Night on the Parkway

moose135

A friend wanted me to show her how to shoot stars before her trip to Iceland next month, so Sunday evening I took a few folks up to a dark area - Doughton Park - on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

1 - We think this might have been Mercury, but we weren't sure.

2 - City lights in the distance were quite evident on this dark night.

3 - I almost didn't get this shot. We had parked in a large lot next to a clearing at the top of a hill with a view of the sky all around. We were shooting for a while when I took a walk to set up a second camera for star trails. I happened to notice this bare tree silhouetted against the sky...

4 - I'm not sure what I caught here - probably a meteor.

5 - Star trail shot - 23 images, 4 minutes each, f/2.8, ISO 400. Yes, there is a little schmutz around the tree branches - a couple of frames had car lights adding some light and color, and I didn't do a great job taking care of them. Something to work on next time...

black mamba

Nice nighttime work, John. #5 is particularly arresting. Was there any evidence that the restaurant/visitor center there at Doughton Park has re-opened? Man, their fried chicken and biscuits were to die for. I hope the plans to crank the place up again come to fruition.

See you,

Tom

moose135

Thank you, Tom! The visitor center was closed, but I think that was a seasonal thing - the campground and all was closed. I'll have to check it again in the spring.

Stumblebum

Superb night shots! Bravo!!

jerryr

Nice images - especially #4 !

bike21

Definitely looks like a meteor, good capture!

moose135

Thank you very much!

ChrisJ

That meteor capture is superb! I also really like the one with Orion prominent (#2). The planet in (#1) is most likely Venus, especially if it looked that bright. Mercury is very dim even when you can see it; it orbits close to the sun, so it's frequently not visible.

moose135

Thank you , Chris! That must have been Venus - it was clearly visible like that the whole time we were out.

redleash

Terrific shots! I am a sucker for lone trees so I love #3!

Lauren

moose135

Thank you, Lauren! I really like that one myself.