International Space Station Fly Over

After being missing from our northern skies for a few months, the International Space Station (ISS) can now be seen again tracking west to east across the sky in our area.  I use an iPhone app called ISS Spotter to predict when the ISS will next be passing over and in which direction.

It seems that some people don't think it's possible for me to take shots like this, but I can assure you it is.  I use a Nikon D500 crop sensor camera with a Nikon 500mm f/4 lens and a Nikon 2x teleconverter.  The above shot is cropped to death and fortunately, with a bit of processing, the detail isn't too bad.  Here's what an uncropped version looks like (which actually might be better):

Here's a shot of the waxing gibbous moon that I also took:

Orion the Mighty Hunter Returns

As we move into Autumn and the skies are getting darker the constellation of Orion has started to reappear in the early mornings. Along with Andromeda, this has got to be one of my most favourite night sky objects and, unlike Andromeda, the constellation as as whole is very easy to see with the naked eye.

The nebula at Orion's centre is less easy to spot, and usually appears as just a faint smudge for most people.  Even through binoculars or a telescope, there is very little colour or detail to see.  But when photographed with a camera, this wonderful object is truly spectacular and it's a joy to see.

This is my first attempt at capturing the magic of Orion this 'season' and over the next few months I hope to get my best shots ever.