With no more images in the pipeline and the bushfire smoke worsening again in South West Sydney – and showing no sign of abating – I thought I’d choose ten of my best astro-images over the last decade.
Well – after a recount – make that eleven images….
Some would also say it really isn’t even the end of the decade yet. 🙄
Above is the very beautiful M20, the Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius, taken on 2019-09-03.
Happy new year! 🎈 🎈 🎈
If you’ve read this far into my post, thank you for looking at Cosmic Focus over the last year (or more) and for the kind comments you may have left. My best wishes, wherever you live on our Pale Blue Dot.
Finally, my personal ambitions for the ‘twenty-twenties’ are: (i) to improve my astro-photography techniques; (ii) to capture a total solar eclipse; (iii) to image the entire Messier and Caldwell lists that are visible from my latitude; (iv) to survive climate change; and (v) to fly to the Moon and back.
🚀 I can dream……………………………… 🤩
Gear:
| Telescope: | SkyWatcher Esprit | Type: | 120 triplet refractor |
| Focal: | 840 mm F/7 | Mount: | SkyWatcher EQ6-R Pro |
| Camera 1: | ZWO ASI 071 MC Pro |
Type: | CMOS 28.4mm 16 Mpx |
| Camera 2: | Canon | Type: | 60D |
Images © Roger Powell
Cosmic Focus 
Beautiful photos . . . and you could avoid the possible confusion by stating your ten years period; 2010 to 2019 OR 2011 to 2020.
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Thanks for your patronage and welcome comments during the year. Best wishes.
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I think I can say with confidence that these are the most impressive (amateur) Deep Sky images I’ve ever seen. Congratulations on you’re technical and personal success. Years ago, my goal was to see and note all the valid Messier objects, reaching that goal (and a good number of NGC and Herschel objects,) only after switching observing sites to one of lesser light pollution. However, I couldn’t in my wildest dreams have foreseen the day that backyard imaging of the quality, and beauty such as your’s could ever be achieved – ever!
Looking forward to more from you as the next decade approaches, and the wild fires subside. M -:)
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Thanks for your generous remarks, much appreciated.
I think, as you correctly observe, that current amateur astro-imaging equipment has reached astonishing levels compared to that of twenty years ago. The introduction of CCD and – in my case – CMOS astro-cameras has been revolutionary. I never imagined that, for a relatively modest outlay, I would be imaging galaxies and nebulae. I will never produce the quality of some amateurs who spend more on their gear and devote more exposure time to single images than I ever expect to. I’ve just seen an image from another amateur here in Oz that was an accumulation of 51 hours exposure. I don’t get that amount of observing time and I’m not sure if I would have the patience!
Best wishes.
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