I managed to take many photos in 2020 despite the coronavirus restrictions to our lives. Below is a short slideshow of photos that I think are my best over the past year.
by Thomas Stirling
in 
by Thomas Stirling
in 
Tonight I headed out on a mission to see and photograph Comet Neowise. Neowise is a fairly recently discovered comet first spotted by the astronomers using the Neowise Telescope. Having seen the great comet of 1997 Hale Bopp as just a teenager, standing in my back yard in Scotland with my mother – it piqued my interest in all things extraterrestrial. I didn’t own a camera back in 97′ but the internet had started to boom and I saw a lot of inspiring photos taken by people from all over the world had got of Hale-Bopp. I decided then that should another comet visit our cosmic neighborhood in my lifetime I would get a photo.
Fast forward 23 years (more than a lifetime compared to my younger self being only 17 or so at the time of Hale-Bopp) later and I got my chance. Now living in the United States, I took the photo below in West Kennebunk Maine’s Blueberry Barrens. I arrived around 9 pm and noticed a few other cars parked. It was a great evening, I enjoyed chatting with fellow comet hunters and space enthusiasts. The shot is not as tack-sharp as I wanted it to be, but the good news is that the comet will be around for the next month or so, I will be back out many more times to try and get the best results possible.
These photos were taken on July 20th, 2020 at approximately 10:30 PM
by Thomas Stirling
in I recently picked up a Nikon P1000. After having spent almost 15 years taking photos exclusivley with Canon Cameras I felt it was time to cross over and see what all the fuss was about with a good point and shoot Nikon.
For the price this camera is awesome. Its a good all round camera allowing you to take everything from Macros to super zoom images. The zoom is an impressive 300mm (more with the digital enhancements) and can take you close up to the moon craters. I am also looking forward to getting photos of Jupiter and Saturn.
Check back soon for some more astronomy pictures.
A selection of recent shots taken with my new Nikon camera. I will be adding to Flickr a lot more in the coming months, you can check out my Flick Stream here and my 500px stream here.
