Posted on by Bob King

Turning Stars Into Art

We all have cameras, and the sky’s an easy target, so why not have a little fun? Ever since I got my first camera at age 12 I wanted to shoot time exposures of the night sky. That and a tripod are all you need. Presented here for your enjoyment are a few oddball and yet oddly informative images of stars and planets.  Take the word “art” loosely! 

This is the pair to the Sirius image and shows Jupiter through the telescope. Notice how blandly white it appears. That's because Jupiter's disk is large enough to not show twinkling (and color changes) caused by atmospheric turbulence as in the case of point-like Sirius.
Colorless mess. This is the companion to the Sirius image and shows Jupiter through the telescope. Notice how blandly white it appears. That’s because Jupiter’s disk is large enough to not show twinkling (and color changes) caused by atmospheric turbulence as in the case of point-like Sirius. Credit: Bob King
Orion's Belt and Sword trail in this time exposure made with a 200mm lens. The nearly perfectly parallel because the stars lie very near the celestial equator and were on the meridian at the time.
Pleasing parallels. Orion’s Belt and Sword trail in this time exposure made with a 200mm lens. The fuzzy pink streak is the Orion Nebula. They’re trails are nearly parallel because the stars all lie close to the celestial equator and were crossing the meridian at the time. Credit: Bob King
Star Trek Effect. OK, this was crazy to shoot. I centered Jupiter in the viewfinder, pressed the shutter button for a 20-second time exposure and slowly zoomed out from 70mm to 200mm on the telephoto lens. It took a few tries, because I was shooting blind, but even the rejects weren't too bad. Credit: Bob King
Star Trek Effect.  I centered Jupiter in the viewfinder, pressed the shutter button for a 20-second time exposure and slowly hand-zoomed the lens from 70mm to 200mm. It took a few tries because I was shooting blind, but even the rejects weren’t too bad. Credit: Bob King
Color by fog. The colors of stars are accentuated when photographed through fog or light cloud. Orion at right with the crescent moon at lower left. Credit: Bob King
Color by Fog. The colors of stars are accentuated when spread into a glowing disk by fog or light cloud. Orion  is at right with the crescent moon at lower left. Credit: Bob King
Snow flies. During a time exposure taken on a snowy but partly cloudy night, snowflakes, illuminated by a yard light, streak about beneath a Full Moon earlier this winter. Credit: Bob King
Snow flies. During a time exposure taken on a snowy but partly cloudy night, snowflakes, illuminated by a yard light, streak about beneath a Full Moon earlier this winter. Credit: Bob King
Stuttering Stars. For this image of the Big Dipper the camera was on a tracking mount. I left the shutter open for about a half hour, then covered the lens with a black cloth for a few minutes. After the cloth was removed, I started tracking and exposed the Dipper for a few minutes. During part of the exposure I used a diffusion filter in front of the lens to soften and enlarge the brightest stars. Credit: Bob King
Stuttering Stars. For this image of the Big Dipper the camera was on a tracking mount. I left the shutter open for about 25 minutes with the tracking turned off so the stars would trail.  Then the lens was covered with a black cloth for a few minutes to create a gap between this exposure and the next. After the cloth was removed, I started the tracking motor and kept the exposure running for a few minutes. A diffusion filter was used in front of the lens to soften and enlarge the brightest stars. Credit: Bob King

13 Replies to “Turning Stars Into Art”

  1. What do ya know!? Senile dementia isn’t necessarily a hindrance for making beautiful space art. Shake it grandpa, shake it!

  4. Although the end result is art, you’re making an excellent point against buying a scope or in this case a mount at costco 😉

  5. Color me curious! What type/model camera did you use for the images of Sirius and Jupiter? I’ll assume/bet it’s a DSLR? The snowflake image is unexpected and very interesting (must be a pretty fast lens?). I really like the image of the Big Dipper because it shows what can be done with a ‘barn door’ camera mount or simple mount with partial tracking.

    1. Aqua,
      Thanks! I used a Canon 5D for the Sirius and Jupiter pix. I tried to just shoot telephoto on a tripod but couldn’t get enough wiggle, so I hooked the camera up to a scope instead, where I could easily jiggle the mount. The snowflake was my old body (Canon 1D Mark III). It took many tries to get one I liked. I’ve got 80 others that didn’t quite work.

      1. What ASA setting for the Sirius/Jup. shots?

        The wife bought a Panasonic/Lumix DMC-FZ200 w/Leica optics last year for her Alaska cruise. She’s utterly confused by the 220 page manual so she wants me to buy it from her. I’m thinking that it’s far too heavy to mount at my focuser, so I’d have to make an off set mount for the main mirror housing? Then use the f2.6 24-600mm optics and call it good enough? Images I’ve seen on the iNet included a hand held image of the Orion Neb.! Nice! Can do. First I’ll have to experiment with the built in night shot and hand held night shot settings/software… read up! THIS camera has more CPU than my old desktop! A ‘Bridge camera’ the lens is not removable. Hmm…

      2. Am experimenting with a web cam for my 12 1/2″ Newt today. I made an extension cage for the end of my scope which will put the camera at prime focus. To do this, the secondary mirror/spider and focuser are removed, which re-balances the OTA. Trick!

      3. Aqua,
        That’s cool – just getting rid of the spider and secondary. Way to hit prime focus, but will the webcam block more light than if the secondary were there? Have you considered just moving the primary forward?

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