[Michael Piziak]

Here is a good link on - How to tell the Difference Between Planes, Satellites and Meteors.

• https://www.nationalparksatnight.com/blog/2019/2/16/how-to-tell-the-differen...es-and-meteors

• https://alynwallacephotography.com/blog/2020/4/21/sorry-thats-no-meteor-its-a-satellite

That is a very useful link. I particularly enjoyed reading about meteors.
Yes, meteors are certainly, and in my opinion also, the holy grail of what I (and perhaps many) would like to capture while photographing the night sky.....

I'm sure there is a place on the internet that will tell, us all, when the next meteor shower(s) is in our areas/regions - thus increasing our odds of capturing a meteor! Just capturing one meteor would be very lucky and quite a capture in my opinion - I see from your links that some get very lucky and get an image full of them!

I guess we'll all of passed away the next time Haley's comets comes around. I bet some on this forum have pics of the last time it came around. As I recall, it made its presence known for a month or something....

Regards,

Michael

Addendum: I checked this website, https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/, and I see we are already experiencing 2 meteor shower events for many days. I suppose, somehow, what I (or we) need to look for is a single night or just a few days of concentrated meteors during a meteor shower. Say, one of those 3 day meteor shower events - to increase our odds of capturing these beautiful events!

---------- Post added 10-07-21 at 10:54 PM ----------

Well, of all the images I took tonight. I just kept this one, that I post processed to my liking:

---

Last edited by Michael Piziak; 10-07-2021 at 10:43 PM.

[bobbotron]

That is a very useful link. I particularly enjoyed reading about meteors.
Yes, meteors are certainly, and in my opinion also, the holy grail of what I (and perhaps many) would like to capture while photographing the night sky.....

I'm sure there is a place on the internet that will tell, us all, when the next meteor shower(s) is in our areas/regions - thus increasing our odds of capturing a meteor! Just capturing one meteor would be very lucky and quite a capture in my opinion - I see from your links that some get very lucky and get an image full of them!

I guess we'll all of passed away the next time Haley's comets comes around. I bet some on this forum have pics of the last time it came around. As I recall, it made its presence known for a month or something....

Regards,

Michael

Addendum: I checked this website, https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/, and I see we are already experiencing 2 meteor shower events for many days. I suppose, somehow, what I (or we) need to look for is a single night or just a few days of concentrated meteors during a meteor shower. Say, one of those 3 day meteor shower events - to increase our odds of capturing these beautiful events!

---------- Post added 10-07-21 at 10:54 PM ----------

Well, of all the images I took tonight. I just kept this one, that I post processed to my liking:

Nice trails, you're really progressing!

[ecostigny]

That is a very useful link. I particularly enjoyed reading about meteors.
Yes, meteors are certainly, and in my opinion also, the holy grail of what I (and perhaps many) would like to capture while photographing the night sky.....

I'm sure there is a place on the internet that will tell, us all, when the next meteor shower(s) is in our areas/regions - thus increasing our odds of capturing a meteor! Just capturing one meteor would be very lucky and quite a capture in my opinion - I see from your links that some get very lucky and get an image full of them!

I guess we'll all of passed away the next time Haley's comets comes around. I bet some on this forum have pics of the last time it came around. As I recall, it made its presence known for a month or something....

Regards,

Michael

Addendum: I checked this website, https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/, and I see we are already experiencing 2 meteor shower events for many days. I suppose, somehow, what I (or we) need to look for is a single night or just a few days of concentrated meteors during a meteor shower. Say, one of those 3 day meteor shower events - to increase our odds of capturing these beautiful events!

---------- Post added 10-07-21 at 10:54 PM ----------

Well, of all the images I took tonight. I just kept this one, that I post processed to my liking:

The second link provided me with an explanation of what we thought were hot pixels earlier in this discussion. I captured a bunch of these in a curved line across the frame, and used PhotoShop's healing spot tool to edit them out. However, zooming in revealed that these points were several pixels across, with bright centers and dimmer borders--not exactly what one would expect from a hot pixel. The actual explanation: they're geosynchronous satellites, which are always centered over the same spot on the Earth's surface. As a result, they stay put no matter how long the exposure!

[gifthorse]

This image was taken about a mile from downtown Reno, Nevada. Dark skies are preferred for night sky photography but it isn't impossible. Somewhere on your camera menu is a setting for the IR remote. One setting will open the shutter and close it when you release the button on the remote. The other setting will open the shutter when you press the button and hold the shutter open until the release button is pressed a second time. Turn off the high ISO and the long exposure noise reduction. The wriggly lines in your first two images are camera shake. Set up the camera on a stable surface. You can stabilize the camera by setting a gallon jug (a plastic milk bottle works well) filled with water on the ground under the tripod and tie it to the tripod with heavy string or a bungee cord. The length of the exposure will determine the length of the trail. Longer exposure=longer star trail. ISO and aperture brightens the stars, makes them wider and increases the number of trails. (increasing ISO and/or aperture makes fainter stars visible) Consider the phase of the Moon. A full Moon will wash out the sky. A new Moon or the Moon below the horizon will give you a darker sky and greater contrast between the stars and the sky. The first and last quarter Moon can be used to light the foreground for night landscapes.


