 | There were billions of stars last night in a clear beautiful sky in North Iowa. The Milky Way was extremely bright without a cloud anywhere and just a little haze on the horizon, and of course the light pollution from the nearest town to the south. I was at this location with this lone tree on a quiet country road near Union Hills Wildlife Management Area a couple of times last year, but the clouds always moved in on me. Last night I nailed it. We don't have 'dark skies' like some parts of the country because of all the light pollution from cities, towns and rural farm lights, but this is about as good as it gets. Jupiter is the bright star in the lower right of the image and Saturn is at the tip-top of the tree. I couldn't have asked for a better night - a slight breeze, not a single mosquito, what a great night to be out. There was also a meteor shower, but I only saw two in the couple of hours I was out, but I was mostly looking to the south. A tripod, a wide angle lens, a long exposure and some enhancement on the computer are the recipe for pictures of the stars. [Click image to see larger] |
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