Litter picking charity Beach Buddies has joined forces with AstroManx to jointly host a series of stargazing nights this autumn and winter.

This photo was taken by Bill Dale of Beach Buddies during the recent Perseids meteor show.

He said: 'I’ve been taking photographs of stars for many years, but, to be honest, it was all guesswork until around five years ago when the planet’s camera owners suddenly woke up and every man and his dog was trying it.

'You need a tripod, as wide angle a lens as possible - mine is 10-20 - set it on manual focus at infinity, set the ISO as high as it will go, open the aperture as wide as possible and then shoot your pictures for anything between 15 and 30 seconds. It also makes sense to have something in the foreground, to give the photograph dimension and impact. There is also a bit of luck attached now and again such as clarity of the sky and being in the right place at the right time, and you need to be patient.'

Beach Buddies has several bins around the island, almost all of them at 'dark skies' sites including Blue Point, Port Soderick and Langness.

To find out more about the stargazing nights email buddies@manx.net

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