I often look up in awe at the wonder of the night sky on a clear night. As I lay there and gaze in amazement at the planets and the millions of stars in view, I think to myself “Ohh ffs, someone has nicked my fucking roof!” 😁

I have had a keen interest in photography for several years, and being able to incorporate it with my fascination of astronomy was something I was keen to try for a while. However, combining the hobbies to create astrophotography had it limitations before I owned a DSLR camera. I always try to use a smartphone with the best available camera specs, but as camera technology on smartphones is constantly evolving, keeping up to date with handsets that cost over £1000 each has taken some impressive negotiating skills with my phone network accounts team 😁 Most phones I use can shoot in RAW format, plus have advanced settings to allow manual control of shutter speed, ISO and in some cases aperture control. This has made them excellent to use for long exposure photography in some situations, but not always ideal for capturing light from celestial bodies that has travelled for light-years to reach the camera lens.

“Are stars just pinholes in the curtain of night? Who knows?”

Sean Connery as Ramirez from Highlander (1986)

I find it helps to say the above quote in a Scottish accent, but, of course not Mr. Connery, pero, por supuesto que no Señor Ramirez, stars are not pinholes in the curtain of night. Stars are luminous balls of gas. Most notably hydrogen and helium which have the lowest atomic mass of the elements on the Periodic Table.

A star is born…

Not only the title of a proper tear-jerker of a movie, but what happens when matter-rich molecular clouds, or nebulae collapse due to gravitational forces. This triggers nuclear fusion reactions where, in simplistic terms hydrogen atoms are converted to helium atoms. Immense amounts of energy and pressure are forced outwards. If the inward pulling gravitational force remains equal, the star will have stability.

Life on Earth is made possible due to the energy released during fusion reactions on the Sun. In slightly more detail than above, two hydrogen atoms fuse together to form an isotope of hydrogen called deuterium. Another hydrogen atom is fused to the deuterium isotope which creates the helium – ³He isotope. Further fusion between two ³He nuclei creates a single helium – ⁴He isotope. This exothermic reaction creates tremendous amounts of energy, which in turn sustains life on a pale blue dot around 150,000,000 km, or 1.5 x 10⁸ km away!