{"id":28941,"date":"2022-02-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=28941"},"modified":"2022-03-23T13:15:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T13:15:15","slug":"field-of-view-britains-best-stargazing-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/02\/10\/field-of-view-britains-best-stargazing-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Field of view: Britain\u2019s best stargazing city?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Astrophotographer Simon Newman <\/strong>describes imaging from Bristol, recently named the UK\u2019s best city for stargazing*, and shares some of his top tips<\/p>\n\n

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City of stars: Simon\u2019s stunning image of the Milky Way over Bristol<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

So how did I end up sitting for hours in the dark recently, on the cycle path under Bristol\u2019s iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge? As I sat there, I reminisced that I owe this astro-craziness to a broken hip.<\/span> Back in 2018 I was recovering from a cycling accident with a lot of time to kill. Although I had a DSLR camera kit I never appreciated the hidden universe a camera could capture, be they the micro-details of insects or the macro-details of space. I started with insects, perfect for my confined recovery, and also started to absorb anything I could find online about photography, which led me to astrophotography \u2013 and that got me hooked!<\/p>\n\n

I found myriad sub-genres and creative possibilities when photographing the night sky, many of which can be practised from the city. So, what type of astrophotography best lends itself to the light-polluted urban environment?<\/p>\n\n

For starters there are astro landscapes; even in moderate light pollution, the asterisms and, of course, planets should be visible. I recommend that you choose recognisable ones and include these in your cityscapes. A glow filter can help accentuate these, allowing the most prominent stars to pop.<\/p>\n\n

Star trails can work really well if you capture them from the slightly darker parts of a city, but it can be a challenge to balance the large dynamic range between the bright urban foreground and the dimmer stars. Either shoot with a low ISO setting to give yourself maximum dynamic range, or separately expose for the sky and the foreground, blending the two in post-processing. You can get creative and try a reflected star trail in a pond, window or mirror.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Don\u2019t forget the Moon; a city\u2019s skyline features and landmarks present a perfect opportunity to get a striking composition with the Moon in shot, especially at a longer focal length. A shot planning app will help align these images. Even nicely framed by vegetation, or clouds, the Moon is one of my favourite subjects.<\/p>\n\n

What about the deep sky? If you\u2019re shooting galaxies or nebulae, use good-quality filters. When I started out, capturing classics such as the Orion Nebula from my Bortle Class 6 Bristol garden, I bought an inexpensive light-pollution filter. It gave some improvement, but it was minimal. Then I invested in a couple of multi-band filters tailored to the specific narrowband wavelengths of the targets I was shooting, and these transformed my images. It\u2019s one of these filters that finally allowed me to capture the Milky Way above the Clifton Suspension Bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Finally, I would also recommend that you try to image your targets when they\u2019re above the worst light dome of your urban environment to give the best contrast \u2013 even 10\u00ba can make a big difference.<\/p>\n\n

Bristol is a great place for stargazing, but I also try to plan a couple of getaways to dark skies each year to shoot the Milky Way. I love the research, planning and anticipation which goes along with these mini adventures. From most cities, a trip of a couple of hours will get you to much darker skies. Bortle Class 4 skies or below give great results; my favourite locations are Dartmoor and the Brecon Beacons.<\/p>\n\n

*Research released in November 2021 by McCarthy Stone. See bit.ly\/MCSresearch<\/a> for more<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

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Simon Newman is a professional engineer and amateur photographer with a passion for astrophotography, who lives in Bristol with his young family<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Photos: SIMON NEWMAN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s best stargazing city?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":28939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"25","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"25","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_25-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_25-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"March-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"March-2022","purple_external_id":"March-2022-25-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"March-2022-25-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086550||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086550||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef.jpg",945,1321,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef-215x300.jpg",215,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef-768x1074.jpg",768,1074,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef-733x1024.jpg",733,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef.jpg",945,1321,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/09916a1d-d2f2-45c1-af04-fa8051cb53ef.jpg",945,1321,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Britain\u2019s best stargazing city?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28941"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28941"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29802,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28941\/revisions\/29802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}