Here's a closer shot of the comet and galaxy taken with a 200mm lens with 4 sec exposure.

And finally, an interesting patch of sky I took purely by accident! It has four open clusters and a dwarf planet. I didn't know any of this when I took the shot - it was only comparing it with star map software afterwards that I realised what was in it! Not totally sure of the settings I used for this one - I'll have to look it up.

(BTW, not sure what's going on with the BBcode tags! I must be doing something wrong!)

Here's a few pics I've taken this evening. Again, nothing award winning, but then I've only been doing this for two weeks!

The Pleiades. (200mm, f/5.6, 5", ISO 1600)

Jupiter and its four largest moons. (200mm, f/5.6, 4", ISO 1600)

The same image annotated to show which of the tiny dots are the moons!

M42 - The Orion Nebula. Looks a little blurred because the shutter speed was a bit too long! But you can see the shape of the nebula, at least! (200mm, f/5.6, 10", ISO 6400)

M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy. Rather grainy image due to maxing out the ISO, but you can see the shape of the galaxy. If you look closely about 3/4 of an inch to the right and slightly lower than the centre of the galaxy, you can just about make out its companion elliptical galaxy, M32, as a faint, fuzzy patch! (Compare to this image: http://messier.seds.org/Jpg/m31.jpg) (200mm, f/5.6, 10", ISO 6400)

A wide shot of Orion. (18mm, f/5.6, 15", ISO 6400)

A wide shot of Cygnus. You can just about make out the Milky Way running down the centre of the image. Unfortunately, while this was taken in the darkest location I could think of nearby, it's still too close to the local town so picks up a lot of light pollution. I'll have to take a trip to Snowdonia to get a better shot. (18mm, f/5.6, 20", ISO 6400).

Everyone's favourite constellation - Ursa Major! Photo has been edited to make the sky darker. (18mm, f/5.6, 20", ISO 6400).

I'd have stayed out and taken more photos with different settings, but it was bleedin' freezing out there!!!

My remote switch for the camera arrived today, which should make taking shots easier, so I don't have to rely on the self timer.

Just got to wait for some clear skies!

I live halfway up a mountain! I'm in a reasonably large village on the outskirts of a town, so we do get quite a bit of light pollution, but certainly not as much as in the big cities. It's nice and dark in my back garden, as long as I don't venture more than 2 or 3 metres away from the door. If I do, my neigbour's security light switches on and I lose my night vision!!!

(BTW, the images were slightly altered to make the sky darker than it actually appeared!)

So, as I said in my intro post on the forum, my interest is in astronomy and astrophotography. At the moment, my equipment is very limited (as I'm very new to it), so the type of photos I can take at the moment is also limited!

Here are two pics I've taken so far - two of the very first. My first attempt used a 30 second exposure, but the rotation of the earth was pretty evident through the star trails, so I dropped to a 10 second exposure and fiddled with the ISO value to get the exposure.

First image is of the planet Jupiter (in the centre) with the Pleiades in the top right.

Second image is of Orion. The M42 Orion Nebula is just visible in the sword - the purple hazy patch in the middle of the sword.

Both images taken using Canon EOS 1100D, using the standard 18-55mm lens. ISO 6400, 10 second exposure, f/5.6. Both have had their brightness and contrast altered to make the sky darker. I also saved JPEG images as I forgot to set it to RAW!

As I say, it's a first attempt with basic equipment. My next plan, when I get a clear night, is to try to get an image of the Andromeda galaxy and use some stacking software. I also intend to get a zoom lens sometime soon, and a telescope in the near future. But it's early days yet!

Hopefully I'll be good enough by November when we will be treated to a rather impressive comet in the sky! (Comet Ison)