A teacher who began studying astronomy during the lockdown managed to capture some remarkably beautiful pictures of distant galaxies.
Alison Bailey, a piano and woodwind teacher who goes to Nottinghamshire schools like Hollygirt School and Plumtree School, bought a telescope earlier this year.
She told Nottinghamshire Live that she loved traveling before the pandemic broke out and she needed a new hobby that wouldn’t be interrupted by the lockdowns.
After Alison was inspired by a visit to a dark sky reserve in New Zealand, she invested in a Skywatcher Evostar 80ED telescope, which she used to take pictures of distant galaxies with a Canon EOS Ra camera.
So far she has managed to capture numerous sights from her garden in Long Eaton down to the smallest detail.
This includes the Orion Nebula (M42), one of the brightest in the night sky, visible even to the naked eye.
The nebula is a huge dust and gas cloud about 1,500 light years away in which new stars are forged.
Another notable take, their most recent take, is the Pinwheel Galaxy (Messier 101).
It took Alison three hours and 53 minutes to image on a very clear night on Tuesday, April 6, for a total of 200 exposures of 70 seconds.
About 21 million light years away, the spiral galaxy contains at least 1 trillion stars.
About her newfound hobby, she said: “I only started in January, I’m not a professional, I learn over time.
“I use a small refractory telescope and an EQ tracking bracket. If you want to take a picture low in the sky, you have to take loads of pictures, all of which are stacked and then processed in software.
“To be able to take photos with long exposure, I have to set up the bracket so that it faces north and then align it with Polaris, the north star, at the celestial north pole.
“I bought a PoleMaster to help with this. Then I have to focus the telescope on a star through a star alignment.
“It’s amazing to think that after such a short amount of time, I am inspiring people with my pictures, and I would encourage anyone interested in astro photography or even in the night sky to embrace the hobby.”
Check out her pictures below and follow her journey on Instagram at @Astrobaileyuk.