Astrophotography

     Hey everyone,

     I've been meaning to write a post about Astrophotography for some time now, but haven't found the time to get it done until now. So here goes nothing!

     I started getting into astrophotography about two years ago. I kept seeing these beautiful landscape photos with the Milky Way Galaxy and various star constellations hanging overhead online (not to mention photos of the moon that looked like they had been taken by Apollo astronauts as they orbited the moon) and I wanted to try my own hand at it. Thanks to my generous family, I began using an older model Canon DSLR camera with the standard 18-55mm lens on it to try to make my own incredible images. Turned out that it wasn't as easy as it looked. The photos were grainy, uninteresting, and were absolutely nothing like I had seen. Disappointed, I went and started reading tons of guides on how to improve my skills at capturing the night sky.

     A couple months and many nights of research and practice later, my birthday was coming up. My family was asking what I would like, and I had put some money away to invest in a little toy that I had been more and more interested in getting: a telescope.

     Some people will think of the telescopes you find at places like Canadian Tire, Walmart, or the like and when they buy them, they are disappointed at the view they get and put the telescope away, never to be used again. I decided that instead of wasting my money and time I would invest in a more expensive, better-quality telescope while also not breaking my bank. I (along with some help from my family. Thank you!) ended up purchasing a Skywatcher 6" (150mm) Dobsonian Telescope for about $395.

     Now, $400 may seem like quite a lot to spend on a telescope, but considering that the really nice, high-quality scopes go for anywhere between $800-$7000, the $400 doesn't seem so bad. The one I purchased was a large telescope for the money, and the reason it was inexpensive is because dobsonian telescopes are mounted on wooden bases instead of nice, expensive tripods or equatorial mounts (which will move the telescope at the same rate the stars move across the sky). Many equatorial mounts will cost at least $600 alone, and that's used. With my telescope, the large majority of the cost was due to the optics alone. The 6" aperture guaranteed the ability to have fairly clear views of not just the moon, but of several planets throughout the solar system. The way it works is that the wider of an aperture you have with telescopes, the crisper the view you'll have of planets that are both small, and extremely(!) far away. For example, Mars, which is the next planet past us, is anywhere between about 57 million kilometres to 401 million kilometres apart. In other words, it takes light anywhere between about 3 to 21 minutes to go from Earth to Mars. That's just one way too. It's VERY far away. To get a nice view of it, you want a larger telescope with a bigger aperture, and then you want varying eye pieces to have good magnification.

     So, back in January of 2014 with my new telescope, Kait and I began staring up at the moon, planets, and planets' moons. We stumbled across Jupiter on our first night of observing which was a very pleasant surprise. The coolest thing that we noticed when checking back on Jupiter hours later was that Jupiter's closest moons had visibly shifted their position. One had swung around behind the giant planet. You could actually witness the moons moving around the planet itself.

The telescope and ammo can which holds all the extra gear.

     While astronomy isn't quite as interesting and exciting for Kait as it is for me, we both enjoyed our new tool and began regularly setting it up on the patio outside our front door in North Vancouver, spending countless hours drinking tea and watching the stars. I was repeatedly blown away at how places that were previously just dots of light, or were only accessible through NASA pictures or books were now distant yet tangible places I could see with my own two eyes from my own home. Luckily for us, our rental suite was in a very nice neighbourhood perched up on a hill and had a great view of the sky to the East, South, and West.

Juptier viewed through the 10mm eyepiece.

Saturn viewed through the 10mm eyepiece. 1.4 billion km away.

     Later that year, we made our move to Quadra Island and while there, I invested in both a T-adapter and an Eye Piece Projection kit. The T-adapter allowed me to physically attach my DSLR to the telescope itself to capture what's called "prime focus" images. It doesn't allow you to magnify the image through the telescope at all, but it didn't matter too much as the telescope itself magnified celestial objects almost equivalent to using a 25mm eyepiece, which is about 48x magnification. The Eye Piece Projection kit added another option to my astrophotography. It made it so I could add eyepieces in front of the camera in order to help magnify the image even more. This way, instead of seeing the entire moon, I could essentially zoom in with my camera and view individual mountain ranges and craters on the moon's surface. Laugh if you want to, but it's pretty damn amazing to see.

The full moon via prime focus. 

The terminator of the moon when viewed through the 10mm eyepiece.

