheita is to the upper right of Janssen and is a valley that curves along to the right and down, with quite a few crater impacts. Mare Australe appears as a smoother area right on the very edge of the lower right.
View through a finder scope - very bright crescent moon to the lower right, Pleiades star cluster to the top left
Wide angle landscape night photograph. The town appears a dense cluster of street and house lights amongst an unlit foreground. Moon setting in the lower right appears bright but is really only a thin crescent, it's blown out though so you can't really tell, except there is a 'ghost' artifact revealing the crescent. The sky is cloudless and full of stars with Orion, Taurus, and the Pleiades dominating the center. Jupiter appears as a very bright, white star-like object shining brightly above the distinctive 'V' asterism in Taurus.
Telescopic view. Background is blue. Venus appears as a thin, featureless, bright white, crescent. The crescent goes about half the way around the disk of Venus, and becomes fainter/fuzzier at the extremes.
White paper with the shadow of a pair of binoculars (and a hand holding them). The disk of the sun is being projected through the binoculars appearing as a bright circle on top of the shadow. The disk of the moon is eating into the top part of The Sun’s disk
Landscape night-scape. Lower third is unlit foreground, Grassy field in the centre, slopes away to distant town lights. Dark hay bales on the right, and to the far right tree branches encroach the frame. In the left, a hedgerow hugs the edge of the field and is interrupted by a small grouping of trees. The far distance is gently sloping terrain of Dartmoor. The moon is low, and to the right, overexposed showing as a very bright splotch, it's also behind a small streak of clouds, so there is diffused light emanating from a wider area than just the disk. There is a ghost image from an internal reflection to the top left of the moon, which reveals the crescent. In the centre of the sky is Taurus, the distinctive 'V' shape of the stars in the constellation appears upright, with Jupiter shining brightly above, appearing as a white spot. The Pleiades are to the right of Taurus appearing as a tightly packed grouping. Orion dominates the left hand side of the sky with the sword noticeably glowing. The bright moon is causing some wash out, but overall the sky is quite dark, with many stars apparent. Almost no clouds at all apart form the ones near the moon which are a few subtle white lines.
Monochrome night-scape. Foreground is grass fields, sloping down and away from the viewpoint into a valley. The valley, in the centre contains dazzling and numerous town lights. In the far distance, behind the town, gentle hills. The far left and right of the view have bare tree branches which frame the sky. The night sky is split roughly in half with motion blurred, bright white, moonlit clouds on the right, and many stars on the left. Orion is in the centre with Canis Major on the left. Sirius appears somewhat subdued due to a small patch of cloud. There is a bright lens flare on the cloudy side of the sky from the moon, which is out of frame.
Telescopic view, Mars is centred on a black background appearing as a large disc. The north pole is bright white, surrounded by a dark area (Mare Boreum). The north east limb of the disk also appears hazy with a dark area jutting out (Propontis). The main face of the planet is rather featureless consisting of a blank orangey area which is Amazonis Planitia, Arcadia Planitia and surrounding regions. The southern cap appears to also have a slight white-ish haze too. North of the south pole haze is a long dark wavy horizontal area - Mare Sirenum.
Telescopic view, the planet is centred and appears on a featureless black background. The light, which 'belts', red zones, and mottled polar regions can be made out clearly. The North Equatorial belt appears as a deeper, more ruddy hue than the Southern. The light 'zone' south of the South Equatorial belt has a horizontal line of cloud that stars in the middle of the disk, and continues around to the west. There are some small bright spots in the northern hemisphere (storms I think), and the Southern Equatorial Belt looks turbulent with wavy pattern embedded in it (this is in contrast to the smoother looking Northern belt).
Night sky photograph. Portrait orientation. Orion near the centre, bright Jupiter above with the distinctive 'V' of Taurus to its right. The Pleiades can me made out in the upper right as a small bright cluster. A band of cloud cuts across the lower area of sky obscuring Canis Major somewhat. An artificially lit spire can be seen on the otherwise dark horizon at the bottom.
Night photograph. Orion centred, immersed in cloud. Jupiter shining extremely brightly, showing as a bright smudge due to haze and glare. The V shape of Taurus in a relatively clear patch of sky to the right. The lower part of the image is the ground, dark hills, mist in the valley, a church spire breaks the horizon on the centre right.
Monochrome landscape photograph. Starting in the foreground in the lower left, the moonlit hedgerow curves away and to the right tracing the path of a road which is deep in shadow. Taller hedge on the right casts moonlight shadows on the left hand hedge Prominent large tree in the middle distance on the right, its leafless branches are well lit by the moon. Upper two thirds of the image is sky. Moonlight is washing the cloudless sky out somewhat, still a lot of stars. Hints of the Milky Way on the left creating a tilted vertical smudge which runs through Cygnus. Vega is close to the large tree
Digiscope view through binoculars. The comet fills the image circle with the nucleus positioned in the lower right, tail going diagonally up and left. Possibly a hint of anti-tail (going in the opposite direction to the main tail) appearing a faint, narrow line. The background is pale with stars scattered around.