It was a clear gorgeous night on Saturday. I love a clear night on the weekend as I can go out with the telescope and record pictures late into the night.
My family and I are going on a camping trip soon and we decided to try out our new tent and camp out in the backyard. There was a problem though–the suburbs (especially near cities) are noisy. The night was full of racing car (or motorcycle) sounds, sirens, partying college students and more. Motion detector lights from neighboring homes also go on regularly due to creatures of the night walking under them. It wasn’t the dark night with the soothing sounds of nature that you think of when camping. So, never again to camping in the backyard.
I took this picture(s) around 11 PM when the light pollution level was low here. It’s a 6 panel panorama (2 rows of 3) and each of the 6 panels were made from about 10-15 photos each to get the maximum starry night effect in one of the most light-polluted areas on earth. That means this is like 60-90 photos smooshed together to create just one photo.
In the picture you can see my telescope in the foreground. I’ve been working on another photo of the Veil Nebula. It’s an exciting season for astrophotography not only for the amazing objects that are in the sky in the fall and winter, but also because it keeps getting darker earlier now. While that’s not great for most of us, I love it!