Zodiacal light
Zodiacal light

Venus and the Pleiades at the end of the Zodiacal light (dust along the plain of the solar system reflecting sunlight). Elan Valley, mid-Wales.

The Milky Way behind the Longstone Lighthouse
The Milky Way behind the Longstone Lighthouse

The Milky Way rising from behind the Longstone lighthouse. The low mist provided an unexpected bonus as was the Wolf Rock lighthouse on the left almost 15 miles away.

Moonrise over silhouetted trees
Moonrise over silhouetted trees

I turned around and saw this view and I had to take a photo with the cresent moon and earthshine.

Total Lunar Eclipse
Total Lunar Eclipse

Taken just towards the end of totality of the October 2014 eclipse.

The Moon
The Moon
Crown of Thorns under the winter Milky Way
Crown of Thorns under the winter Milky Way

Without the showyness of the galaxy core that appears in summer I prefer the winter Milky Way. The Crown of Thorns is the remains of a bronze age burial mound miles from the nearest road in north Wales.

Milky Way over the Elegog stacks
Milky Way over the Elegog stacks

I had been wanting to photograph these stacks at night for a while. There are some fantastically dark skies here though the timing dictated that it had to be a summer shot hence the bluish skies.

What I particularly wanted was to try and capture the Guillemot colonies on top of the rocks which can be seen in the full size panorama.

The Green Flash
The Green Flash

After making a panoramic photo of the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast I examined the back of my camera. Zooming in on the sun I found that the top was a green colour, a Green Flash, an unusual atmospheric effect.

Andromeda Galaxy
Andromeda Galaxy

The Andromeda Galaxy with some of its satellite galaxies. Taken through a telescope from my back garden “observatory”

Rollright stone circle, at night.
Rollright stone circle, at night.

Turning up to this site in the middle of the Cotswold's at night is quite a spooky experience especially when you see shapes all over the place, and one of them actually turns out to be a human!

To get this image I had to combine a couple of techniques. The first one was to take photos of the stars for two hours to get the trails and then, with the first light of dawn, I took a picture of the stone circle though to be able to get the height to see the circle, I had to fly up to 10 feet and create a panorama from there.

Moon over Stonehenge
Moon over Stonehenge
Tryfan under autumn skies
Tryfan under autumn skies

On my way up to the top of the Glydereau on night I stopped for a couple of hours to photo the Milky Way sinking behind Tryfan. All the time the local mountain rescue centre was letting off flares which I just had to include.

Colourful stars travelling around the North Pole
Colourful stars travelling around the North Pole
Comet Lovejoy and M45, 2015
Comet Lovejoy and M45, 2015
The Pleiades open cluster, M45
The Pleiades open cluster, M45
_MG_6426-Pano Panorama.jpg
Hill, tree and Milky Way.
Hill, tree and Milky Way.

Taken using a modified camera to bring out more of the pink nebula in our galaxy

M42, the Orion Nebula
M42, the Orion Nebula
Sandymouth Bay
Sandymouth Bay

Spending high tide on a beach at night in rough weather can be nerve racking but I think it was worth it, for some reason I love the idea of waterfalls straight onto a beach. A night well spent in Cornwall.

Hethe
Hethe

I was woken early before work and couldn’t get back to sleep the other morning. Since it was a clear moonless night I made my way to a small village near home where I knew of these pollarded willows.

Solar transects
Solar transects

I was lucky enough to see both of these with clouds half covering the sun each time!

Solar transects only happen when a planet closer to the sun passes between us and the sun, the next time Mercury will do it will be 2032. Its a little longer until Venus will do it, 2117.

 One evening spent in water perilously close to the tops of my wellies standing as still as possible.  It isn’t very often that I’ll take a black and white photo but this seemed to lend itself perfectly to the style what with all of the light polluti

One evening spent in water perilously close to the tops of my wellies standing as still as possible. It isn’t very often that I’ll take a black and white photo but this seemed to lend itself perfectly to the style what with all of the light pollution from Milton Keynes.

Longstone lighthouse off Land's End
Longstone lighthouse off Land's End

The Milky Way rising from behind the Longstone lighthouse. The low mist provided an unexpected bonus as was the Wolf Rock lighthouse on the left almost 15 miles away.

Time spent on the nest
Time spent on the nest

A night of star movement behind a local rookery

The Setting Venus
The Setting Venus

Venus setting into the Celtic Sea from Cornwall. It seems to me that there is also some Zodiacal Light (sunlight reflecting off dust in space), something I’ve never seen before.

Milky Way over West Kennet Long Barrow
Milky Way over West Kennet Long Barrow

The sky above won’t have changed much since this burial mound was first used a few thousand years ago (except the orange light pollution of course!)

The Pole star above a reservoir in a Mid-Wales dark sky site.
The Pole star above a reservoir in a Mid-Wales dark sky site.
A Jewel in the Crown
A Jewel in the Crown

Venus passing over the top of the trunk of an Oak tree that is beginning to open it’s leaves

Comet Neowise
Comet Neowise

The recent, very popular Comet Neowise showing the ion tail as well as the more obvious dust trail.