Friday the 28th of February marked the alignment of seven planets just after sunset.  It was also a new moon which favoured a trip back up to the Tianjara Plateau. This time however was my first attempt at setting up my camera system, driving back home and picking up the equipment the following morning. 

Since my whole setup runs on 4 AA batteries, a camera battery and a power bank I am able to let my equipment run until the batteries go flat. It means I can focus on other tasks such as keeping my wife happy with two kids while my equipment collects data in a Class 2 dark sky. A win win.

After Polar Aligning the mount,  taking some flats, darks and some test shots I let the camera do the work until it runs out of batteries at about 1am. Driving back home the same thoughts circle around. What if the mount stops? What if someone finds my gear and decides to trade in my equipment at cash converters. 

The next morning I’m back on the road at sunrise to collect my gear. I’m glad to see it’s still there and absolutely covered in moisture. A Quick Look at the SD card confirms the camera did a stellar job and kept the target in frame the entire time. 

Although the image is not completely processed it’s already showing a detailed view of the Southern Cross within the Milky Way band. A image which would be very difficult to replicate in a suburban location.  

Having access to a dark sky 30 minutes from home is a blessing for astronomers. Most dark skies are only accessible during astrocamps or during holidays where you haven’t considered bringing your camera . We are very fortunate in Nowra to be extremely close to dark sites like Tianjara.