Aiming the camera North or South will give you shorter curved trails. Aiming East or West gives you longer, straighter trails.
Aiming East


Aiming South


I prefer 5 minute exposures using an intervalometer and stacking (with Startrails program) to longer exposures. You've shown great improvement since this this thread started.Keep it going.
The long trail in the center is the International space station.

[Michael Piziak]

Nice trails, you're really progressing!

Thank you so much sir! Compliments keep me going!

---------- Post added 10-09-21 at 11:29 PM ----------

The second link provided me with an explanation of what we thought were hot pixels earlier in this discussion. I captured a bunch of these in a curved line across the frame, and used PhotoShop's healing spot tool to edit them out. However, zooming in revealed that these points were several pixels across, with bright centers and dimmer borders--not exactly what one would expect from a hot pixel. The actual explanation: they're geosynchronous satellites, which are always centered over the same spot on the Earth's surface. As a result, they stay put no matter how long the exposure!

Very interesting indeed! So these geosynchronous satellites can be confused for hot pixels....

---------- Post added 10-09-21 at 11:40 PM ----------

This image was taken about a mile from downtown Reno, Nevada. Dark skies are preferred for night sky photography but it isn't impossible. Somewhere on your camera menu is a setting for the IR remote. One setting will open the shutter and close it when you release the button on the remote. The other setting will open the shutter when you press the button and hold the shutter open until the release button is pressed a second time. Turn off the high ISO and the long exposure noise reduction. The wriggly lines in your first two images are camera shake. Set up the camera on a stable surface. You can stabilize the camera by setting a gallon jug (a plastic milk bottle works well) filled with water on the ground under the tripod and tie it to the tripod with heavy string or a bungee cord. The length of the exposure will determine the length of the trail. Longer exposure=longer star trail. ISO and aperture brightens the stars, makes them wider and increases the number of trails. (increasing ISO and/or aperture makes fainter stars visible) Consider the phase of the Moon. A full Moon will wash out the sky. A new Moon or the Moon below the horizon will give you a darker sky and greater contrast between the stars and the sky. The first and last quarter Moon can be used to light the foreground for night landscapes.


Aiming the camera North or South will give you shorter curved trails. Aiming East or West gives you longer, straighter trails.
Aiming East


Aiming South


I prefer 5 minute exposures using an intervalometer and stacking (with Startrails program) to longer exposures. You've shown great improvement since this this thread started.Keep it going.
The long trail in the center is the International space station.

Yes, right now I have my camera set up to open shutter 3 seconds after pushing the IR remote, and to close the shutter as soon as I press it again. Currently I have ISO set at its lowest (100). I need to read up about my Pentax k-s2 and figure out how to turn off the "long exposure noise reduction" (as you suggested). I have been shooting at f4 (the widest open my lens will shoot). I had been weighing down my tripod with an 8 pack of plastic cokes that have the plastic rings to attach to my tripod hook; however, the use of a U.S. gallon milk jug, that has water in it, sounds like an even better idea - thanks!


Also, your images are very nice and thanks for all the tips to try!!! I especially like the International Space Station in your shot !

[gifthorse]

The web site Heavens-Above Heavens-Above will tell you when the ISS is going over your location. On the upper left of the page, below the word "Configuration" is a link named "Change you observing location". Click on the link and a page will open that lets you either enter a Lat/Long, drag and drop a marker to your position on a map, or type in a nearby city. After you've entered a location and returned to the main page there is another link on the left side (below "satellites") labeled "ISS". , When you click on that link a page will open that gives the date, magnitude (brightness), and time the ISS is visible. If there aren't any dates showing it just means that the ISS is below the horizon or passing in the day time and isn't visible at you location for a few day. If a date is showing and you click on the date, a sky map will open that shows the path of the ISS through the sky. If you're using Stellarium you can set it up to show the ISS passes. Bear in mind that the lower the magnitude number, the brighter the object. i.e.magnitude -1 is brighter than magnitude 0 . magnitude 1 is dimmer than magnitude 0.

