6 hours of Star Trails
from Payson

 

            

            
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 As the
            Earth turns, the stars rotate endlessly over the poles, and only
            long exposures such as this can capture the majesty of the Polar
            Rotation. The brightest star near center is Polaris, which is
            the North star and really about 3/4 degrees away from the true
            pole and the center of rotation. This type of imaging also brings
            up the star colors dramatically, revealing our galaxy is a dynamic
            collection of pastel colors ranging from deep reds to cobalt
            blues.

            
To take this
            shot, the camera was set up on a tripod and an automated timer
            was sequenced to yield 36 exposures of 10 minutes each separated
            by 1 second. The images were then combined in software to form the complete pictorial.

Instrument:  Sigma 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens
Platform:  Tripod
Camera:  Hutech Modified Canon XTi @ ISO400
Exposure:  6 hours total (10m subs)
Filters:  None
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  8/10, Transparency 9/10
Outside Temperature:  65F
Processing Tools:  Photoshop CS2, Maxim DSLR
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