Epic Stargaze time lapse

alexch (Alex) · #1 02-09-2011, 01:04 PM

Hi All,

As many of you know this year's Border Stargaze was exceptionally good with all four nights clear. While the accumulated lack of sleep was cruel, the number of photons received with eyes and camera chips compensated for it fully.

I had great time observing with the 22" Dob while two cameras - Nikon D700 with 14-24mm lens and Sony NEX-5 with 10.5mm Nikkor fisheye, were clicking through the nights. Daytime was great too with excellent weather in low 20s and the company to match.

I hope you enjoy the 3.5 minute time lapse - my longest yet starring the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds and Andromeda Galaxy. The changing sky colour from natural Oxygen glow in upper atmosphere is quite startling and illustrates David Malin's presentation (at BSG) about the colour in the night sky.

View full screen with sound. Music: "Between Light and Shadow" by Triplexity

http://www.vimeo.com/28487411

Usual exposure parameters - 30 seconds @ ISO 3200 and f/2.8 with both Nikon and Sony.

Cheers,
Alex

multiweb (Marc) · #2 02-09-2011, 01:42 PM

That was awesome Alex!

iceman (Mike) · #3 02-09-2011, 02:40 PM

Beautiful as always, Alex. Top stuff!

mishku · #4 02-09-2011, 02:58 PM

sensational, alex!! it was beautiful, but your choice of accompanying track, to my mind, took it to the next level

troypiggo (Troy) · #5 02-09-2011, 03:54 PM

Absolutely magic. Loved the contrast of the ones over still water, treelines, and then the activity and red lights. Very well put together.

Could I ask more about the oxygen and sky colours? I see some green in the sky in some of those, looked like aurora?

renormalised (Carl) · #6 02-09-2011, 05:10 PM

Brilliant, Alex. Can't wait to see more!!!

Osirisra (Ken) · #7 02-09-2011, 05:29 PM

brilliant stuff, could watch more of this for hours.

Star Catcher (Ted Dobosz) · #8 02-09-2011, 05:30 PM

Excellent, very enjoyable to watch! Thanks

Ted

h0ughy (David) · #9 02-09-2011, 09:57 PM

nice work ALex

Mighty_oz (Marcus) · #10 02-09-2011, 10:29 PM

Thanks very much for such a great show !

The lake scene was my favourite.

atalas · #11 02-09-2011, 10:56 PM

Excellent work!most enjoyed...loved the music too.

alexch (Alex) · #12 03-09-2011, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troypiggo

Absolutely magic. Loved the contrast of the ones over still water, treelines, and then the activity and red lights. Very well put together.

Could I ask more about the oxygen and sky colours? I see some green in the sky in some of those, looked like aurora?

Thanks,

That natural skyglow is sometimes called a "permanent, low-grade aurora". It is a natural phenomenon and is is caused by various processes in the upper atmosphere, more here:
http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2009/...true-darkness/
and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow

Cheers,
Alex

alexch (Alex) · #13 03-09-2011, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

That was awesome Alex!

Thanks Marc!

It was great to catch up with you on the tennis court.

Cheers,
Alex

alexch (Alex) · #14 03-09-2011, 12:34 AM

Mike, Michelle, Troy, Carl, Ken, Ted, David, Marcus and Louie - thanks heaps for your comments, much appreciated!

mishku · #15 03-09-2011, 12:45 AM

Haha Alex, this is so good I just my decidedly non-astro friends watch it, and they were very impressed

Octane (Humayun) · #16 03-09-2011, 02:18 AM

Beautiful work, as always, my friend.

H

troypiggo (Troy) · #17 03-09-2011, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexch

Thanks,

That natural skyglow is sometimes called a "permanent, low-grade aurora". It is a natural phenomenon and is is caused by various processes in the upper atmosphere, more here:
http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2009/...true-darkness/
and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow

Cheers,
Alex

Thanks for that

Phil Hart · #18 03-09-2011, 05:17 PM

great stuff alex.. was it getting hard to keep setting it all up by the fourth night!?

great mix of green and red airglow.. nothing wrong with your colour balance!

(although one green set in the middle looks *very* saturated).

in my sequences so far, i've only seen red. not sure if that's something about my hardware or processing or just the conditions..

Phil

alexch (Alex) · #19 03-09-2011, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by philiphart

great stuff alex.. was it getting hard to keep setting it all up by the fourth night!?

great mix of green and red airglow.. nothing wrong with your colour balance!

(although one green set in the middle looks *very* saturated).

You are right, it wasn't easy convincing myself to set up cameras on Saturday night...

I guess you refer to the northern sky with telescopes sequence at 1:33. That was on the fourth night and the sky was the brightest of all nights. I could see that glow in the north with the naked eye as a brighter arch with a slight green tint. I have not touched the saturation in post processing at all - it came out like that from Sony NEX-5. If it was not in the northern sky I would have mistaken it for Aurora.

Cheers,
Alex

CoolhandJo (Paul) · #20 03-09-2011, 06:08 PM

Beautiful work...