Stars And Stripes - Night Sky Imagery
Using the manual exposure mode on the Oly C-4000Z which allows to set exposure times up to 16 seconds, I frequently take pictures of the night sky, especially during "Iridium Flare" events or visible passes of the International Space Station (ISS) (see heavens-above.com
to determine when such events occur in your city), and when there are other astronomically interesting events. Of course my camera is not a telescope, so you don't get to see other galaxies or even nebulae at a reasonable resolution, but still it's fun and returns some beautiful pictures.
ISS passes, Iridium Flares and airplanes appear as long lines (thus the name "Stars and Stripes" :-) because they move a lot during the exposure time. Airplane lines also have a dotty feature from the blinking position lights which allows to recognize them easily.
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The trails of the ISS (left) and an air liner (right) during a pass over Regensburg in December 2003. (This image was rotated, cropped and rescaled)
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Oly 4,
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Mars in August 2003, when our red neighbor was closest to the earth.
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Oly 4,
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Sirius (bottom left) and the Orion constellation with a nice little cloud passing by.
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Oly 4,
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Venus during an enormously bright phase in March 2004 with air liner trails and the silhouette of a part of a cherry tree. Notice how the stars are blurred by earth's rotation.
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Oly 4,
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Slightly off-topic, I know: the city lights of Regensburg seen from above Marienhoehe.
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