So yesterday
So I'm 37 now, and I can retire in 30 years. Huzzah! Well looks like I got a birthday present from nature to boot. Last night it was supposed to cloud up and storm at worst and at best be hazy and worthless for photography. Weather man was absolutely wrong in my favor for once! Instead if was about as perfect as you can get on a warm night in July. The sky was so clear you would see everything. I mean everything. The milky way was just beautiful last night from the dark sky site as I hot footed it over there. There were about 40 astronomers at the park when I arrived and they were all excited. At one point a massive meteor shot overhead and exploded in a blinding blue flash that most of us mistook for lightning. I wish I had been looking in that direction but seeing this massive glowing trail that lasted 5 seconds was still amazing. Several more big meteors came through but didn't explode, but several left impressive trails. Sadly my camera battery had died due to my neglecting to charge it. Is till got over 150 pics beforehand.
I was trying for a panarama of the entire sky. I only got around twice (angling up a bit after each circle) before I ran low on juice. Got 74 pics (about 70 are probably useful) and the rest I spent on mostly the milky way, not knowing I could get anothet 75 before it ran out of juice. But anyway, I've been working on a pic. I took 9 pics and did a test with Hugin. After manually telling it where each star was, I ran the partial panorama and did a bit of level editing in photoshop. What I have is just about 1/8-1/4 the way around the first pass but man oh man... Just look!
If you want the huge verison, click the picture but it is 2+ MB, but totally worth it. I'll stitch the rest together after this and post those results later on, might be a day or two on that as I have stuff coming up I have to do today.
Oh and if you are wondering what is wrong with the right side? Its called Cincinnati from 30 miles away. I really hate light pollution and you can see a prime example here of what is happening to our skies. Don't worry, I have plans for a desert expedition next year where I won't have these problems. West Texas or Arizona are my current possible destinations. I can't wait!
I was trying for a panarama of the entire sky. I only got around twice (angling up a bit after each circle) before I ran low on juice. Got 74 pics (about 70 are probably useful) and the rest I spent on mostly the milky way, not knowing I could get anothet 75 before it ran out of juice. But anyway, I've been working on a pic. I took 9 pics and did a test with Hugin. After manually telling it where each star was, I ran the partial panorama and did a bit of level editing in photoshop. What I have is just about 1/8-1/4 the way around the first pass but man oh man... Just look!
If you want the huge verison, click the picture but it is 2+ MB, but totally worth it. I'll stitch the rest together after this and post those results later on, might be a day or two on that as I have stuff coming up I have to do today.
Oh and if you are wondering what is wrong with the right side? Its called Cincinnati from 30 miles away. I really hate light pollution and you can see a prime example here of what is happening to our skies. Don't worry, I have plans for a desert expedition next year where I won't have these problems. West Texas or Arizona are my current possible destinations. I can't wait!