[Michael Piziak]

The web site Heavens-Above Heavens-Above will tell you when the ISS is going over your location. On the upper left of the page, below the word "Configuration" is a link named "Change you observing location". Click on the link and a page will open that lets you either enter a Lat/Long, drag and drop a marker to your position on a map, or type in a nearby city. After you've entered a location and returned to the main page there is another link on the left side (below "satellites") labeled "ISS". , When you click on that link a page will open that gives the date, magnitude (brightness), and time the ISS is visible. If there aren't any dates showing it just means that the ISS is below the horizon or passing in the day time and isn't visible at you location for a few day. If a date is showing and you click on the date, a sky map will open that shows the path of the ISS through the sky. If you're using Stellarium you can set it up to show the ISS passes. Bear in mind that the lower the magnitude number, the brighter the object. i.e.magnitude -1 is brighter than magnitude 0 . magnitude 1 is dimmer than magnitude 0.

Thanks, I checked it out the first time you (or someone else) suggested it. For my area, it doesn't show a date until October 19.

[Michael Piziak]

Tonights sky looks to be clear. Might just give it another go at star trails....

Addenum: It's 9:30pm and the cloud cover has taken over the skies. The weather can change in the blink of an eye. A famous quote is, "Don't like the weather, just wait a moment...."

[Grimmus]

I'm sure there is a place on the internet that will tell, us all, when the next meteor shower(s) is in our areas/regions - thus increasing our odds of capturing a meteor!

There's a useful little app for smartphone I stumbled on called "nightshift" which shows meteor shower times and peaks along with other basic stuff like live satellite images of cloud cover, sun and moon rise and set, planets visible etc.

Can't stress enough how important being all over the operation of your camera is. Unfortunately, a lot of this is trial and error......the more trials and the more errors, the faster the learning!

[Michael Piziak]

Took another one tonight and post processed it. Is the little "bump" on the right of the star trails - the little curve upward on the end of them, is that a shake of the camera at the beginning or end of the exposure?
I thought it may be at the end of the exposure, as I forgot my remote control and had to fiddle with the camera to stop the exposure at the end - but see my next comment above my next (previous) image before commenting...




However, with my previous pic, seen below, I had my remote at the end of the exposure - but the little bump at the end, on the right and slightly bent upward, also appears.

[Michael Piziak]

The idea is that you set your camera to interval mode, it takes a bunch of 20 second exposures, and then the software above (starstax) will combine them into one image. It works very well!


I could help you dial in that workflow if you're interested, pretty busy until the weekend. Looks like you're getting some good practice!


An example of starstax output. I didn't keep notes, but this would have been a bunch of short exposures.

Taking another look at this one - this one is so cool because how the star trails bend/curve in both directions on each side of the photo!

[gifthorse]

It looks like you're getting the hang of it. Nice timing on that satellite!

[photoptimist]

Nice shots.

The bump could be at the start or the end of the shot depending on which hemisphere you are in, which way the camera is pointed, and which way the camera is oriented.

Generally speaking and with the camera oriented so that the lower edge of the frame is toward the closest horizon, if you are pointing south, then the star trails run counterclockwise and if you are pointing north, then the star trails run counterclockwise. If you are pointed nearly vertically, it gets messy.

If the bump is at the start, it might be the tripod settling into the ground, the plastics in the tripod adjusting to the temperature or load, or the ground slowly rebounded after your heavy human body leaves the area.

Bumps at the end could be you walking up to the camera. Wind can also cause bumps at any time.

If you have to touch with the camera to stop the exposure, just start holding a black sheet of cardboard in front of the lens to block the light before you disturb the camera.

Have fun!


Edit/P.S. So if you are in the northern hemisphere an pointed north, the stars move counterclockwise, and that means the bump is at the start

[bobbotron]

Took another one tonight and post processed it. Is the little "bump" on the right of the star trails - the little curve upward on the end of them, is that a shake of the camera at the beginning or end of the exposure?
I thought it may be at the end of the exposure, as I forgot my remote control and had to fiddle with the camera to stop the exposure at the end - but see my next comment above my next (previous) image before commenting...




However, with my previous pic, seen below, I had my remote at the end of the exposure - but the little bump at the end, on the right and slightly bent upward, also appears.

These are great, love the colours you're getting! I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about in the photos about a bump at the end of the exposure. They're definitely looking good. Are these each one exposure?

---------- Post added 10-16-21 at 05:21 PM ----------

Taking another look at this one - this one is so cool because how the star trails bend/curve in both directions on each side of the photo!

Thanks, I really like that about this photo as well. Hard to replicate it, you have to get the camera pointed in just the right way and a wider lens helps.

[Michael Piziak]

These are great, love the colours you're getting! I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about in the photos about a bump at the end of the exposure. They're definitely looking good. Are these each one exposure?.

Just one exposure.

The bump at the end can be seen in this blown up/cropped section of the photo. At the end where it is not straight:



Addendum: Camera pointed slightly north from the eastern U.S.