So Sunday night, Kylene and I went to Cherry Springs state park found in north central Pennsylvania, around 2 hours from home. Cherry Springs is known for it's dark skies and is actually touted as having the darkest skies on the east coast. It was coined Pennsylvania's first "dark sky park" in 2000. Anyway, you get the idea. It's an astronomers haven.
I've been wanting to make the trip out for years. The weather on Sunday was clear skies and a comfortable 70 some degrees at night. Also, we are currently in the midst of the Perseid meteor shower, so that was a bonus incentive. We decided to make the trip. Anticipating what we were going to see, I asked my buddy @lakeshorebrewery for some celestial photography tips and he recently began dabbling with it. (New Hobby!!) With his tips in mind, I set up my mini tripod onto the roof my truck and starting shooting.
^^^Nikon D90 ISO 1250/ f3.5/ 25 seconds
The skies were incredibly once the moon set around midnight. There was zero light pollution for miles around. On the clearest of nights, city folks can only see around a dozen or two stars... at best. Even in rural areas, almost everywhere in the country, people can see around 2,00o - 3,000. At Cherry Springs, on a clear, moonless night, however... you can see over 10,000 stars with the naked eye. I've seen the Milky Way before, but I've never seen it stretch from horizon to horizon. Also, we saw around a dozen meteorites from around 11pm - 2am.
^^^Nikon D90 ISO 2500/ f3.5/ 20 seconds
I'm looking forward to going back here, when the weather and moon is right. To give you another idea of how dark and incredible the skies are at Cherry Springs, the freaking Milky Way and stars are so bright that you'll cast shadows on the ground. Shadows when there is absolutely no other source of light. The park also has rules about using low light tools like red flashlights and it has built tall light barriers to block headlights and such of arriving or departing vehicles. Now that I've gotten a taste for this astrophotography, look for more of it in the near future!
Thanks for reading! I post a nature-themed Daily Nature Fix blog every day. Please upvote if you enjoyed it and resteem if you found it especially interesting! Be sure to follow me @customnature so you'll never miss out on your nature fix! See you tomorrow. - Adam
***Daily Nature Fix is a daily blog showcasing the natural world. It is all original content using photos, stories, and experiences from my own travels.***
I used to go to "star parties" in places like that. Did you need some kind of sky tracker or motor for those exposures?
They do host a lot of those star party things at the park, @michaelrojo. I'm not exactly sure what they are though. lol To answer your question, I didn't have any kind of tracker... just a small tripod and roughly 20 second exposures.
Star parties are basically astronomy meetups. See who has the biggest telescope and all that (:o)
Wow amazing photos. You are great in shooting. Thank you for sharing friends. Good luck
Thanks for the compliment!
You are welcome
nc post bro!
Nice shots. :) I'm looking forward to doing some night photography soon too!
This deserves some attention. Upvoted and resteemed :)
i am speechless 😱😱
Hi... It's so nice... If you are interested in traveling and photography, please have a look at my blogs too...
I really like your photos. And that story behind them reminds me so much of our trips with @rorxco! Beautiful it is!