Hi all. This is just to let you know that I have been in hospital for two months. Many of…
Health Update 2
Since My Last Post I’ve been re-admitted back into hospital two more times since my first post over a month…
Health Update
Nova in Vela!
Novae appear on average once every year or two. I recently posted about the “Nova in Lupus!” and now, only…
NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex
Tidbinbilla, Australian Capital Territory
Colourful Conjunction
Regulus and Mars A few days ago I took this image of the star Regulus with the planet Mars sailing…
Nova in Lupus!
We’ve been waiting over a year for the much-anticipated “Blaze Star” (T Coronae Borealis) to go Nova and we’re still…
Feeling Lonely… Again
I’m no poet. I’m just an old fella who wanted to put my feelings about the Universe into poetic verse.…
A Dying Star in the Vela Constellation
Planetary Nebula NGC 3132
Mt Stromlo Observatory
Located just outside Canberra, Australia’s capital city.
An AI view of Cosmic Focus
This article has its genesis in a post over at Disperser Tracks where, in this article, an AI site was…
Gum 39
A Bright Nebula in the Southern Constellation of Centaurus
A Strange Object in the Carina Constellation
IC 2220 Toby Jug Nebula
Saturn’s Ring Tilt
On March 23, 2025, Earth passed through the extended plane of Saturn’s ring system. Because the rings are incredibly thin,…
An Active Galaxy
130 million light years away
An Ancient Spiral Galaxy
Celestial Splendour in Pyxis NGC 2613
Photographing Our Cosmic Neighbour
Imaging the Large Magellanic Cloud with a DSLR camera and Star Tracker
Cloudy Adventures
This session I optimistically set up my telescope under thick 90% cloudy skies, based on reliable forecasts that the clouds…
Orion Nebula
M42 The Orion Nebula is an amazing object and one of the best in the sky but I’ve imaged it…
Blue Ring Confusion
The above image was not taken by me. Credit Pexels Free Photos. The photo’s relevance or otherwise will be explained…
Thor’s Helmet
NGC 2359 A Nebula in Canis Major Our Summer here in Sydney seems to be following a similar pattern to…
2024 Review
It’s time to look back at some of my favourite images taken over the past twelve months on Cosmic Focus.…
The Heart of the Milky Way
Taken with a DSLR camera mounted on a star tracker.
Star Trails
Having taken star trails of up to about 15° rotation many times in the past, I wanted to obtain an…
Pair of Galaxies
Messier 77, aka Cetus A or NGC 1068 This is a three hour exposure of the barred spiral galaxy M77…
47 Tucanae
A Bright Globular Cluster in Tucana NGC 104, Caldwell 106 The Sun sets late here on a December evening and…
NGC 1313
An unusual galaxy in Reticulum NGC 1313 is sometimes called the Topsy-turvy Galaxy and with such an intriguing title, I…
Tarantula Nebula
NGC 2070 in Dorado Caldwell 103 If any astronomical object truly inspires me, it is the Tarantula Nebula. It appears…
Messier’s Biggest Mistake?
Charles Messier was a pioneer of nineteenth century astronomy. He created the now world famous Messier List to help other…
Venus
Yes, Venus displays phases, just like the Moon. This is a recent telescopic image of the inner planet Venus, taken…
The Spare Tyre Nebula
IC 5148 A Planetary Nebula in Grus The Spare Tyre Nebula is a doughnut shaped astronomical object located in the…
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
It’s been a long wait but finally I got a cloudless evening sky with a clear view of Comet A3,…
Milky Way Wide Field
The above feature view looks northwards from the Milky Way nucleus (top left). The light pollution of Western Sydney becomes…
Grus Quartet
Four galaxies for the price of one!
The Small Magellanic Cloud
The SMC is one of the jewels of the Southern sky.
M53
A Messier object orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy – and a short article about the Messier Catalogue.
Riches of the Southern Milky Way
A wide field view of the spectacular Southern Milky Way and the barren South Celestial Pole.
The Star Adventurer Part 2
Eliminating Star Trailing
in Wide Field Astro-photography.
My previous article, The Star Adventurer Part 1, was about the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer in its most basic form. This second post builds on that and will show how I am redeploying processes which were developed using my refracting telescope to improve the basic Star Adventurer performance.
