Cambridgeshire Night Sky

Standing for an hour yesterday evening, taking photos and reflecting on current news and life. 

" Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.(Albert Einstein)"

Star Trail Project

Last night was very clear so I had another go at star trails - this time in the back garden. This is 100 exposures 30seconds each. The first image is a composite of the night sky (image 2) plus the processed star trail (second image with Plough constellation marked). 

Night Sky Project

We are in the process of planning a Star Trails evening for CCC. Last night was the first clear night since the moon waned enough, so I ventured out at around 21.30 to see what my nearest sky-view point gave me. There was quite a bit of low cloud especially to the north so not ideal. The first five images are pointing South to South East, so towards Comberton and Cambridge. The star trail image is from a stack of 20 images (30 seconds each, F4, 16 mm equivalent focal length). The last image looks North - the Plough constellation is in the image but not the Pole star. Lessons learned - probably need c80-100 images, a clear sky and a wider lens if possible.

Guernsey - Milky Way Ticked Off Wish List

I was hopeful knowing that the skies are very dark in Guernsey that I would be able to see and photograph the Milky Way but have been disappointed so many times before. This trip the conditions were exactly right with two very clear nights and the Milky Way arching across the sky at a reasonable hour. Thanks Chris who took us to a good foreground point on one night. I used the 8mm fisheye on the second night to capture the arc right across Cobo Bay. A few starry skies to finish - last image is 7.5 minutes - I have a series of shorter ones to stack but not enough to make a good trail shot.

 

Alien Invasion (Light Painting at Foxton)

We lit Foxton recreation ground with some very strange shapes at  CCC Wednesday Workshop group thanks to Paul's ingenuity. I especially liked the Christmas tree effect and the wirewool aliens approaching across the grass - very reminiscent of the War of the Worlds theme 'The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one - but still they come!' It was a clear starlit night so Shelagh's word painting was very appropriate.

Star Trails at Elveden Again

 Another attempt at mastering star trails and this time pointing towards the north. The first composite has 20 images, the second 11 images at 60 sec intervals (30 sec, f4, iso 500 plus 30 sec processing). Obviously a slightly longer recording series is required to get a good spin. Interesting to confirm that the earth revolves around the north star and to see how the big dipper can be used to locate it!! The last two images show Jupiter rising in the east - a very bright planet. I lit the duck in the final image with a torch.
(NB. Need 75 mins of recording to get good trails, turn off long exposure noise reduction to reduce the processing time)

Star Trails at Center Parcs

I am still trying to master using the interval timer on my Fuji to take multiple images for star trail composites. The first picture here is from 60 images (30secs f4 500iso) taken at 80 sec intervals - clearly too long as the trail shows gaps even when gap-filling software employed. I had set a 20 sec interval between exposures but clearly an extra 30 secs has been added presumably because it is taking more than 30 secs to process the image (even with a very fast card). Trial suggests minimum interval (1 sec) will give the shortest interval. Would like to find a north facing view for next trial - watch this space.