Mudgee Star Trails

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi all

These star trail images were taken at the Mudgee Star Party, when I was there in mid-April 2010. All images were taken with my Canon 40D sitting on a fixed tripod, with a timer remote used to program the exposures.

Time-lapse movies of these star trails will be coming in the next few weeks, once I get time to start processing them!

The first image consists of 75 minutes worth of exposure (30 second exposures), captured with the Canon 40D and 17-70mm Sigma lens @ 17mm, f/5, ISO3200. One of the domes of the Mudgee Observatory is in the foreground, with the South Celestial Pole above it.

Image #2 consists of approx 1.5 hours worth of exposure (30 second exposures), captured with the Canon 40D and 17-70mm Sigma lens @ 17mm, f/5, ISO3200. The centre of the milky way galaxy rises through the left side of the image.

Image #3 is virtually the same as the #2, but totals almost 3 hours worth of exposure. All other details are the same. I just couldn’t figure out which one I liked better

Image #4 is a shorter star trails, of the Orion constellation setting in the West. The belt of orion and the orion nebula can be seen in the trails. It’s 35 minutes of exposure (5 minute exposures), captured with the Canon 40D and 24-105mm lens @ 24mm, f/5, ISO400.

All images processed using StarTrails.de and Photoshop CS4.

Larger versions (1200px wide) on my blog:
Mudgee Star Trails

Thanks for looking.

[sheeny (Al)]

Love 'em, Mike.

It's a pity the extra sensitivity of ISO3200 washes out the star colours so much. That dizzying crowded star field would look really special with the star colours you got in #4.

Its always a trade off isn't it?

Al.

[kinetic (Steve)]

Can't wait to see the movies Mike. Nice, very nice.
Did you do any colour balance adjustment at all or mainly curves
and levels? Nebulosity has a nice auto background adjustment that seems
to do a great job in my recent rough star trail attempts.


Steve

[multiweb (Marc)]

Awesome work Mike.

[Tilt (Michael)]

Classy images there Mike, I do like #1

Michael

[kustard (Simon)]

Nice trails.

I'm amazed how much brightness the stars really give when trailed like that

[h0ughy (David)]

pretty good there - they are that bright its almost light pollution

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.

Originally Posted by sheeny

Love 'em, Mike.

It's a pity the extra sensitivity of ISO3200 washes out the star colours so much. That dizzying crowded star field would look really special with the star colours you got in #4.

Its always a trade off isn't it?

Al.

Quite right - typically for star trails I wouldn't have used ISO3200 - I would've used ISO200 or 400, and used longer exposures than just 30 seconds like I did for image#4.
But because I wanted to make a timelapse movie, I needed each frame to be bright enough on its own and not show too much trailing on its own, so I stuck to 30 seconds and needed the ISO3200 sensitivity to show the milky way etc in each frame.

Originally Posted by kinetic

Can't wait to see the movies Mike. Nice, very nice.
Did you do any colour balance adjustment at all or mainly curves
and levels? Nebulosity has a nice auto background adjustment that seems
to do a great job in my recent rough star trail attempts.

Steve

I boosted the colours using vibrancy/saturation, and then just raised the black point. That's pretty much it in terms of processing. Very light on.

I'll have to give nebulosity a try.

Cheers and thanks again guys.

[rogerg (Roger)]

Nice shots Mike

[RB (Andrew)]

Cool shots Mike !

[Astrobserver99 (Rob)]

Very intense effect, doesn't look as natural as the regular star trails...probably better for the movie though