     Between the Fall of 2015 when Kait and I got married and the Spring of 2016, the telescope went mostly unused. We had moved from Quadra into our own rental suite in Black Creek, and the surrounding trees made it nearly impossible to do much photography at night. I did manage to get a few photos at midnight as the new year began, but aside from that, I put it off until we moved one last time into a wonderful new home in Campbell River.

Freckle-sized Mars, 75 million km away through the 10mm eyepiece.

     At our new place, we had a decent view of the night sky, and more time and energy to start using the telescope and camera again. The timing was great as Mars was coming up to opposition where it is the closest to Earth in its orbit. This occurs once every two years, and the distance at each opposition varies. This year it was only 75 million kilometres away while in 2018 it will be even closer at 57 million kilometres. In the telescope at that distance, Mars is about the size of a large freckle (see above). Other than Mars, I began trying to capture better pictures of the moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn as well as drawing my observations in an astronomy journal. The problem I had was that because I had no way of tracking the moon and planets as they moved across the sky, I was unable to take longer exposure photos of them, and so the quality of photos of Jupiter and Saturn was limited.

Drawing of the full moon

Drawing I made of Jupiter and its visible moons.

     In the last few months of 2016, I have spent more time learning how to stack astrophotos. This is a process in which I take several photos (sometimes hundreds if not thousands of photos in the form of a video) of planets, stars, etc and then upload those photos/video into stacking software. The software will then take each individual photo, align them together, and stack each photo on top of the next, creating a brighter, clearer, sharper photo than any single exposure can create. While it has been a challenge (and continues to be in many cases with the video) this approach has led to some great photos, better than any I've ever taken. I'm finally getting close to those Milky Way photos I've been after for years. I've now been able to even capture some dim photos of deep sky objects such as the Orion Nebula, as well as constellations like the Pleiades (little dipper) and the Big Dipper (part of the Ursa Major constellation).

     I plan on continuing with this nerdy hobby, capturing more and better photos of more various objects such as distant galaxies, nebula, and our own sun. Yes, you actually can stare at the sun through a giant magnifying glass, you just have to be smart about it.

     Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the photos posted above and below, and if you have any questions, ask away in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.

Good night everyone!

-K&A

Photo Gallery

North end of the Moon while 50% illuminated.

Waning quarter moon captured at 7:15 A.M.

Supermoon Eclipse from the Fall of 2015.

New Years Night 2016. 12:07 A.M.

New Years Night 2016. 12:07 A.M.

New Years Night 2016. 12:08 A.M.

Big Dipper (Ursa Major) Dec. 24, 2016
15 images stacked together.

Wide angle photo of the sky over Campbell River Dec. 24, 2016 
15 images stacked together.

Another wide angle photo of night sky over Campbell River
December 2016
10 images stacked together.

Orion Nebula over Campbell River, BC
December 2016.
171 images stacked together.

The Great Big Update of June 2016

Ammonite Falls.
Spring 2016.

     Hey everybody,

     So we haven't posted anything in over a year. Why? Life. Since our last post, a lot has changed! We've moved three times, changed jobs a few times, witnessed my older sister get married as members of the wedding party, got married ourselves, and have been exploring our new home on Vancouver Island. Oh and we got a second cat. Despite the challenges this last year has brought us, we're enjoying life and loving the change of scenery and pace. While we haven't gotten out exploring as much as we normally do, we still have had a few very neat adventures!

     Our Summer was spent living and working Quadra Island. We also spent a weekend over in the lower mainland taking part in my older sister's wedding! While living on Quadra, most of our time off was spent wedding planning, beach combing, or exploring the trails around Quadra-particularly on the northern half of the island. We check out areas like Open Bay, Granite Bay, and the Chinese mountains. One day in particular, the two of us drove up to Granite Bay where we found an abandoned sail boat. Other than the sail boat itself, there really wasn't a whole lot in Granite Bay to see, so we drove back South a few kilometers until we saw signs for the Lucky Jim Mine.

     The Lucky Jim Mine is an old, abandoned gold, copper, and silver mine that was in operation during the early 20th century. While the shafts themselves have been sealed and made inaccessible to people, there are still many things on the surface to see and explore. The first, most obvious object you'll find is an old steam pump which was used to pump air down into the mine shafts while also pumping water out. The pump itself is now covered in mosses, ferns, and other wild plant life. Records show that there are supposedly the remains of housing units for the miners that worked at the Lucky Jim Mine, but Kait and I were unable to find any traces of the buildings near the mine.

