Planetrise Central Minnesota, 11 July 99 E200 Ektachrome
The subtle details of the night sky fade away with the dawn,
but the brightest remain: the planets Jupiter and Saturn rise above a windbreak
on a prairie farm. The sky will brighten
and they will eventually be lost (though if you know where to aim a telescope,
they can be found again in broad daylight)!
On this occasion, the clear skies held through the
night. The distant haze provided the
right conditions to spread the long rays from the sun. It’s an unusual transition of colors from
orange to blue, a combination not found in many other places in nature. The planets poke holes in the otherwise
smooth shading.
Orion Rising Kinnikinnik Lake, AZ, 14 Nov 1998 24mm Olympus lens at f/2.8, 1 hour exposure on Fuji 800 Superia
I made an expedition to northern Arizona in November of
1998. It was partly to find out what is involved in transporting photo and
telescope guiding equipment to other parts of the world. Although cumbersome (I
shipped a 90 lb crate ahead to be available when I arrived), it worked.
On the first night I found a remote site in the high desert.
The map showed what looked like paved roads to a fishing lake. Evidently the
map notations are different in Arizona; at least there were ruts where earlier
vehicles had found their way.
The lake was remarkably calm and I marvelled at the darkness
of the sky as I watched Orion rise in the east. I could hear wildlife including
coyotes, owls, and yes, ducks. But they were far away and the water remained
like a mirror. The sky glow here is not from aurora, but instead from distant
Flagstaff, a city with an ordinance to use sodium vapor street lighting. The
color is strongly yellow, but easily filtered and removed by the astronomical
observatories that are hosted by the town. My film however captures all of it.
Although Orion is spread out into an unrecognizable form, he
can be identified by the bright orange star, Betelgeuse on the left, and bright
blue star Rigel on the right. The triad of belt stars makes a catscratch-like
trail, and you may notice a distinctly red star that is even more obviously red
in its reflection. This is the famous Orion nebula, a glowing region of gas and
dust where new stars are being born.
Kinnikinnik Kinnikinnik Lake near Flagstaff AZ, 14 Nov 1998 24mm Olympus lens at f/4, 2 hours on Fuji 800 Superia
There is a progression of techniques in taking pictures of
the night sky. The simplest is to place your camera on a tripod and open the
shutter for a while. The stars form streaks on the film as the Earth rotates
under them, creating a startrail image. As I considered what I would need to
take more advanced astrophotos, I found that there is plenty to learn and much
opportunity for pleasing compositions even with this simple method.
I pondered how to capture that feeling I once shared with a
friend seeing the stars from zenith to horizon, then continuing beneath us as
we looked out over their reflections in an alpine lake. This became the
inspiration for my quest of the ultimate startrail picture: a full semicircle
of startrails reflected in the calm waters of a lake. I have not achieved this
goal, but the pictures in this series are some of the rewards along the way.
Kinnikinnik is the closest I came to making my target image!
The conditions were perfect: a clear dark sky, no aurora, a calm lake with no
creatures disturbing it, but my timing is off. This is my first and only time
at this site and I arrived late after a day of traveling. I was unprepared to
last the night, and after a few one and two hour trial exposures, I succumbed
to the cold and returned to my distant hotel room to recharge. I never made it
back.
Although not successful that year, I am looking forward to
more adventures in future years. In a way, I hope I never quite find full
success in this project!
Northern Six-Hour Exposure Boundary Waters Canoe Area, MN, 23 Oct 1998 24mm Olympus lens at f/8, 6 hour exposure on Fuji 800 Superia Photo by John Walsh
To find truly dark skies, go north. My friend John Walsh, an avid backpacker, headed to the northernmost part of our state for a fall weekend adventure. I convinced him to take my camera and film, explained how to attach chemical handwarmers to the lens to keep it from fogging over, and asked him to open the shutter for six hours when he got there. Among his other nice photos of aurora and bright stars, is this beautiful picture across a gently flowing stream, reflecting the night sky and the northern lights.
