WELCOME … to a my blog I started in February 2011 to complement my main website at AmazingSky.com.
In this blog I present information about current sky events, amazing things to see in the night sky, reviews of equipment, and tutorials on photo techniques.
I illustrate the entries with an eclectic mix of favourite and recent images, from shots of daytime phenomena to long-exposures of deep-sky objects. All are taken with amateur telescope gear and digital SLR and mirrorless cameras.
The photos are accompanied by stories, tips and techniques from my astrophotography exploits, both at home and from trips around the world to shoot the sky.
For more information about photo techniques see my eBook, How to Photograph and Process Nightscapes and Time-Lapses.
I hope you enjoy the blog. Please leave comments or questions or sign up to subscribe to news of new entries, via e-mail notices.
Thanks for stopping by! Clear skies!
— Alan Dyer
updated September, 2022
Alberta, Canada
The Amazing Sky 
Hi i just want to ask if maybe we can use one of your photos as a cover for a book. We are a small student org in the Philippines who publishes notes/ reviewers for law students. We haven’t published it yet, and my design proposal has not been chosen yet either. I just wanted to know if you would be okay with it. If you would allow us to use your photo i promise to credit you for your work and maybe i could convince the team to allow me to include a link to your blog as i cite you for your work. Hope to hear from you soon, keep up the good work. I am definitely a fan.
P.S. I am planning to use your photo ‘lost in the milky way’ for my design proposal.
Hello. Thanks for your interest in my photos. However, I would prefer not to have my images used in such projects for credit only. Sorry, but all the best in your project.
Hi Alan, Were you in Diyarbakir to see the eclipse in 1999?
We drove thru there on the way to Hasenkayef, and the historic fortress there where we viewed the 99 eclipse. It was +45 C as I recall and cooled off to +35 C during the eclipse. It felt just comfortable.
It did cool off quite a bit. I was in a large plain outside of Diyarbakir, with a clear sky. The Shadow Bands were very distinct, and about 30 meters apart, moving rapidly; almost too fast to see. I was surprised that the cause of them is still not clearly settled, and that so few good pictures of them exist.
Your sky photos are incredible!
Alan, Please contact me so I can invite you to our astronomy group to observe some evening. Use this email or call me at 575-694-5577.
Regards, Charles
Hi Charles — Tom was already in touch with me and we’ve arranged for a possible evening coming up, weather dependent. Or in the week following at the coming dark of the Moon. Hope to see you then. Thanks!
Amazing images Alan! Thank You!
Dear Alan.
I wanted to notify you that i have used one of your gorgeous shots in a music video. Please know that i have given full rights to you and have added your website to the information below said video. I hope you are OK with this, if not please let me know and I”ll remove it right away. Thank you!
Kind regards from the Netherlands,
Axel
Yes, that’s OK with the credit you’ve provided. Thanks.
Alan, your image today on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day site is absolutely amazing. Keep up the excellent work!
Lance — the Dynamic Perception dolly works quite well bar for some occasional glitches I’ve found when getting a sequence going — the exposure trigger sometimes does not fire properly for the right length of time and in sync with the movement. Rebooting and retrying seems to fix it. It is an early version (less than v 1) of the firmware. So presumably it will improve. The hardware is excellent.
Enjoy all you photos, very inspirational. I also though your workshop on October was excellent. How is that Dynamic Perceptions rig working for you? I’m about to order mine in the next day or so.
Hi Alan,
I purchased the original edition of Backyard and now have the 3rd edition. I have a TMB 80mm scope that I bought 2 yrs ago. I do not have an equatorial mount for it and am looking for one. Wondering about the Celestron 9.25 CGEM, to get object search, bigger views and a place to mount the TMB. Thoughts, ideas?
Thank you for the excellent work that you and Mr Dickinson have accomplished. I live in Vermont by the way, so still enjoy fairly dark skies.
Regards,
George Dean
grdean@together.net
Hi George,
The Celestron CGEM mount is an excellent choice for a sturdy but relatively low cost equatorial mount that will work for astrophotography.
I tested one a few months ago and used it with apo refractors and Celestron’s NexGuide autoguider and it worked great. You can put a variety of tube assemblies on it via the Losmandy dovetail system it accepts.
Hope this helps.
— Alan
Alan: following your advice, I took some wide-angle shots of the southern Milky Way that looked amazing right out of the camera! I have not yet had a chance to process them. Thanks for your inspiring work and for sharing your philosophy and tips. Dave
Thanks, Dave. Glad you weren’t in Christchurch yesterday. Some terrible scenes there.