     After we finished exploring the mine, Kait and I made our way South again and drove to the trail head for Quadra Island's Chinese Mountains. The trail head splits into a few different trails. One trail heads West towards Morte Lake. The other heads North at first and winds its way up to the North and South peaks of the Mountains.
     The trail to the South peak is our favourite one, as it gives incredible 180 degree view of the East, South, and West. You can see as far East as the coastal mountain range, South down to almost the Oyster River area, and West well into Strathcona Park. The view can be quite stunning, especially on clear, sunny days with little cloud and smog. The trail itself starts off easy with a dirt path about 4 feet wide, but it quickly turns into loose shale and stone with a steep incline until you reach the fork in the path where you split off to head to the South Peak.
     The trail after the fork gets better. Once again, it's a mainly dirt pathway that winds its way up to the peak. There are still steep sections, and the edge of the pathway is typically marked by a steep drop, but a series of cutbacks and hairpin turns reduces the overall incline.

     Quadra was also great for its beaches and wildlife, both seeming to be endless in quantity. Eagles, herons, crows, deer, crabs, seals, and otters were common sights. Growing up mainly in Vancouver, I had never seen so many eagles before in my life. Whales are quite common all around Quadra-both humpback whales as well as orca whales, but Kait and I were never fortunate enough to see them ourselves. As for cougars and bears, they're not unheard of-in fact, the year before, Rebecca Spit was closed because of a cougar had killed an animal and was very protective of it-but they're not a common occurrence on Quadra.
     Kait and I had great opporunities to capture some of the local wildlife with our cameras while living there. One day we spent about 30-45 minutes following a heron around as it ate small, black eels from the shallow water and tidal pools. We never had a shortage of things to do while living there during the Summer of 2015.

     In September, our big day came. We celebrated our wedding on September 12th with about 50 of our close friends and family. We decided a year before while in the early days of planning that we wanted to get married on the same beach that we got engaged on. To some guests' dismay, we also planned on holding the ceremony at sunrise. While it was extremely worth it in the end, the planning of the ceremony offered many challenges with the biggest 3 being the tide, the timing of the ceremony with sunrise, and of course the weather.
     Throughout the Summer leading up to the wedding, we had spent hours upon hours planning nearly every detail of the wedding and hand making most things we needed for the BBQ, ceremony, and the reception. Luckily, we had help from family-especially from Kait's parents (thank you!). When the weekend of the wedding arrived, everything was in order and it went off without a hitch.The BBQ on the Friday went well with great food, friends and family, and a fun game of capture the flag. Then came the ceremony the following morning.

   

Kait getting ready while reading the note from my gift.
Photo credit to Jesse Yuen Photography.

     Those of us in the wedding party were up bright and early-minus the brightness. It was about 3:30 when Kait and I were up. She began gathering everything she needed, showering, and getting dressed. After a shower, my brother in law and I began making a big breakfast for the whole wedding party and people began showing up at the cottage we were staying at. It was a busy, slightly hectic morning, but less crazy than I had thought it might be. After everyone was fed, the ladies and the gents went to their separate rooms and got dressed up to the nines. I handed out my gifts to the grooms men, got my gift to Kait to her via one of the bridesmaids, and got dressed up myself. At 6:30 sharp, all us guys made the 5 minute walk down to the beach where the ceremony was taking place, and got in our places. We exchanged a few words, a few laughs, and greeted family as they made their own way down to the beach, some groggier looking than others. At 7 A.M. sharp, the music played and the ceremony began.

On the way to the beach.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

 

Jesse Yuen Photography.

The bridesmaids making their way along the beach.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

      The bridesmaids made their way along the beach, through the archway, and down the aisle to the front, and they were soon followed by Kait. She was wearing her white dress with her bright yellow gum boots, and man was she beautiful.

Kait and Cathy making their way along the "aisle."
Jesse Yuen Photography.

     When she neared the front, I met her at the base of the large, flat(ish) chunk of rock that was our altar. It wasn't overly high, but it was a little damp from the receding tide still, and as the two of us made our way back up to the top all I could think about was not slipping, or letting Kait fall on her ass. We reached the flat(ish) top part of it, and I let out a small breath of relief.

Sun is up, everyone is up front and no one slipped. Success.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

     As we went through our ceremony, the sun rose over the coastal mountains and bathed the entire beach in a bright, orange-white light. I barely heard someone mutter "holy shit" over our commissioner.

The Sunrise Ceremony worked out better than we could have asked for.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

Overjoyed that we didn't slide down the rock!
Jesse Yuen Photography.

