Astro-Photographers from 16 to 100 years old will enjoy this experience.

This course is aimed at beginners, however more experienced Astro-photographers are welcome and may find the course useful

No equipment is needed and advice and guidance on buying and using the right kit is part of the course. If you do have equipment of your own bring it along. Specifically things to think about bringing are:

•        Camera. DSLR or specialist Astro cameras
•        Your own telescope if you have one
•        Laptop (to learn about processing and stacking etc)

If you are bringing your own DSLR we have adapters available for popular models of camera to enable you to use your camera with our telescopes during the event.

Additionally - specific questions can be emailed to our experts in advance, email us at info@battlesteads.com

The course covers the basic principals in taking pictures of astronomical objects. This includes nebula, galaxies, stars and the planets. Advice and guidance on the equipment you will need and how to get the best out of equipment you may already have.  We nclude both theory and practical sessions and weather permitting, taking your own pictures in what is one of the best dark sky locations in the UK.   No previous knowledge or experience is required and the course is ideally suited to the beginner starting out as an astrophotographer. If you have equipment that you'd like help with bring it along, This extended course will give you ample time to get to know your camera and astrophotography techniques followed by supervised imaging sessions and processing your images. Bring your camera & telescope if you have them and laptop (but they are not essential - you can use our equipment.)  Although the course is aimed at beginners, our astrophotographers have over 20 years' experience therefore intermediate or advanced guests will also benefit from attending.

If your interest is in taking wide field sky vistas of the Milky Way then you may be interested in our Nightscape Photography courses. 

NOTE added 15/09/2015:

As outlined below, and in the link, the eclipse happens in the early hours of the 28th, NOT during the AstroPhotography workshop later that evening.  The observatory WILL be open during the eclipse from Midnight on Sunday 27th of September and admission is included in the package for guests who have purchased tickets for the astrophotography event.  If you're already booked into the astrophotography event there is no need to book into the seperate eclipse event.

Tonight is the harvest moon supermoon AND a lunar eclipse, or the Full Corn Moon (Native American).  The evening's theme will be lunar, with a brief history of the Apollo missions and other lunar missions.

Astrophotography skills featured tonight: You'll be invited to take smartphone pictures of the moon through our telescopes, and we'll give you a brief introduction to DSLR night-time star scenes as well as lunar & solar imaging.  There will be a brief introduction to some basic post-image processing.  (Experts will be on hand to discuss other questions you may have, and please feel free to bring your own equipment & laptops if you need a bit of help.)

The Moon is located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 02:50 UTC on Monday 28th September. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Corn Moon because the corn is harvested at this time of year. This moon is also known as the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox each year. This is also the second of three supermoons for 2015. This is the closest full moon of 2015.

Lunar Eclipse information can be seen here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_2015_lunar_eclipse

 http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2015Sep28T.pdf