Hi all,
I'm based in Galway on the west coast of Ireland. I live at the edge of the city so my backyard skies are only ok (Bortle ~ 4.5). However, really dark Bortle 1 and 2 skies are quickly accessible in the Connemara region further to the west, so sometimes I head out there. But opportunities are rare: our changeable and cloudy North Atlantic weather is a bigger problem than light pollution
And my job as an academic often keeps me busy in the evenings too. On the other hand, occasional observing runs on professional telescopes give me the chance to travel to other countries, and multi-task with my fun astrophotography rig clicking away outside while I capture the serious research data inside.
I've been doing astrophotography since my teens in the late 1980s; I worked almost exclusively with medium-format film from 1992 right up to 2010! (And I still have some legendary Kodak E200 in the freezer). My "gear lists" have never looked very mainstream: I like pushing the limits of oddball and old tech, and adapting stuff. The same goes for my "software lists": my day job gave me skills in IRAF scripting, and I never use Photoshop.
While I've owned small telescopes, wide-field photography is really my thing - from 8 mm to 300 mm focal length.
So anyway, after viewing fantastic images on Astrobin for some time, I've decided to join and start posting my own stuff.
I'm based in Galway on the west coast of Ireland. I live at the edge of the city so my backyard skies are only ok (Bortle ~ 4.5). However, really dark Bortle 1 and 2 skies are quickly accessible in the Connemara region further to the west, so sometimes I head out there. But opportunities are rare: our changeable and cloudy North Atlantic weather is a bigger problem than light pollution
And my job as an academic often keeps me busy in the evenings too. On the other hand, occasional observing runs on professional telescopes give me the chance to travel to other countries, and multi-task with my fun astrophotography rig clicking away outside while I capture the serious research data inside.I've been doing astrophotography since my teens in the late 1980s; I worked almost exclusively with medium-format film from 1992 right up to 2010! (And I still have some legendary Kodak E200 in the freezer). My "gear lists" have never looked very mainstream: I like pushing the limits of oddball and old tech, and adapting stuff. The same goes for my "software lists": my day job gave me skills in IRAF scripting, and I never use Photoshop.
While I've owned small telescopes, wide-field photography is really my thing - from 8 mm to 300 mm focal length.
So anyway, after viewing fantastic images on Astrobin for some time, I've decided to join and start posting my own stuff.
