Stars in Winter

Last night we had one of those winter nights with crisp clear transparent skies. I decided to try my hand at photographing the sky with my new camera. The picture below was taken January 6th at 18:56:36 CST. It was a 30 second exposure at f/3.8, 20mm FL and ISO 1600.

Orion S
To see a larger image, click here

In the picture, the constellation Orion is just rising from behind the trees at the bottom and Taurus is near the top of the picture. You can see just a hint of the nebulosity around M42 in Orion’s sword.

I’ve still got a lot to learn about this sort of photography but I’m fairly happy with this early attempt. I’ll be trying again on the next clear, moonless night.

7 comments on “Stars in Winter

  1. That is a Beautiful Photo Tom! I can see exactly what you make reference to there.

    Orion I’m guessing in the photo had an easterly orientation.

  2. Yes Leo, the camera was pointing just a little South of East. I took some others pointing up higher but this was the best. Plus Orion is Jan’s favorite constellation.

  3. What a beautiful sky it was last night…still think we should of taken our sleeping bags out and spend the night under the stars….even though we would of been covered with frost this morning. Great picture, honey!

  4. Thanks Alice. I will be taking more sky photos in the future so keep looking. And encourage your son to keep looking at the sky too.

    Glad to see you here.

  5. Thanks Tom. Oh yes my son still loves to look at the starts and all. Whe the Comet Hale – Bopp could be seen we were out on the deck of our apartment out in Tacoma, WA. My son has been watching the stars since a young child and still at it at 33 years old.