The constellations of Orion and Canis Major in star trails over the Gila National Forest, New Mexico. Taken January 27, 2015 under the light of waxing quarter Moon off frame at upper right. This is a stack of two exposures: a short 25-second exposure at f/4 and ISO 3200 for the point-like stars at the start of the trails, followed after a gap in time by a single 10-minute exposure at f/9 and ISO 400, for the long trails, with the small f/9 aperture providing greater depth of field for foreground sharpness. The ground comes from the longer exposure. All with the 24mm lens and Canon 6D.
Circumpolar star trails on a moonlit night in the Gila National Forest in southern New Mexico, north of Pinos Altos. Polaris is at upper left, the Little Dipper hanging below it, and the stars of the Big Dipper are rising at right, with the end star of the handle still to clear the horizon. Illumination is from the waxing quarter Moon. The night had a lot of high cloud drifting through, adding the streaks and patchiness to the sky. This is a stack of 80 exposures, each 45 seconds with the 24mm lens at f/4 and Canon 6D at ISO 1600. The foreground comes from a single frame, the first, to minimize blurring and contrast loss from using a foreground blended from 80 shots taken over an hour while the Moon and shadows moved. The last frame was enhanced with larger star glows to punch up the appearance of the end stars and pattern of the Dipper. Stacking was performed with the Star Circle Academy’s Advanced Stacker Actions, using the Long Streaks effect.
Star trails showing Orion and Taurus rising behind the rock formations of City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico. I shot this Monday, Dec 29, 2014. The colours of the stars and trails have been boosted in vibrancy to show the colour differences better. Red Betelgeuse is at left, while the pinkish Orion Nebula is at centre. The cyan trail at right is Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2). Light from the waxing quarter Moon illuminates the foreground. A satellite streak is at right of centre. This is a stack of 260 exposures, each 30 seconds at f/2/8 with the 24mm lens and Canon 6D at ISO 400. The foreground is mostly from one frame, the first frame, to preserve shadows. I also added larger star glows around the brighter stars of Orion to make the constellation patern more obvious. It starts just above the rocks at lower left and rises to above centre. The images were stacked with the Advanced Stacker Actions from Star Circle Academy, using the Elastic Stars effect to add point-like stars from the first and last frames.