Helix Nebula
141 words, 1 minute read time
The Star Adventurer Part 1
Long exposures with a DSLR Camera. Purpose: Simply mounting a camera to a standard (i.e. non-motorised) tripod will limit the…
Moon & Venus Conjunction
A beautiful sight faced me as I was setting up my telescope. I couldn’t resist a couple of quick images…
Milky Way Widefield
342 words, 2 minutes read time.
Dumbbell Nebula
242 words, 1 minute read time.
The Milky Way in Centaurus
564 words, 3 minutes read time.
Southern Cross
Crux Constellation Crux is the smallest of the eighty-eight constellations but is an iconic southern constellation. It lies in the…
Lagoon Nebula
M8 in Sagittarius NGC 6523 & NGC 6530 One of the most beautiful nebulae in the whole sky, M8 is…
Hidden In Plain Sight
Open Star Cluster NGC 5823 Caldwell 88 in Circinus (and Lupus) An open cluster of relatively young and loosely gravitationally…
IC 4628
A Bright Nebula in Scorpius Coming towards the end of an evening session at Cosmic Focus Observatory, I had an…
First Quarter Moon
. . . Also Spica & The Return of Venus Many of my fellow amateur astro-photographers tend to ignore the…
The Blaze Star
Thermo-nuclear explosion in our sky, coming soon. 💥
Afternoon Moonrise
Not quite . . .
Globular Cluster NGC 6352
Caldwell 81 in Ara Image exposure:30 minutes Image Size:77.1 x 51.4 arc-min Image date:2024-06-03 Peering between (and well beyond) the Milky…
The Rim Nebula
A big bright nebula in the constellation of Ara
Car Headlights in a Snow Storm
A pair of unrelated objects, just four arc-minutes apart
The Jewel Box
The sparkling Jewel Box cluster and a wide field view of the Southern Milky Way
Pons-Brooks
2 minutes read time.
M88 and Friends
The Coma-Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Twenty-five galaxies in one image!
Eta Carinae Nebula
The mother of all nebulae
First Quarter Moon
Imagine
Gum 23
A large wedge shaped emission nebula, sliced by lanes of obscuring dust
Comet P12/Pons-Brooks
A happy ending to a search which began seven decades earlier . . .
Seagull Nebula
An HII hydrogen cloud, 200 light years across.
Galactic Twins
An associated pair of spiral galaxies in the constellation of Leo.
Sirius
The brightest visible star in the night sky, circled by a stunning blue and green atmospheric ring phenomena.
Moonset
The Moon holds a special place in our lives, influencing romance and evolution, as well as astronomy.
Omega Centauri
…this whopping giant ball of stars which orbits the disc of the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 16,000 light years.
Conjunctions 2024
A tabulation of upcoming planetary conjunctions.
Look Back
An image capturing a rare close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, showcasing their similar apparent diameters and proximity.
Burning Bright
Against the stark blackness of interstellar space, the abundance backdrop of Milky Way stars are shining bright. In the middle, they seem to have caught alight, burning like a bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night.
Messier 50
A beautiful open star cluster, discovered in 1710 by Cassini
Christmas Tree Cluster
A bright open star cluster with associated bright and dark nebulae.
The Spotted Sun
My solar image captured with a Canon DSLR utilised a DIY solar filter, inspired by Jim Ruebush.
Messier 1
The Crab Nebula, the remnants of a colossal supernova explosion nearly 1000 years ago.
Moon, Jupiter & Uranus
A short trip around the Solar System
In the Spotlight
Eerie spotlight on the clouds
The Rosette Nebula
A nebula with too many catalogue numbers!
2023 Review
Annual Image Review
Saturn’s Ring Rumours
The Case of the Disappearing Rings
Star Trails
… and aircraft trails
Bushfire Sun
Sunspots seen through the smoke.
IC 1283
Towards the galactic centre.
Three Planets in the Western sky
Dance of the planets.
Venus and Friends
Venus, Mars and the star Regulus
Caldwell 45
Spiral galaxy NGC 5248 or Caldwell 45 in the constellation of Bootes.
NGC 6153
A dying star in the constellation of Scorpius.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 6744
Eighth magnitude spiral galaxy NGC 6744, in the Southern Pavo constellation
