Sara Harvey is an astrophotographer from Bishopstown in Cork City and has had a love for astronomy since an early age. Her interest peaked with her entry into astrophotography in 2019 when Comet Neowise graced our evening skies, this spurred her interest in the hobby and she joined Cork Astronomy Club who are a vibrant group of amateur astronomers with interest in the planets, stars, the universe at large. The following year during the covid pandemic she started to learn more about deep sky imaging through YouTube and built her first telescope/DSLR camera rig.

Imaging from Ireland is not easy and to get a night of clear skies are a rarity and astrophotographers must grab every hour that comes to eventually build that image. But those late moonless evenings are a delight when by the middle of the night while most people are asleep, and the hum of the city has died away you can connect and feel with one to the black sky above.

From then on, the “astrophotographers bug” caught her and her knowledge of technology from her work helped open the door to the universe for her. Although she knows how it is much easier it is to learn the hobby these days compared to pre-digital camera age when we used SLR cameras and slide film.

In 2023 one of her photographs, entitled ‘M-51 – A Galactic Dance’ was selected as the overall winning entry in the aptly named ‘Out of this World’ category in the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS) ‘Reach for the Stars’ astrophotography competition. She is now one of the leading members of the Astrophotography Club of Ireland who are a small community of imagers throughout the country.

In 2024 she decided to take a leap of faith and decided to send one of her rigs over to northern Spain where the control it is done from here in Ireland. Her rig in Spain is comprised of a Takahashi FSQ85, and flattener, a ZWO1600MM Pro monochrome camera, a ZWO filter wheel, ZWO Mini Guide Scope and an ASI 120MM guide camera. Currently these sit on a CEM70G mount. She also enjoys public outreach showing people the planets with her Lacerta 250mm F4 Newtonian and presenting astrophotography workshops and explaining the processes to astrophotography.

For more information see the following links HERE and HERE

https://www.instagram.com/sara_harvey_astrophotography/

https://www.facebook.com/saraharveyastrophotography/photos

https://www.facebook.com/groups/astrophotographyclubireland

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