SkyNews | Where Earth Meets Sky

September/October 2021

Current Issue

Stories
An astrophoto of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex by Stephan Hamel. | SkyNews
01 —

2021 Photos of the year

Over the past year, you have submitted your exquisite photos of nebulae, galaxies, planets and other astronomical phenomena. Here are the top images in our 19th annual photo contest.

Written by Canadian astrophotographers
This coronal image is made from 10 bracketed input images from the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, taken near Rexburg, Idaho. By Mark Lane. | SkyNews
02 —

A grand eclipse adventure

Get ready for 2024, as a chaser shares his experiences attempting to image the Great American Eclipse of 2017

Written by Mark Lane
Mark Turner climbed Boler Mountain to capture downtown London, Ontario, during the partial eclipse on June 10, 2021. | SkyNews
03 —

Fire in the sky

A solar eclipse greeted northern and eastern Canadians as they woke up on June 10, 2021. Here are some images from our readers.

Written by Canadian astrophotographers
Siv Heang Tav sits on her vehicle in Calgary, Alberta, on September 27, 2017. | SkyNews
04 —

Catch falling stars & dance with aurora

Siv Heang Tav talks about how she learned to take pictures of the night sky through videos, social media and never-ending practice

Written by Allendria Brunjes
Trifid Nebula by Kimberly and Laurie Sibbald
05 —

An astrophotography journey

A couple writes about their journey into imaging the night sky, from landscape photography to deep-sky imaging.

Written by Kimberly Sibbald
The sky doesn’t get much darker than at Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, a RASC-designated Dark Sky Preserve — which makes for great Milky Way shots. | SkyNews
06 —

How to capture our galaxy

With basic gear and special techniques, you can take amazing images of our Milky Way galaxy.

Written by Alan Dyer
Astronaut David Saint-Jacques takes a picture through a window in the Cupola on January 16, 2019. | SkyNews
07 —

Earth from space

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and NASA flight systems engineer Kenton Fisher share their insight into photographing Earth from the International Space Station

Written by Theo Nicitopoulos
Blake Nancarrow gathered the data for this image of NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, using the Burke-Gaffney Observatory in Halifax, Nova Scotia. | SkyNews
08 —

Astrophotos on a budget

Don’t want to spend lots of your hard-earned cash? Here are a few suggestions for doing astrophotography on a budget.

Written by Blake Nancarrow
Nathan Hellner-Mestelman shot the planets through his iPhone. Left to right: Mercury, Venus, “Earth,” Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. | SkyNews
09 —

Planets through your iPhone

A Canadian teenager explains how he shoots the planets with his iPhone.

Written by Nathan Hellner-Mestelman
Rainbow Astro Mount (RST-135) | SkyNews
10 —

Astrophotographer's toolkit

SkyNews asks astrophotographers about their must-have imaging items.

Written by Canadian astrophotographers
I took my first image of the Moon on July 13, 2011, and, well, it wasn’t great. Two years later, on June 19, 2013, I took this picture that was definitely a lot better. By Nicole Mortillaro. | SkyNews
11 —

Your first shots

Nicole Mortillaro shares her guide to learning to capture the cosmos.

Written by Nicole Mortillaro
The Cocoon Nebula — about 15 light-years wide and about 3,300 light-years away — sits at the end of the long, dark nebula Barnard 168. | SkyNews
12 —

Sweet Cygnus of September

It hosts the Sadr Region, the North America Nebula, oodles of star clusters and a large swath of the Milky Way. Get your cameras out before the end of the season and capture this constellation

Written by RASC Robotic Telescope team
Barry Burgess, zodiacal light
13 —

Exploring the night sky

Autumn astrophoto opportunities abound this year. Learn about this events to watch in fall 2021 in this regular feature.

Written by Brian Ventrudo
This image of the Wizard Nebula was taken with an L-eXtreme filter. It was captured using a QHY268C one-shot colour camera through a six-inch refractor. | SkyNews
14 —

Astrophotography filters: A primer

Narrowband? LRGB? Brian Ventrudo takes a look at common imaging filters and how they are used.

Written by Brian Ventrudo
Plan for success. An effective workflow allows you to efficiently capture deep-sky objects like NGC 7000, which Ron Brecher imaged in July 2019 from his SkyShed home observatory near Guelph, Ontario. | SkyNews
15 —

Deep-sky acquisition workflow

Use the limited time you have with clear skies to its fullest. Build an effective workflow for imaging deep-sky objects.

Written by Ron Brecher

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