A stunning collection of deep space Astrophotography showcasing selected nebulae images created by Roger Nichol from his home in Wiltshire.

Meet the photographer: 5 March, 2-9pm. Details here.

Exhibits include the huge California Nebula, the bright Orion Nebula, the fascinating Tulip nebula and more.

Click here to view a full catalogue and additional information about this exhibition.

Nebulae are diffuse clouds of gases and dust within our Milky Way galaxy, clumping together by gravitational attraction. Strong UV radiation from nearby stars ionise the gas atoms, causing them to emit visible and infra-red light when the ionised electrons drop back to a more stable state. Light from these nebulae travels for thousands of years and some of those photons land on my camera sensor via a telescope. Since these nebula are mostly very, very faint it requires many long exposures to be taken while accurately tracking the rotation of the earth to avoid the image trailing across the frame.

Exposures are taken through various narrowband filters which capture just the emissions from Hydrogen, Oxygen or Sulphur gases. Each exposure is typically 20 minutes in duration; 40 to 100 or more images may be stacked to enhance the signal to noise ratio and allow the beauty of the nebulae to be exposed. It thus takes many rare clear nights of imaging to collect the 10 to 45 total hours of image integration necessary to be able to process a detailed high resolution image such as these.

Limited edition prints (framed or unframed) in a variety of sizes are available to purchase from the artist.

This exhibition is in the Main Bar