Back-yard astronomer uses second-hand telescope (and a lot of patience) to capture stunning images of distant stars

By Rob Waugh

Last updated at 4:25 PM on 20th January 2012

Sidcup in Kent is bathed in street lights - and not an ideal place to capture images of nebulae hundreds of thousands of light years away.

But a determined amateur astronomer, mathematician Mark Shelley, has captured stunning views of the stars, using very long exposures to 'soak up' as much light as possible as his motorised telescope tracks across the sky.

Amazingly, it's all done on a second-hand telescope he received as a Christmas present in 2006.

The star Gamma Cygni (in the constellation of Cygnus) - one of the brightest stars in the sky, with surrounding nebula

Mark Shelley poses with his Takahashi Epsilon 180ED in his garden in Sidcup

The Pleiades (or Seven Sisters) in the constellation of Taurus. This star cluster is very easy to see with the naked eye

‘People are generally amazed at the quality of images produced by relatively simple equipment,’ explained Mr Shelley.

‘Before the age of digital cameras, it was only the professional observatories that could produce such images.

‘I am one of the few people who have successfully taken pictures of the International Space Station in orbit,’ he said.

Taking pictures of the Space Station requires precise knowledge of where the ISS is going to fly over and extremely precise timing - it moves at 17,500mph.

‘This was done from my own back garden in Sidcup,' says Mr Shelley.

‘By their very nature they are very small images because the Space Station is in orbit 250 miles above the ground.

‘However, the solar panels, astronaut living quarters and laboratories can be clearly seen.’

International Space Station with space shuttle Atlantis docked. Passing over my garden at a height of approx 250 miles and a speed of approx 17500 mph

‘I have always enjoyed photography and had an interest since childhood in all things related to astronomy and space exploration.

‘However, my interest in astrophotography began only in Christmas 2006, when my wife Denise bought me a telescope as a surprise present.

‘This was the first I had ever owned and I soon found myself starting to take pictures through the eyepiece of moon craters or planets.’

Mark began his astro-photography while living in light-polluted Sidcup, south London.

‘There are high levels of sky glow in Sidcup caused by street lights and other sources of external lighting from homes, shops and warehouses.

‘As a result, it was only possible to image the brightest nebulae and star clusters from my own back garden.’

The Horsehead Nebula, found near the "belt" of the constellation of Orion. The horse head is actually a cloud of dust obscuring the nebula behind it

The famous Orion Nebula, found in the sword of the constellation of Orion. This is one of the brightest nebulae - visible to the naked eye under good conditions

The Bubble Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The bubble is created by the stellar wind from a star within the bubble. It is 11 thousand light years away

Mark moved to his present five-bedroom detached home in the Kent countryside to take even more spectacular images of space phenomena.

‘I now live in a village outside Tenterden in Kent, where the sky is much darker than Sidcup,’ he said.

‘This has made a huge difference, allowing me to tackle beautiful but faint objects that would previously have been impossible'

The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae in the constellation of Sagittarius. They are respectively 4000 and 5000 light years distant

The planet Mars. This was imaged by replacing the telescope eyepiece with a webcam

‘It's a great feeling to see a faint grey fuzzy object in the eyepiece of a telescope and then take a long exposure photograph of the same thing.'

‘Suddenly, bright colours spring to life and huge amounts of extra detail emerge.

‘It is a delight to see the camera reveal details that are too faint for the human eye to even see.’

Mark uses long exposures to capture his stellar-images, keeping the shutter of his camera open for up to five minutes to trap the light from the stars - light from some of the most distant objects Mark captures has travelled for up to 70 million years to reach his eyepiece.

‘The biggest challenge is that the stars and all celestial objects are moving across the sky during the course of the night,’ said Mark.

‘Everyone is familiar with ‘star trail’ pictures taken with a stationary camera.

‘To avoid these star trails it is necessary for the telescope to accurately follow the motion of the stars.

‘This is achieved by using a motorised telescope mount whose axis is aligned with the Earth's axis.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2088923/Back-garden-astronomer-uses-second-hand-telescope-lot-patience-capture-stunning-images-stars.html#ixzz1kAqRY2g2