Cygnus Loop

This is the Cygnus Loop, an emission nebula measuring nearly 3° across (Six times the size of a full moon in the sky). This nebula is a large remnant after a supernova, a massive stellar explosion that occurred between 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. The distance from Earth is estimated to 1500 light years.

Photo was taken using a Nikon D810A with a Nikon 180mm f/2.8 Ai-s lens at f/4.0. Total exposure time is 1 hour (60 x 1 min) at ISO 1600. AstroTrac used for unguided tracking.

The Cygnus Loop

Behind the scenes with location of Cygnus Loop marked.
The green down to the right is some Northern light.

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Milky Way and small church

This is a three shot panorama of the Milky Way and a small church. Each shot is a 20 second exposure at ISO 1600, 14 mm f/2.8 with a Nikon D810A.

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Colorful Northern Lights

Last night I had a visit from a Swedish photography magazine (Fotosidan Magasin) doing an article about me and my work. We were lucky to get a clear and dark sky and we even managed to get some colorful Northern Lights. At first we could hardly see the aurora but for a short while it turned into some faint pillars dancing across the sky. To the naked eye we could barley make out any colors, the human eye isn't that good at seeing colors in the dark. Fortunately our cameras doesn't have the same problem, they are very good at seeing colors in low light since they can capture light for a longer period of time.

Milky Way photography close to a city

I often get asked if you need a really dark location to be able to see and shoot the Milky Way. My answer to that question is usually no, it all depends on the amount of light pollution in your area.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a location just 8 km from down town Östersund (A city with a population of 60,000 in the municipality). I could see the Milky Way with my naked eye as a faint band of stars stretching across the sky above our heads. In this photo down town Östersund is to the left just behind me and my friend. The bright light source by the horizon to the right is the setting Moon.

As for shooting the Milky Way you can see by this photo that some light pollution is OK as long as the Milky Way doesn't stretch through it. When editing the photos I was surprised on how low above the horizon the Milky Way was visible, despite being that close to the Moon.

The image below is a panorama made of 12 photos each shot with the same exposure settings, 20 sec. ISO 1600 using a Nikon D810A and a Nikon AF-S 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens at 14 mm f/2.8.

The Milky Way over the city of Östersund

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Green sky as seen from inside of a green

Here's a photo I took back in October this year. It's a sky filled with bright Northern Lights as seen from inside of a golf hole on a green. A green sky as seen from inside of a green.

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Hiking for the full moon

Today I went hiking with my family in a beautiful mountain area here in Jämtland, Sweden. We had a great time and the views got was really amazing now when the mountain tops are snow covered.

Later during the afternoon it was time for the full moon to rise. My wife and my two kids got to model while watching the moon rise above the horizon. I planned the shot during the day and everything look great for the evening. Just an hour before the Moon was about to rise, the clouds started to move in from west and the sky was quickly covered.

I was a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to do the shot but as you can see the sky was clear to the east just enough for the full moon to be visible. The moon is somewhat deformed in the lower half, that's due to atmospheric refraction.

The size of the Andromeda Galaxy

It was quite some time since I photographed the Andromeda galaxy so last night I had another go at it. For this photo I used a total exposure time of 75 minutes to bring out the details in the galaxy.

It is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way with a distance of 2.5 million light-years. Just stop and think for that a minute, the light has traveled 2.5 million years before it arrived to Earth. Since the speed of light is ~300 000 km per second, we can quite easily come to the conclusion that the Andromeda galaxy is extremely far away.

But, since it at the same time is extremely big, its size in the sky is as big as 6 full moons placed next to each other.

In this photo I took last night I've included the size of the Moon as it appears in the sky, just so that you can get an idea on how big the Andromeda galaxy really is in the sky. Since the light from the galaxy also is very faint due to the long distance, we can just barley see the galaxy with the naked eye. But if we could see it in its full glory, this is how big it would look compared to the Moon. Quite a view.

Nikon D810A, Nikon AF-S 300mm/f2.8, 75 minute exposure, ISO 1600

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Aurora road

The aurora season continues to deliver amazing auroras. A few nights ago we had another fantastic show with lots of activity both along the horizon and with a beautiful corona. Here is one shot taken when the aurora was very active and colorful.

Beneath the Milky Way

This weekend I was visiting one of my neighbors at their summer house. It's located in a really remote location with a wonderful dark sky. During the weekend I captured this image of their house beneath the Milky Way.

It's quite amazing to think that this little house is circling around in a giant galaxy filled with billions of stars.

Nikon D810A, ISO 6400, 30 sec. 14 mm f/2.8

Nikon D810A Review

Nikon just got star struck with the new D810A. As a long time Nikon photographer working as a professional photographer with a passion for astrophotography, I was really excited when this new camera was announced in February this year. Could it be the answer to all my dreams?

Recently I’ve been testing the new Nikon D810A camera, Nikon's first DSLR dedicated to long-exposure deep-sky astrophotography. I was contacted by Nikon Nordic and asked if I could test the new camera and give my thoughts on it.

The new D810A has a specialized image sensor that is four times more sensitive to H-alpha red tones than an ordinary DSLR. Due to this sensitivity in red light, Nikon says it’s not suitable for general photography since this could give you some reddish looking photos. When doing astrophotography you want this sensitivity in H-alpha so you can capture more data/colors in nebula.

Nikon D810A