What to do when the moon is out and interfering with astrophotography? Try imaging double stars. I became curious as to just how small of a separation I could get and tried smaller and smaller separations of double stars. The image is of the star Struve 300 in the constellation Triangulum. The bright image to the left is a much enlarged image of the star with a 10 second exposure, ISO 3200, 6-inch RC at f/9. The two dots to the right is the same star, same scale and same settings but with a 1 second exposure. The two stars are clearly separated. Data on the two stars are: magnitudes 7.89, 8.08 with a separation of 3.2 seconds of arc. It would be an easy double to split visually, photographically, well that's another story. To give you some idea of just how close these two stars appear in the sky, 3.2 seconds of arc is the same as three pennies lined up side by side and seen from a distance of 2-1/2 miles!!!!! The moon's apparent diameter of roughly 30 minutes of arc (or 1/2 degree) is equivalent to 1800 pennies lined up side by side.

I’m not sure if this is the best category for this entry. I have been experimenting with nighttime sky photography. I don’t have any special equipment, just a Nikon D600 and a 16-35 lens. I have trying to capture a photograph of the Milky Way that is a pleasing and accurate shot. I don’t have the expertise or equipment to attempt to capture a shot that you usually see on this forum. I just want to make a photograph that will please the general public.

This is the image that I created by stitching four photographs together and removing airplane trails. I made it into a bookmark and would like to print it larger, but I need some unbiased input.

Thanks!