THE SELECTS: Astrophotography by Dylan O’Donnell

Extreme timelapse of the Southern Celestial Pole that took 3.5 hours to take, revelaing the rotation of the earth seen from NSW Australia in April 2015. Readers in North America will notice the distinct lack of any kind of pole star like their Polaris. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
Two plus hours of 180 second exposures over two nights using my 9.25" SCT telescope showing true colors of the Great Carina Nebula in May 2015. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
Lagoon Nebula M8, photographed with 24, two minute exposures of RGB data in June 2015. The giant interstellar cloud is about 4000-6000 light years away from earth. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
The Large Magellanic Cloud is easily visable with the naked eye from a dark backyard and bigger than 370 full moons in the sky. Pictured is a small section of the LMC taken through my 9.25" telescope. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
Star trails over Byron Bay lighthouse in Australia, in July 2014. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
The RHO Ophiuchi Cloud Complex in August 2014. This tiny patch of the Milky Way is dominated by Antares, the bright orange star on the left. This image is made from 20, thirty second exposures stacked together to draw out the cloud definition. The camera was piggybacked to a telescope that was tracking the sky rotation so the stars would not streak. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
Fire in the Australian winter sky, captured over 30 days from Byron Bay, Australia, in May/June 2015. This photo of the Milky Way was taken at 3200 ISO but has almost no ISO grain or noise because it has been stacked from 5 photos taken at the same time. This is "standard deviation noise reduction" to differentiate the signal (stars) from the noise (ISO/heat speckles) and remove them, which allows you to increase the contrast and brightness without increasing noise. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
Etheral moonrise over Byron Bay, Australia from the cape looking southeast with the Southern Cross and Milky Way shining brightly in April 2015. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell
Eartheshine taken from Byron Bay, Australia in January 2015 with a Celestron 9.25" telescope. This is a layering of 2 separate stacks, both of 20 exposures each. This was done to reveal the faint and delicate crater details as well as the dull blue glow of the earth itself, reflecting back from the dark side of the moon. Photo by Dylan O'Donnell