"Listen" - From our ambassador Astrophotobear
The OTC Satellite Earth Station Carnarvon was established in Australia to meet the needs for more reliable higher quality communications for the Apollo space program. The Carnarvon Tracking station was commissioned in 1964 and operated for 11 years and supported the Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs.
Exif Canon EOS R Sigma 35mm Sky-Watcher Star adventurer panorama head 35mm F2.0 ISO 1600 30s 180 image panorama Bortle 4 location looking into the heavier light pollution area
You might see a trend here, we'll be featuring our ambassador Astrophotobear and his incredible images over the next week! 🤩
Descriptions:
Image 1 - "Exploring the Great Expanse"
Salt lakes can be a fantastic location for landscape astrophotography. Taken in 2015 – on a perfectly calm night you can stand still and all the stars will reflect in the water around you. The salt lake is only a few inches deep so can readily stand in it. Be careful though because you need to make sure it is firm enough otherwise it tries to suck you into the mud that is the lake bed. For this image I wanted to create the feeling of being within the enormity of the stars. Immediately after this photo I went to take the photo called Nightmare.
Image 2 - "The Light Within"
Nambung National Park in Western Australia. A crescent moon sits on top a pinnacle providing a back lit scene. The zodiacal light (sunlight reflecting off cosmic dust in the inner solar system) creates a triangle of light up to the Milky Way core. It took me a couple of years to capture this image, seeking to have a back lit image with the monoliths that are the Pinnacles. The image received an APOD twice.
Image 3 - "Destination"
Nambung National Park is located in Western Australia - some 200 km north of Perth. Hundreds of limestone pillars up to 3.5m tall, scatter the desert landscape. The low amount of light pollution makes it a fantastic location for star gazing.
Canon 6d Tamron 15-30 x 63 image panorama at 30mm F3.2 ISO 5000-6400 25-30s (last few photos were at shorter shutter and higher ISO) tracking mount
Our ambassador Astrophotobear describes this fantastic image below
Bilya Rock in Morawa in Western Australia. It's located around 370km north of Perth. Bilya Rock itself is really dark - Bortle 1 with it being pretty distant from light pollution sources for both a rising and setting Milky Way core.
A large cairn is standing on Bilya rock - it's reputed to have been placed there by John Forrest in the 1870s. It's also notable to say that he would have been led by the talents of Tommy Windich who was the outstanding Aboriginal bushman who accompanied him on his expeditions.
I called the image Waypoint due John Forrest being reputed as one of the great explorers in Western Australia's history. "Bilya" - I understand means - from the river creek or big floods, home. Moon luminosity around 39%.
Over the coming months we will be showcasing our new Sky-Watcher Ambassadors.
Our team are out under dark skies pushing our gear to the limits and creating amazing astro images!
Introducing Astrophotobear aka Michael Goh
Michael Goh is a full-time photographer located in Western Australia primarily capturing astrophotography, commercial, portrait, time-lapse, photospheres, event, video and aerial work.
He received the international Photo Nightscape award 2015, Western Australian Astrofest 2014 and achieved an APOD in February 2016. He has appeared in numerous publications including photography magazines and science books and periodicals. Michael also runs photography workshops.
One of Michael’s current focuses is improving night sky appreciation and awareness and one of the projects he is working on is part of a documentary team on the night sky in Western Australia.
About this image:
"Another World" – Salt lakes during the summer heat sometimes dry up so much that they create interesting textures as the salt rises to the surface, dries and creates pressure ridges before they rupture and crack. Intense green airglow in the night sky and a crescent moon starting to rise underneath the Milky Way core.
Tonights LIVE stream of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn conjunction. Those who have clear skies be sure to check it out.