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Stargazing

earth mover, digger, borve, isle of harris

STARGAZING

The BBC have been running a live TV programme over the past three nights called ‘Stargazing Live‘. I got a message via facebook suggesting I contribute a few of my night photos. I checked the web link and discovered the BBC have set up a dedicated flickr page: BBC Sky at Night and Stargazing LIVE, inviting contributions from anyone wishing to share their pics of the moon, stars, planets and the night sky. I had a quick dig through my flickr photostream and posted five startrail shots. Within minutes, my flickr stats page showed a sudden jump in activity!

Click on the individual pics for further info and comments.

64 minutes in Flodabay. February 2011

Flodabay Startrails

Next is a 40 minute shot at the Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis. Part way through I noticed the lens was fogging up. Rather than abort the shot, I started wiping the with a cleaning cloth every few minutes, trying not to disturb camera position. I wasn’t entirely successful – you can see the startrails aren’t totally smooth. I’ve revisited the stones several times since in the hope of getting it ‘right’ but each time the weather has worked against me. One day (or night!). August 2010

Callanish Startrails

Below is just about all that’s left of the derelict whaling station at Bunaveneadar, Isle of  Harris. The challenge with this shot was to align the North Star with the top of the stack. I let this one run for an hour. More detailed tech info about this shot appears in this blog post. November 2011

Whaling Station Startrails

This particular night session had already been running for about seven hours by the time I pulled up at Scarista Church, so 32 minutes was as much as I could stretch to if I was going to make it back home without falling asleep behind the wheel. November 2010

If the earth keeps rotating, I’ll be back with more at a later date 😉

 

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