Tingwall Night Sky

Most people don't like shooting a night sky with a full moon. However for me there are a lot of positives as the Moon lights the landscape with some beautiful light

 These photos were taken with a 98% Moon but I have also added a bit of light painting

 ISO can be a lot lower than when the moon is not out, typical ISO levels would be around ISO6400- 8000 without a moon

With a lower ISO it means less noise and a higher Dynamic Range which make the photo a lot more appealing 

 Looking west

 Tingwall is always a good place to go 

Comet 46/P Wirtanen from Shetland

If I had accepted the numerous weather forecasts on Monday I wouldn't have gone out as most said a min of 98% cloud.

There was no hint of the Aurora when we ventured out at 6.15 pm (it did show briefly at 10.30 pm) but the sky was stunning and only 5% cloud , so why on earth did the forecasts say otherwise (well it is only a forecast). They did get the wind and temperature correct with only a force 2-3 and 1 degree.

I headed to a local dark site and it could have been anywhere in Shetland but this was over at Bigton to the west and only 10 mins away.

Quickly setting up I wanted to find the Comet 46/P Wirtanen which is the brightest today (12 12 18)at magnitude 3 . It actually is closer to earth on the 16 December when it is only 11.6 M Km away and it should look bigger then. 

The problem will be the wind in Shetland with force 7 winds expecting so photography will be very difficult.

Anyway the green comet did show up in the photos, despite a fuzz appearance.

Another target was the Plough, again easily picked up to the north while Mars was showing well to the south

Plough

The milky way was spectacular to the west and with no moon to provide any light pollution many stars became visible.

It makes you wonder just how many satellites are orbiting the earth when you can capture 3 or 4 in one 15 second frame. One however the Iridium satellites which produce  a nice flare will no longer be flashing in the sky after this month, with new ones being launched which don't show the middle bulge.

Besides all the targets I went to photograph, it's an excellent period for  Geminid meteors 14- 18 December which are usually very bright and around 120 per hour. Had it not been for Force 6-7 winds for the rest of this week, they would have been a great target with the Comet.

                   Coastguard helicopter and the Plough

All the photos on this page were taken with a Sony A7s and a 24mm Samyang lens, ISO6400 F2 between 10-15 seconds depending on direction

I have just finished delivering the Night Sky Photography Course in Lerwick and the revised course has gone down very well. I will be running this again next November so keep an eye out for details, places go quick.

 Milky  Way over St Ninian's Tombolo

Moon washed aurora

At last a break in the cloud and rain free night with only a Force 3 wind. That's good for Shetland so we headed out  last night knowing that the Aurora forecast was around a KP5

                                                                                                 St Ninian's Tombolo

We arrived at a reasonably dark site, well normally until you take into account a near full moon that was brightening all the landscape. Tomorrow it will be a Super Moon (although looking at the weather for tomorrow it looks like rain so i doubt whether we will see it in Shetland

                                                                           A pillar of light, game on !

While the moon provided good detail in the landscape it was washing out any aurora that might appear in the sky, except i could just make out a pillar of light.

To show how bright it was on the night i was using ISO 500 15 seconds at F/3.2, unlike the last time we went out and I was having to use ISO 3200 together with some light painting

The pillar of colour did expand for a minute or so then faded away. This is typical aurora activity, some bursts of activity are very short while others last hours.

With several dark sites only around 15 mins away we are well placed to get there fast.

Still looking for that mind blowing aurora but i am sure it will come soon, however any aurora nights are worth seeing , hopefully getting some photos as well

Looking south from Bigton is St Ninian's tombolo, this looks good in the day and at night

Just an update, the Night Sky course i am running on 11 April 2017 for Shetland Adult Education is now full and the Intermediate Photography Course which includes a session on Astrophotography starting at the end of February 2017 is also full.

You still have time to buy a canvas for Christmas, see full details at www.amazingshetland.co.uk