Observing the Milky Way at the Folly
It was the last day of February this Friday and the weather all day had been glorious. A high pressure system was dominant over the UK resulting in clear blue skies and very little wind. The fine weather coincided with a rare astronomical event - a planetary parade. Seven planets would be appearing in the night sky at once in the early evening.
The planets that would form this grand alignment were Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,Saturn , Uranus and Neptune. Not all would be visible with the naked eye. Telescopes, Binoculars and long camera lenses would be needed for Neptune and Uranus as they would be feint in comparison to the other planetary bodies.
It was reported that this planetary parade would not happen again until 2040. I thought that it would be a great idea visit the Folly in Pontypool as it would be a good vantage point to have a panoramic view of the night skies in every direction. The location is also very dark which is a key requirement for star gazing and especially astro photography. The Folly stands like a stone sentinel guarding the border of the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) up on the hill that over looks Pontypool. You can see for miles in all directions. During the hours of darkness the hill is surrounded by a sea of lights from the urban sprawlof New Inn, Mamhilad,Griffithstown , Trevethin and Pontypool.
As a result whilst the Folly stands at the top of an island of darkness it suffers from light pollution which makes astrophotography a challenge. I am very much in the early experimental stages of night photography. It's a genre that I am not that experienced with so every night is a learning experience when I am out in the darkness with the camera. The Folly makes a great subject to photograph. I have visited it many times so its a familiar and well loved place by myself so its a known quantity, so all I have to worry about is the settings and composition.
On leaving the house to make the short drive to the Folly I told my wife I was hoping to get some starry sky shots and with a bit of luck the Milky Way. To be honest I was winging it when it came to the Milky Way as I doubted it would show that well because of light pollution, but in these interesting times we live in- who would have thought last year I would have seen the Northern Lights up there!
It was only a few weeks ago that I last visited the Folly during Storm Eowyn. The wind had been horrendous and it had been bitterly cold, despite this, I was able to capture some interesting photographs but it had not at all been optimal conditions for astro work.
As I walked along the track that leads to the Folly on the last day of February however I was blessed with perfect conditions. There was no wind and the skies were really clear. The stars and planets shone brightly overhead.
The red planet Mars was high above the Folly and served as an excellent waymarker for me as I tried to navigate the skies and find other planets and constellations that I was familiar with.
I am always filled with a feeling of great awe when I look up at the night sky. I have a massive sense of following in the footsteps of my ancestors. Ever since Homo Sapiens have walked this planet and been self aware we have been fascinated by the heavens above us. From what I have learned the ancient civilisations all around the world were expert astronomers so what I was doing on the hill in Pontypool was nothing new and something that people have been doing since the dawn of time. What an awesome thought don't you think?
I had my drone with me - the DJI Air2S. This drone has a reasonably good sensor for night flights but even so, getting anything decent in the darkness would be difficult. I flew the drone and experimented. Perhaps anyone observing from afar may think they has seen a UFO as the drones green and red lights flashing may bring my activities some attention.
In the picture above the light from my head torch can be seen toward the bottom right surrounded by pitch black darkness and then the lights of the urban conurbations can be seen.
Whilst I am getting very experienced of taking photographs and video with my drones during daylight, in the hours of darkness its a matter of learning by trial and error.
The drone flight was a bit of an experiment more than anything and so I did not spend too long flying and brought it down to earth after a few minutes.
Mounted ready on my tripod was my Nikon D850 with the Samyang 14mm F2.8 Astro lens attached. A great combination for astrophotography.
I had the camera focussed up on the stone sentinel looking Southwards to start off with but it soon became apparent that the planetary alignment was best observed looking all across the sky from the East to the West. Our planet is rotating so that heavens are always moving and a lot of the stars constellations that was familiar with such as Orions Belt were steadily moving to the east.
I also wanted to keep changing where I was taking the pictures from to capture all kinds of different angles, parts of the skies and the features around the Folly. Just taking the same shot every time gets pretty boring.
The planet Venus was shifting in the sky quickly now relative to the Earth and it was gradually descending towards the Western horizon.
I decided to move position and walk to the iconic tree that grows in the old stone wall. The tree has been in the wars and the last Storm resulted in one of the boughs falling to the ground which is a great shame. Its now - the "Broken Tree in the wall" but remains an amazing feature.
Here I was able to take a photograph of showing the wall and tree in silhouette with the heavens above it.
I have mapped the stars and planets the best I can using Stellarium as my guide and reference.
I returned to the Folly again as when I looked North I was sure I could make out a feint band in the sky of the Milky Way. I wanted to get a picture of it above the Folly.
I set up lower down the grassy slope South of the Folly about 40 meters away from it. I peered into the Northern Sky, and yes, there was the Milky Way stretching up as if out of the top of the Folly arching towards the West.
I took several photographs using different exposure settings and ISO. Eventually the Milky Way got a bit clearer in the images I was viewing off the back of the camera.
My lead image of this blog post is the result after some post processing using Adobe Photoshop and Skylum Luminar Neo. Its is a single image and my main adjustments have been to contrast, dehazing and some vignetting. I am quite happy with the result as its not too far removed from what could actually be seen with the naked eye.
My final annotated picture is looking Westwards over Pontymoel and up towards the Mynydd Maen and Twyn-Glas mountains.
So I finished late into the evening having seen Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Venus - the other planets had been too close to the horizon and light pollution spoilt any chance of me seeing them. I was really happy though, up there all on my own with just the heavens above and my stoney guardian- The Folly looking after me.
The Technical Bit
Camera Kit-
- Nikon D850
- Samyang 14mm Astro Lens
- Manfrotto Travel Tripod
Settings
- Aperture F2.8
- ISO 2500-4000
- Shutter Speed - 13 to 30 Seconds
- White Balance 4200K
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