Skyscapes

Taking pictures of the night sky is as simple as pointing your camera skyward and snapping a photo. Long exposure photographs will reveal the movement of the stars over the course of the night.

Photo of a close conjunction of the Planet Mars and the Bright Star Alpha Leonis (Regulus). Their closest approach was on June 18 where their separation was half the distance captured above (~ 1 degree).
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Photo of the “Milky Way” taken from Laker McConaughy Nebraska. The constellation of Scorpio and its brightest star Antares is center-right. The photo was taken with my Olympus E-M10 mkII and a 7.5mm fish-eye lens. Three frames x 15 sec exposure ISO 3200.
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This photo was taken several days before “The Great Christmas Conjunction” of Jupiter and Saturn when they would appear to be separated by only 1/10th of a degree.
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A 90 minute time exposure shows the apparent movement of the the stars around the North Star “Polaris” (Alpha Ursa Minor). The setting Moon is on the left and the tracks of numerous aircraft can be seen criss-crossing the sky. Near the center of the frame the streak of a meteor is captured as it burns up in the upper atmosphere.
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Long exposures readily reveal the varied colors of stars. Blue and white colored stars are the hottest while cooler stars are orange and red in color.
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This long-exposure photograph captured the continuous trail of a satellite passing overhead on the right while to the left is the short trail of a meteor burning up in the upper atmosphere.
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In this short exposure the stars show very little movement and the constellations are still recognizable.
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This long-exposure photo was taken shortly after the photo above. The constellation of Orion has moved to just above the center tree. The three closely-spaced stars of Orion’s belt are easily identified as is the orange color of Betelgeuse located just a short distance above.
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This is a time-lapse photo capturing multiple lightning strikes during a thunderstorm near Lake McConaughy in western Nebraska
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Sunset along I-76 near Sterling Colorado.
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Paraglider soaring over Daniels Park Colorado at sunset.
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Smoke from forest fires in the mountains contributed to the striking colors of this sunset.
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Fourth of July fireworks – 2021.
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