Beaver Trails Swamp Lake, north of Mille Lacs MN, 21 Oct 1998 20mm Nikon lens at f/8, 6 hour exposure on Fuji Super-G
This night had brought together nearly all the elements for
my target picture: a lake far away from
city lights and radio towers, one with no cabins or roads on the north while I
had access from the south, a long night to contain a long exposure without the
lake being already frozen, a stagnant high pressure center stalling the winds
and keeping the lake surface at a mirror finish. And my schedule had allowed me to take a
night away to make the shot! All these
prerequisites had been met.
I set up my equipment and busied myself with other
activities while the camera recorded the motion of the sky. A loud KERSPLASH startled me. Who would be throwing boulders into the lake
in the middle of the night? I peered out
onto the lake to see dark shadows swimming back and forth directly in front of
my camera. Each traversal left a wake
breaking up the reflected starlight.
Occasionally a shadow would suddenly turn over end and dive, slapping
its tail onto the water surface to make the boulder-throwing sound.
I cursed the beavers.
They filled the night with constant gnawing sounds as they busied
themselves around me. About halfway
through the night I was startled again, this time by the sound of a tree
crashing to the forest floor next to me.
One more hazard to add to my list.
The picture I obtained was almost perfect, accented by the
glow of the northern lights, and the intermittent breaks in the reflected
trails as the beavers swam across the view, oblivious to my intent.
Four-Hour Lodgepoles Lake Louise Campground, Banff Park, Alberta Canada, 12:00am 19 Aug 1998 20mm Nikon lens at f/8, 4 hour exposure on E200 Ektachrome processed +2 stops (ISO 800)
Think about lying on your back as a child watching clouds drifting past. This is the nighttime equivalent. The stars etch a trail on the film as they follow their course through the night. The different temperatures of stars show as different colors, the cooler stars glow a warm orange, the hottest stars are a bright blue.
Banff Poles Tunnel Mountain Campground, Banff Park, Alberta Canada, 17 Aug 1998 10:40pm 20mm f/4 Nikon lens, 1 hour exposure on E200 Ektachrome processed +2 stops (ISO 800)
While camping trips make great venues for photographing the
sky, sometimes it is difficult to get a full view of it. But here is an opening
in the canopy, the lodgepole pines framing the pole star. The camera was aimed
at Polaris, and the shutter opened for an hour. The flickering campfires and
lamps illuminated the boughs of the trees.
A startrail picture like this is a powerful illustration of
the Earth’s motion. The pole star shows almost no motion. The others show
longer arcs the further away, but all of them make an equal arc: a one-hour
exposure cuts 1/24th of a full circle.
Third Tail Lake Zumbra (Victoria MN), 9:00 pm 8 April 97. Kiev-88 80mm, 5 minutes at f/4 on PMC400.
Notes from Thor’s
astrophoto journal:
On April 8, a friend joined me to observe Hale-Bopp at my
nearby and nearly-dark site at Lake Zumbra.
We enjoyed watching the very young moon set, then went about preparing
to take some pictures. I was hoping to get a shot taken at a smaller lens
aperture so the stars would have less distortion than in my earlier photos.
City Cometscape Lake Calhoun looking at Minneapolis, 4:00 am 23 March 97. Kiev-88, 80mm , 20 seconds at f/4 on PMC400.
Notes from Thor’s
astrophoto journal:
I thought that the view of comet Hale-Bopp over a cityscape would make a striking photograph. There were only certain view angles and observing times that worked however. To get the comet to hang over downtown Minneapolis in March, the time worked out to be around 3:00 am along a northeast line of sight. Surprisingly few vantage points existed; the streets headed off in the wrong direction, or the view was obscured by trees, buildings or streetlights.
Hale-Bopp over Hyland Tower Bloomington MN, 4:00 am 15 March 97. Kiev-88 80mm f/2.8, 30 second exposure on Tech Pan 120 film.
Notes from Thor’s
astrophoto journal:
This picture was taken with a Kiev-88, which is a
Russian-made clone of a Hasselblad (a
high quality camera that was taken to
the moon). It uses the larger size 120
format film. A colleague suggested that
this unused camera should be stored in my office instead of his. And since I had no use for it there, I
decided I should try it out on one of my comet photo outings.
