TheSkySearchers

Last night I headed out to a dark site listed by our local astronomy club. The last 1 km of the dirt road turned out to be snow-covered (it's a Canadian winter after all) and impassable. I ended up parking on the road side and set up my camera and tripod in the ditch - lol. Despite that and the biting code (-12C and windy), the sky was dark and beautiful, and the power supply solution I hacked together passed its first test on the road.

I was originally planning to shoot M81, but decided at the last minute that the Pleiades / Mars conjunction deserves some love and M81 can wait.

Shot with EOS R + 300 mm f/4L IS lens. 34x120s lights (ISO 800), plus darks / flats / dark-flats. Was hoping to get more data but with the site issue, clouds and cold weather wreaking havoc with focus, that will have to do.

I know squat about AP, but that is a beautiful image jon.s. I was out last night observing (visual) in that direction as well.

That's a Wow! moment for sure; nicely done! And your focus looks really good to me

Thanks for sharing that and all the best,

That's a great image! I'm jealous because my rig's focal length is a bit long to capture it.
Your focus looks good from here!

Larry

Larry 1969 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 1:38 am That's a great image! I'm jealous because my rig's focal length is a bit long to capture it.
Your focus looks good from here!

Larry

The Happy Parrot wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:49 pm I know squat about AP, but that is a beautiful image jon.s. I was out last night observing (visual) in that direction as well.

Thefatkitty wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:53 pm That's a Wow! moment for sure; nicely done! And your focus looks really good to me

Thanks for sharing that and all the best,

Thank you folks! Scaling to Internet size sure helps mask some imperfections. The star reduction in post processing probably helped a bit too.

And here's a closer crop of just the Pleiades.

very nice capture , thx .

jon.s wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:22 pm The last 1 km of the dirt road turned out to be snow-covered (it's a Canadian winter after all) and impassable. I ended up parking on the road side and set up my camera and tripod in the ditch - lol. Despite that and the biting code (-12C and windy), the sky was dark and beautiful, and the power supply solution I hacked together passed its first test on the road.

I meant to mention; I laughed when I read that. I so hear you; it's been a crappy past two weeks! I know for me Sunday looks good on CDS, hopefully for you as well

All the best,

Beautiful picture Mark, well done!

Spending the night in a ditch on the side of the road...

The things we do to capture stars...

Well, it was certainly worth it. That is one gorgeous image!

BABO

Congratulations Jon on having your image selected as todays TSS APOD!

app.php/article/3-6-2021-tss-astrophoto ... of-the-day

Hi Jon. This is a superb image from you and one of the best that I have seen. Excellent contrast, nebulosity color and details, and Mars shows up well too. Thanks for sharing this capture with us on here Jon, and congratulations on winning the TSS APOD Award today.

messier 111 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:15 am very nice capture , thx .

Thank you Jean-Yves!

Thefatkitty wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:31 am

jon.s wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:22 pm The last 1 km of the dirt road turned out to be snow-covered (it's a Canadian winter after all) and impassable. I ended up parking on the road side and set up my camera and tripod in the ditch - lol. Despite that and the biting code (-12C and windy), the sky was dark and beautiful, and the power supply solution I hacked together passed its first test on the road.

I meant to mention; I laughed when I read that. I so hear you; it's been a crappy past two weeks! I know for me Sunday looks good on CDS, hopefully for you as well

All the best,

I'm looking forward to Sunday night too. Let's hope the clear skies stays!

What a great shot! Congratulations on a well-deserved APOD!

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 4:17 am Beautiful picture Mark, well done!

Thanks you!

Awesome! great capture

BABOafrica wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:31 am Spending the night in a ditch on the side of the road...

The things we do to capture stars...

Well, it was certainly worth it. That is one gorgeous image!

BABO

Thanks Babo. I'm looking forward to a few more nights in the ditch - just need clear skies!

Gordon wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:43 pm Congratulations Jon on having your image selected as todays TSS APOD!

app.php/article/3-6-2021-tss-astrophoto ... of-the-day

What an honour ... thank you Gordon!

Wonderful image! Great job! Congrats for APOD!