light pollution and astronomy

[nytecam]

I think it's well recognised that humanity has a primeval fear of the dark and artificial light is proof that, to a degree, we have conquered nature - but the resultant light pollution scattered skywards is the bane of the modern astronomer.

I'm probably located [see UK LP map below] in the worst place [arrowed] to conduct deepsky imaging which is greatly exacerbated by light pollution. But I get by with a special routine. The “tomato-soup” pic to left is a true colour image from last night of my cloudbase in just 20 seconds exposure – the pic on the right is the same image but filtered via the camera software to remove this light pollution to a neutral grey colour.

This “tomato-soup” sky is there every night even when the sky is clear and starry but following the same routine I can captures images like the Crab Nebula = M1 [center right] in Taurus the Bull in a modest 4 minutes exposure made by stacking four 60 sec exposures together.

Beyond about 60 seconds exposure the camera records more than the eye can ever see through the same telescope even from a very darksky location and is captured in colour too!

[Tringa]

What software do you use Nytecam?

I have tried some sky shots using only my 18 - 55mm kit lens on my camera but I find,

(a) even at 18mm, 15 seconds is about the limit before the stars start to become streaks, and more importantly

(b) I get the tomato soup sky (not heard the term before, but it is pretty much spot on) well before 15 seconds.

However, I live about 4 miles east of Liverpool Street Station, so perhaps I should not be surprised.

Dave

[Paul mabbott]

Sympathies .... but think what it's like for night-flying animals.
So serious cuts of lighting to reduce carbon-use would benefit everyone!