One of the primary reasons I got into photography was astrophotography, or photographing the night sky. I’ve always been a big stargazer and have quite the equipment for doing so (even down to an iTunes playlist, which I will share soon). I got my first camera to take pictures of Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in particular, and even got a few shots before the sunspots responsible for them fizzled. Since then we’ve been in a solar minimum, one with an in explicable lack of sunspots. I have been blaming myself and my camera purchase, of course.

Then I got my new camera and have had a very hard time finding some night skies. Usually when they were clear, the moon would pollute the scene with unwanted light. That or I just wasn’t able to break away at night to try for some cool shots. This weekend I did get a chance to hang out with the new camera and some other gear. One of the reasons I wanted to upgrade my camera was for the new one’s better performance in low light, and I was not disappointed.

This is one of my new favorite stargazing nooks, and as I grow accustomed to the features of the new camera I’m sure you’ll see more of this lone tree or the hidden rural road featured in the first photo above. I was only out for a short time, but my friend and I saw LOTS of shooting stars and satellites. The Milky Way was quite visible until the moon started to rise on the east horizon. It was also getting cold and late, so we called it quits for the time being. Hopefully I will have plenty of stargazing photos to add to these over the rest of the summer!

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. — Psalm 19:1