Starry Starry Night

    My daughter recommended an article on National Geographic's web site to me. The article said  cameras aboard a satellite on Sunday  photographed an eruption on the sun's surface that caused tons of plasma to  speed toward earth. This plasma was due to reach earth on Tuesday night around midnight or later.

     It all sounds like the intro to a science fiction movie. In the next scene a farmer goes outside to check on his barking dog and bumps smack into a visitor from outer space.  Quickly drawing his cell phone from its holster the farmer calls 911 and asks, "Would I get in any trouble if I shot and killed this beast, this animal or whatever it is?"

     But the real point of the article was that when the plasma entered our atmosphere  we  would have a chance of seeing auroras.  Auroras  usually occur in the arctic regions but National Geographic quoted an astrophysicist who said we had a 50-50 chance of seeing them here.
     It was a perfect night to be outdoors. After setting up the camera I stretched out on the ground in front of our house with my head on a pillow to wait for the light show to begin. It was not too hot and a gentle breeze was blowing. The crickets were chirping, I heard a far off coyote, and through the brick wall of our house I could hear Darling gently snoring.

     After  two hours outside all I saw were two falling stars and a raccoon. I guess we all know which half of that 50-50 I got.

     That's when I decided to try my hand at photographing star trails. Stars don't actually have trails of course. The illusion is caused by the earth spinning on its axis. As the earth spins the stars appear to rotate around us and the camera. 

     If the camera is aimed directly at the North Star the other stars will appear to be whirling around in a circle like a celestial Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Just the thought of it makes me feel a bit nauseous. I think I'll stick with the photo I have.

     I was amazed to see that in this photo there appear to be millions of stars.  While I was outside looking at them there did not appear to be many.The camera was able to record so many more than my eyes. The stars also appeared to be similar in color to me, and yet the stars in the photo have many different colors. I have since read that the camera sensor can pick up colors produced by gases in the starlight that our eyes are just not designed to see.
    This photo was made by leaving the camera shutter open for ten minutes. It is interesting to see how far the stars "moved" in that short period of time.
    You don't have to have a telescope or an expensive camera to enjoy looking at the stars. A friend taught me that a pair of binoculars works very well. Go outside tonight and look at the sky without binoculars. Then put the  binoculars up to your eyes. I bet you will gasp when you see how many  stars show up. The moon is especially fun to look at this way.
    Just think, if it wasn't for my lovely daughter I would have missed all this fun.