Images

Diamonds Are Forever

Experimenting with startrails over a starry weekend. Can you spot Polaris?

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The Big Dipper asterism from the Ursa Major/Great Bear constellation.

Mizar clearly shows up as a binary star!
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The stars Deneb (of the Cygnus constellation), Vega (Lyra) & Altair (Aquila) form the Summer Triangle asterism. Deneb, which literally means the tail of the Swan, is at a distance of 1800+ light years, which in turn makes it the farthest star that can be seen by the unaided eye. In essence, the image of the star captured in this picture, is really light that set out when the Roman Empire was in its heyday!

The Cygnus constellation is also home to Cygnus 1-X, a significant source of X-Rays and is believed to be a Black Hole.
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Moonrise!
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Sagittarius, the Archer & Scorpio, the Scorpion rising over the horizon along the southern skies.

Sagittarius keeps guard over the scorpion ensuring it does not wander off the southern skies, with his arrow pointed towards Antares, the heart of Scorpio. The smudges in the backdrop above the 'teapot' in Sagittarius are the side-on view of the spiral arms of the Milky Way.
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Looking at the center of the Milky Way over southern skies on a clear night.

Photographed with multiple long-exposure shots stacked on one another.
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Queen Cassiopea & King Cepheus. : Cassiopea, Cepheus, Andromeda, Posiedon, Perseus, Pegasus, Cetus & Medusa all figure in the same mythical tale - and most have constellations named after themselves in contiguous parts of the night skies.
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Star hopping from the Square of Pegasus through the constellation of Andromeda leads to the Great Andromeda Galaxy. Sure, the galaxy is barely discernible here, but capturing light from 2.3 million light years away is immensely gratifying, in its own way!
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Blue Moon - May 2012
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The sun sets somewhere in Pakistan. Viewed from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, Jan 2013
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Orion, the Great Hunter.
One of the most prominent constellations to adorn the winter skies, Orion is also a great tool to navigate through the night sky. Starhopping south west along Orion's Belt leads to Sirius, the brightest star visible to the unaided eye. Moving north east along the belt brings Aldebaran, one of the more discernible stars in the constellation of Taurus. Betelgeuse & Rigel are two of the largest known stars in the universe.
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Keeping Orion close company is his trusted companion, Canis Major, the hunting dog - who in turn is in hot pursuit of Lepus, the Hare. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky is at the heart of Canis Major.
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Orion, the Hunter & Taurus, the Bull engage with each other in an epic battle in the night skies.
The Hyades star cluster makes up most of the V-shaped horns of the bull, while the beautiful Pleiades cluster shows up prominently in the distance. According to myth, Taurus, the Bull is none other than Zeus in disguise during his mission to abduct the princess, Europa. Since only the bull's head was visible as Zeus swam across the river, the constellation Taurus only comprises of the bull's head - and has no clearly defined body. Jupiter, also shown here - is a temporary visitor to the scene of this epic battle.
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Dark of the Moon, Sep 2013
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A sliver of silver.
Earth-shine on the new-moon, during sunset at Coronado. Sep 2013
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International Observe the Moon Night. Shot with Opteka 650-1300mm, Oct 2013
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Solaris, Feb 2015
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Sea of Tranquility & Sea of Serenity.
Photographed with eyepiece projection.
400mm telescope + 26mm eyepiece, 2x barlow
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Tycho crater.
Photographed with eyepiece projection.
400mm telescope + 26mm eyepiece, 2x barlow
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Spica emerges from the shadow of the Moon.
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Moonward bound
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Night testing the fisheye

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Shot handheld with 800mm mirror + 1.4x teleconverter

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From Dusk to Dawn

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Pre-dawn skies, Oct 8. The waning crescent moon is flanked by Jupiter (below) and Mars (above), while Venus shines brightly higher up in the sky with Regulus in the constellation of Leo, on its left.

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