Using the navigation menu on the left you can view the images I have taken so far. As I image additional objects I will upload them to this section of the website. With each image is a summary of the equipment used to take it and post processing details. Unless otherwise stated, all images were created from my own back garden here in the UK.

My main interest is deep sky objects, although I do occasionally attempt planetary imaging. For planetary photography I use a Imaging Source DBK 21AU618.as and post process with Registax and Autostakkert!2. For deep sky images I currently use Nebulosity 3 for image acquisition and stacking, and I autoguide my exposures with PHD2. For the purpose of producing and viewing star charts I use Cartes du Ciel. All my post processing is carried out in Photoshop CS2, though I have considered investing in PixInsight as a dedicated astrophotography processing tool.

Many of the earlier deep sky images on this site were captured using a modified Canon 350D. I used this for several years and was always happy with the relatively large sensor size and found it to be reasonably sensitive once it had been modified. Long exposures did tend to be somewhat noisy however, and I always hankered for something more sensitive. Ultimately I switched to a monochrome Atik 460EX along with an Atik EFW2 filter wheel with a set of Astrodon LRGB filters and an OVL off-axis guider. This led to an immediate improvement in my images, mainly due to the much lower noise level and sensitivity of the Atik 460. The conversion to LRGB imaging has helped me produce images with a much better colour balance, mainly as I no longer use a CLS filter. I do find that LRGB is a lot more time consuming than one shot colour imaging, despite what some people suggest. I generally spend 2 hours collecting the RGB data, followed by at least 2-3 hours for the luminance data. Processing is also generally more time consuming and it's not uncommon to spend most of the following day devoted to the task.

Please feel free to use any of the images in this gallery for your own purposes, and if you would like any further information contact me at simon@caracol.co.uk.