The Quest For Barnards Loop Finally !!! a clear winter night worthy of some deep space astrophotography. Temperature.. -20 or 30 ... Ridiculous! First things first.... LONG UNDERWEAR !!! no jokes about this one guys...pants, two layers of socks + warm thermal socks over top, thermal turtle neck with t-shirt over top... than long sleeve shirt.. hoodless sweater, a hoodie and that’s only just the start! Snowpants, winter coat, toque and warm, warm, warm gloves that can work a camera. It doesnt take long for your fingers to freeze! The Ordeal Begins: One of my long time goals has been to photograph Barnards Loop, the reddish arc or curve invisible to the naked eye that surrounds the constellation Orion. My night started as usual: set up of my gear, everything running and working well, run some test shots... Good to go! It was freezing, did I mention that? I switched back and forth between wide-field 18 mm lens and 70-300 telephoto lens before finally deciding that wide-field was much more manageable in the cold. By this point Orion was exactly where I wanted him positioned in the sky! I set up my shots using my remote timer and managed to track up to 8 minutes. After making battery changes, adding dew heaters, blow drying and other minor adjustments...success. Barnards Loop taken both close up and wide-field using the same zoom lens 18-85mm. The night was basically over until an outburst of light pillars occurred. I called it a night shortly after they disappeared. [See the BAS weblog for more on light pillars including a set over the entire city of Owen Sound.-ed] Aaron Top
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 08:18:17 +0000
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