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. - Mark Humpage Elemental Photography- powered by SmugMug

Moon, planets, star trails, space shuttle, ISS & noctilucent. A selection from my night sky gallery.

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markhumpage > International Space Station (ISS) passing over the Lutterworth skies at 1845 hrs for a period of approx 6 mins on 14 March 2010. Magnitude was a super bright -3.2. Being so early in the evening, with strong ambient light I had to use pretty quick exposure times, at 1s, shot continuous through till 1851hrs. Hence the dashed line effect.

markhumpage > The modern day ISS flies over the Whittle memorial (Jet engine) in Lutterworth, Leics. I wonder what Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the Jet engine, would make of the current day flight technology. Amazed no doubt. A nice touch of the old vs new. Captured with Olympus E3 and 8mm fisheye. 4 min exposure total captured in 10s increments and stacked.

markhumpage > Startrails above the Humpage household. Taking advantage of the clear evening, this was taken on the evening/morning of March 6/7th 2010. I set the camera on tripod at 1900hrs and left shooting one exposure every 15s through till next morning. 2500 images stacked and flattened to produce the star trail. Taken with Olympus E3 and 7-14mm lens. Light sky bottom left was sunset and orange glow bottom right is the shocking city light pollution.

markhumpage > Follow the house to Polaris! Star trail from evening/morning of March 4/5th 2010. Camera out at approx 1900hrs and left shooting one exposure every 15s through till next morning. Over 2000 images stacked and flattened to produce the star trail. Taken with Olympus E3 and 7-14mm lens.

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 :)

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.