markhumpage  > Mother Nature > Sky at Night
Moon, planets, star trails, space shuttle, ISS & noctilucent. A selection from my night sky gallery.
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markhumpage > Quite like this startrail. One of my better ones. It was the brightest full moon of the year, 29 Jan 2010, and I was concerned the brightness would diffuse the stars. It was a very clear and cold night (-2C) although a few clouds did roll in at 0300hrs and which almost blinded the 15s exposures. I started the camera rolling at 2100hrs and exposed 15s continuous frames all night. Images then stacked in software to produce the stunning visuals of earths rotation. Olympus E3, 12-60mm.
markhumpage > Perigee full moon from Friday January 29th 2010. The biggest full moon of the year. Astronomers call it a "perigee Moon," because it some 14% wider and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons of the year. The Moon's orbit around Earth is not a circle but an ellipse, with one side 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other. Astronomers call the point of closest approach "perigee," and that is where the Moon will be Friday 29th night through Saturday 30th morning. Olympus E3, 90-250mm, x2 TC, F10, 1/250s, ISO 100
markhumpage > Gorgeous all night startrail from Dec 20th 2009. This version includes all of the pesky plane trails. The sky above the Leics skies is littered with them! I set up the camera pointed towards Polaris at 1700hrs on 20th and exposed every 15s until 0600hrs the following morning of 21st. Over 2500 exposures were then stacked in software to produce this stunning effect, showing earths rotation. The pale pink colour is the effect of clouds rolling through the exposure. Looks like I have also caught a meteorite (top right). Captured with Olympus E3, 12-60SWD lens on 800 ISO.
markhumpage > Same as last shot but with plane trails taken out of exposure. Gorgeous all night startrail from Dec 20th 2009. I set up the camera pointed towards Polaris at 1700hrs on 20th and exposed every 15s until 0600hrs the following morning of 21st. Over 2500 exposures were then stacked in software to produce this stunning effect, showing earths rotation. The pale pink colour is the effect of clouds rolling through the exposure. Looks like I have also caught a meteorite (top right). Captured with Olympus E3, 12-60SWD lens on 800 ISO.
markhumpage > Neat star trail from Dec 18 2009, Leics, UK. Extremely cold (-6C) yet clear skies, ideal for startrail work. I focused on polaris and increased the focal length to work the close up effect. Taken with Olympus E3, 12-62mm SWD. Camera left out from 2100hrs on Dec 17th through 0700hrs  Dec 19th capturing exposure every 15s for the entire period. Photo composite put together with startrails.de software. Annoying plane trails bottom right. Tripod and camera were frozen solid the following morning. Camera still firing away mind! Can't beat Olympus gear for extreme work :)
markhumpage > ISS & Space Shuttle Atlantis racing across the UK skies at 1657hrs on Nov 20 2009. It was the brightest body in the twilight skies at a magnitude of -3.3. Atlantis has been docked since Nov 18th 2009 and makes a great night time subject to capture. Taken with Olympus E3, 7-14mm lens of F4.0 for a total period of 2 mins 45s (11x15s continuous exposures). I lit up with tree with a strong torch for the duration of a couple of 15s exposures.
The International Space Station is the biggest, brightest object orbiting Earth. The station's solar arrays span 240-feet from tip to tip, almost as wide as a football field. The ISS outshines Venus; only the sun and Moon are brighter.
markhumpage > Startrail with a couple of Leonids captured on the evening/morning of 16th/17th November 2009. Height of the Leonid meteor shower and disappointed only to capture a couple. Set up Olympus E3 with 7-14mm lens on tripod, 15s exposure, F4.0 and captured continuous from 2100hrs on 16th through till 0700hrs on 17th. 9 hrs of earths motion, 2000 images put together in startrails software. Nice to capture the opposite curvature of the trails above and below the celestial equator.
markhumpage > Startrail taken at home on the clear night of Sept 09 2009. Started at 2000hrs and let camera capture exposure every 15s all night till sunrise on following day. Just under 2000 workable exposures run through startrails.de software, imported into Aperture for fine tuning.

Taken with Olympus E3, 7-14mm
markhumpage > International Space Station (ISS) captured passing the Leics, UK skyline 2100hrs_10 Sep 09. Jupiter can be seen just to the right of the lit tree and below the path of the ISS. Really pleased with the capture. The ISS came into view to the sth and it looked like a fireball as it moved twds the Eastern earth shadow. In the sky. F3.5, 213s ISO 200 captured with Oly E3 & 8mm fisheye.
Quite like this startrail. One of my better ones. It was the brightest full moon of the year, 29 Jan 2010, and I was concerned the brightness would diffuse the stars. It was a very clear and cold night (-2C) although a few clouds did roll in at 0300hrs and which almost blinded the 15s exposures. I started the camera rolling at 2100hrs and exposed 15s continuous frames all night. Images then stacked in software to produce the stunning visuals of earths rotation. Olympus E3, 12-60mm.
 > Quite like this startrail. One of my better ones. It was the brightest full moon of the year, 29 Jan 2010, and I was concerned the brightness would diffuse the stars. It was a very clear and cold night (-2C) although a few clouds did roll in at 0300hrs and which almost blinded the 15s exposures. I started the camera rolling at 2100hrs and exposed 15s continuous frames all night. Images then stacked in software to produce the stunning visuals of earths rotation. Olympus E3, 12-60mm.
Quite like this startrail. One of my better ones. It was the brightest full moon of the year, 29 Jan 2010, and I was concerned the brightness would diffuse the stars. It was a very clear and cold night (-2C) although a few clouds did roll in at 0300hrs and which almost blinded the 15s exposures. I started the camera rolling at 2100hrs and exposed 15s continuous frames all night. Images then stacked in software to produce the stunning visuals of earths rotation. Olympus E3, 12-60mm.
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Keywords: stars olympus astronomy polaris planets night sky e3 star trail mark humpage
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