     After the "I do"s, our comissioner gave us the green light to kiss. Kait had mentioned a week earlier she was going to leap at me and give me a big smooch, but I had thought she was joking. I was wrong. She said, "are you ready?" I nervously replied yes. She jumped while I hoped I wouldn't slip on the still-damp rock. I caught her and managed somehow not to awkwardly fall over, and we sealed the deal with a kiss. Only then did we realize the comissioner had Kait give me my ring, but had forgotten the part where I gave her her own ring. We quickly took care of that, giggling about it.

A group shot of everyone who was able to attend the ceremony.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

     What followed was a pretty great rest of the day. Our ceremony lasted only until about 7:15 or 7:30. We followed up with lots of group photos with family and friends, as well as some photos with just Kait and I. With all that complete, Kait and I grabbed everyone from the wedding party as well as some family and friends who wanted to come, and took them on the hike up the Chinese Mountains. It was the best part of the entire weekend for the both of us. We were finally able to relax. We were surrounded by close friends and family, and we got to share an awesome hike with an awesome view. After the hike, we returned back to the cottage and began dealing with some of the last minute preparations that needed seeing to. We helped get some kabobs in order for dinner, organized a few things for the reception, and visited with family. Dinner was delicious, with giant vegetable/seafood kabobs, salmon and halibut, pasta salads, you name it. I can't honestly remember everything we had for dinner, but I remember it being tasty.

Another group shot.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

One of my groomsmen taking in the view.
Jesse Yuen Photography.

     The reception itself went pretty well too, although a cool wind had kicked up and it got dark out so many guests retired to the comfort of their resorts. Several friends and family did stay and we had fun listening to music, playing beer pong, and generally socializing. We did away with many of the traditions often seen at receptions, but we didn't care. We just wanted to enjoy the night and see everyone who had made the trip out to join us.

     Once the weekend was over, reality made its return. Kait and I found a rental in Black Creek, and Kait found a new job as the supervisor of a local childcare centre in Campbell River. We made a short trip to Tofino with my sister and brother-in-law for a mini honeymoon, which was really nice, and things were slowly coming together. Work was hard to come by for me, and I ended up settling for a job in a lighting store in Courtenay/Comox. I had also already applied for the Electrical Foundations Program at North Island College by this point, and got word in the fall that I was on their wait-list

     The rest of the Fall and Winter passed by without much happening. We struggled to find things to do without spending too much money as we were tight on funds, and Black Creek was rather boring. We ended up adopting a second kitten, Voodoo, late in the fall. We had my sister and brother in law come visit near Christmas, and together we took a road trip down to Victoria and around the South-west end of Vancouver Island. After they returned to Vancouver, we spent Christmas with our family on Quadra Island. At some point in the winter, shortly after Christmas, we went snow shoeing (my first time) on Mount Washington with Kait's parents. It was a great little adventure.

     As Spring came around, we made our final move for the year into Willow Point. Our new home is a nice place situated with the ocean a few blocks away on one side and parks and forest on the other. We've been spending our time off either working out in our yard, improving it with a nice garden, or making smaller trips around Campbell River, Quadra, and the rest of Vancouver Island checking out new places and hiking new trails. We recently hiked the Ripple Rock Trail just North of Campbell River, and I'm looking forward to more adventures soon.

     I doubt this blog will ever be updated as regularly as it once was. I don't feel the need to and instead have been focusing my efforts elsewhere. That being said, I will make an effort to update this once in a while, in case anyone still cares to read up on some of our adventures.

Thanks for reading!

-Aaron and Kait Pengelly

Photos:

*All photos posted here are our own. The wedding photos above are credited to Jesse Yuen Photography.

A sailboat that at the time was abandoned. It has since been reclaimed.
Summer 2015.

Finding an old steam pump above the Lucky Jim Mine.
Summer 2015.

Kait checking out the steam pump.

Close up of the steam pump w

Our day exploring Quadra gave us one hell of a view.

Checking out the beach at the end of the Kay Dubois Trail.

Heron hunting on Quadra Island.

Photo of the moon taken from Quadra Island.

An eagle resting above the beach we got married on.

Snow shoeing! 

Kait and I exploring the beach near our new home.
Spring 2016.

Visiting Butchart Gardens
May 2016.

 

Butchart Gardens.

She's a happy birthday girl.

Bees working away.

On the march to Ripple Rock and the Seymour Narrows.

Lush, green Vancouver Island forest.

The sun was high, as was the temperature.