Long exposures shot in Zurich, Switzerland, along the Limmat river and the lake of Zurich. Soft waters and solid rocks obtained in day light with 3 to 5 minute long exposures.
Grossmünster of Zürich on the background. Limmat river in the middle
Bellevue bridge
Utoquai harbor
Zürihorn pier
The Alps from Zürihorn
Messier catalogued most of the deep space objects we can still watch nowadays in dark night skies like in Crete. Pictures shot with D800, Skyguider Pro tracking system and William Optics 61/360 ZS61 II. Exposure times 150 seconds, ISO 3200.
North America on the left and Pelican nebula (NGC 7000) on the right
Lagoon nebula (M8) in Sagittarius
Western Veil and Eastern veil of Cygnus (NGC 6960)
The galaxy of Andromeda (M31) with M32 and M110 satellite galaxies
Eagle nebula (M16) on the top and Omega Nebula (M17) on the bottom
Trifid nebula (M20) on the top and Lagoon nebula on the bottom (M8)
This is the new episode of the reportage Crete:Kingdom of Candia. Click each picture to open it full size. Previous episode(s):
1. Once upon the time in the Kingdom of Candia
2. Gramvousa ochre and turquoise
4. Go West: Falassarna shores of Crete
5. Balos lagoon, a royal beauty
6. Balos, all the colors of water
7. Visitors (or not) in the Mediterranean Sea
8. The only good nation is Imagination
Or at least all the stars and constellations you could spot around 10pm, beginning of March, Swiss coordinates
Facing North West, Cassiopeia the easiest constellation to start with (the “W”). Try finding them in this mute map
Facing South East, Coma Berenice the easiest to spot. Try finding them in this mute map
Towards North East, Ursa Major is there. Try finding them in this mute map
Watching South West, Orion the hunter is there. Try finding them in this mute map
Facing North, Cassiopeia and Perseus are there together in the whole beauty. Try finding them in this mute map
All pictures shot hand held , Nikon D800, Sigma 14 mm f/1.8, 5 to 10 pictures shot on spot, averaged by DeepSKyStacker. Constellation mapped via Astrometry.net
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan was a great astronomic TV show from 1980. Cosmos means universe, although Kosmos in Greek originally meant Order of the (Universe). At least for Pitagora, who invented the term. Whatever Cosmos means, you can’t go to Greece without a tripod, a camera, a long lens / telescope and a Skyguider Pro to picture the marvellous dark sky you find only on Greek Islands (and Chalkidiki of course). With my WIlliams Optics OTA plus D800 I could picture this North American nebula in the night sky of Naxos. On the bottom right, the Pelican Nebula.
Half moons are better than full moons: shadows make craters more visible 
Marvellous view on all the 4 major moons of Jupiter, plus Jupiter with its red band included! First time I could shoot to such detail.
A first time (for me) at such magnification also for the Andromeda Galaxy. Please notice the smaller companion Galaxy on its top and the brown dust in its spirals. 
How far is Saturn compared to Jupiter? Saturn apparent magnitude is around 0.5-1. Jupiter is around -3 (the more negative, the brighter; the Sun has -25, the Moon -12 ). So, pardon me for my excitement when I could picture Saturn, despite that it is sooo small with my tube. Click on the picture to see the rings.
Last but not least, the Pleiades. The largest of them, the 7 sisters, are blue giants surrounded by refraction nebulas. The Pleiades are known and followed by humankind from thousands of years, as witnessed by the Nebra sky disk (pass by in Halle, Germany, and find it at the State Museum)
Previous episodes:
1. On the footsteps of Ariadne
2. Think Big, Think Greece
3. Tourists
4. Six feet underwater
5. Art is the gap
6. Underscapes
7. Geo metron
First light for my Zenith Star II 61 APO from downtown Zurich (4.4 km distance)
Focus test with a Bathinov mask
The strawberry full moon above ZUrich
Eppure si muove?
Bathinov mask effect on Zurich downtwon
Click each picture to zoom in
Copyright 2011-2021 Lorenzo Borghi. All rights reserved
