By Phil Holt, Mornington, Vic, Australia, in association with the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society
Scorpius
The Milky Way in Scorpius 14/8/98, 8 minutes at f2.8, 28mm lens, Ektachrome P1600, guided on a homebuilt platform. P1600 rated at 1600ASA gives great contrast and a pleasing deep blue sky. Ektachrome 400 and Fujichrome 400 both give you a greenish tint to the sky, which is not as good. P1600 costs twice as much as the others though, and the push processing required also adds to the cost.
Eta Carinae
April 5, 2003, 11min f4 150mm lens on Fujichrome 400 pushed 1 stop.
Lagoon nebula
20/09/98. 150mm lens f4, 8 minutes on Ektachrome 1600. The red nebulositiy of the Trifid nebula is visible, lower centre left.
Comet Halley
Comet Halley in April 1986, 50mm lens on Kodak tri-X-pan 400ASA. Taken at Fraser National Park Victoria. I started taking guided astrophotos on an earlier version of the guiding platform in 1986 before I advanced to colour film in 1987.
In 1986 (in time for comet Halley) I constructed my first 'barn door' mount for guided astrophotos. It is basically sheets of chipboard or ply held together at relevant axes with door hinges. It is a hand driven unit with no batteries, or AC power required. The system is reasonably portable. It has been steadily modified to iron out bugs ever since.
Details of my astrophotography platform.
Another Barn Door Mount, with a stepper motor. A simple design with a degree of automation.