Astronomy Centre, Todmorden.
28th September 2013
I’ve had a layman's interest in astronomy since looking into the dark skies of my childhood.
This developed later into a rough and ready recognition of the celestial bodies needed to navigate in emergencies and more recently I have started to include the night sky in my images.
It therefore makes perfect sense for me to follow up this basic knowledge and study the subject in a little more depth.
As luck would have it I discovered a small band of enthusiastic astronomers with a well equipped observatory no more than ten miles from my home.
The Astronomy Centre near Todmorden is dedicated to the furtherance of Amateur Astronomy and welcomes visitors of all ages and abilities.
The evening I spent with the group members was cool and clear for the most part but I was greeted with warmth and good company. I was also very impressed with the advice and equipment available for use.
On arrival I soon spotted the opportunity for this shot.
I use a simple Astronomy App on my iPad to help predict the positions of objects in the night sky so I knew that the Milky Way would rise across the sky in roughly this position shifting westward as the night progressed.
This image is produced from some early test shots that I made while setting up. I was hoping for a slightly more diagonal position but sadly the sky clouded slightly over as the real darkness set in.
As you can see, there is some light pollution which is to be expected near to so many major conurbations but I was actually surprised how dark the sky here was with the site nestled between a ring of low hills.
I’m sure you will see much more from me at this location in the future.
