Northern Lights, Milky Way and Star Trails

[justinngphoto]

A composite image of milkyway and a moon halo captured in Mersing, Malaysia before the peak of Perseids Meteor Shower and during the conjunction of Moon and planet Saturn on 13 Aug. The milkyway wasn't really visible at this point as the sky was still bright but as the moon went lower, the milkyway galaxy became visible gradually and the entire process was filmed as part of my 12 hours timelapse at this location.

A 22° halo is a halo, one type of optical phenomenon, forming a circle 22° around the sun, or occasionally the moon (also called a moon ring or winter halo). It forms as sunlight is refracted in millions of randomly oriented hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere (Source: Wikipedia). You can see the moon halo with naked eyes too.

From this image, you can also see Arcturus (top right), which is the fourth brightest star in the night sky and it's the brightest star in the constellation Bootes. Planet Venus is visible in the bottom right and planet Saturn is visible near the top of the moon. Milkyway galaxy, which is a composite, is also visible when the moon was nearer to the horizon.



16 August 2013 - Featured in EarthSky.com

[justinngphoto]

A de-fished composite lightning image taken in Mersing, Malaysia just one night before the peak of Perseids Meteor Shower. I had another camera shooting the milkyway arching over the same road behind me and it managed to capture a Perseid meteor before the clouds swallowed the starry night.

[justinngphoto]

3 porters warming up in between Mount Bromo and Mount Batok. This is a single exposure shot.

[justinngphoto]

On the Segara Wedi sand plain sits a Hindu temple called Pura Luhur Poten. The temple holds a significant importance to the Tenggerese scattered across the mountain villages, such as Ngadisari, Wonokitri, Ngadas, Argosari, Ranu Prani, Ledok Ombo and Wonokerso. Pura Luhur Poten uses natural black stones from volcanoes nearby, while Balinese temples are mostly made from red bricks.

[justinngphoto]

Starry night in Singapore

Some of the brightest stars like Aldebaran, Betelgeuse and Capella were visible and M42 and M45 also left a dense star trails in this image I took in Singapore.

[justinngphoto]

"Celestial Trails in Singapore"

Do you know that a star trails shot can reveal what hemisphere you're observing from, what direction you're facing and one can also estimate the latitude that you took the star trails shot from?

Understanding Earth's rotation is useful so you can get your shot without visiting a location several times and studying the sky will allow you to create stunning star trails shot. After all, the result of your star trails image also depends on which part of the night sky is visible to you.

Here's a composite image of the foreground and star trails taken along the celestial equator in Singapore. Because of our unique location near the equator, star trails along the celestial equator in Singapore will appear almost vertical. The stars and planet Jupiter were actually rising but i have reversed the sequence to make it look like its raining down towards the horizon.

The two brightest and thickest trails were left by rising Jupiter (middle) and Sirius (top right). Trails of several bright stars like Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Capella, Pollux, Procyon, Rigel, along with M42 and M45 were also captured in this image.

The number of star trails you see in this image is real as I shot from a really dark site and the colors which were already recorded in the raw file were enhanced in post processing to make it more colorful . In case you're not aware, stars do have colors and their color indicate its temperature.

If I'd waited longer, Mars and Comet ISON will also rise from the horizon.

[justinngphoto]

Off to the North Polaris!

A composite star trails image taken in one of the darkest sites in Singapore. Do you know what are circumpolar stars? Can you see circumpolar stars on Equator? A circumpolar star is a star that never sets or never disappears below the horizon when viewed from a given latitude on Earth. Due to our unique location near the equator, almost all the stars we see are not circumpolar. This explains why we will never get a circular star trails image taken from Singapore and in countries that are located near or on the Equator. You may join one of my workshops if you wish to expand your horizon in astrophotography. Details at Justin Ng Photography Workshops | Travel Photography | Astrophotography | Justin Ng Photo

[justinngphoto]

I've been asked if it's possible to shoot milkyway and star trails in Singapore umpteen times. The answer is YES.

The following two images were cropped and the lowest star is around 10-15 degrees above horizon. Taken with an unmodified canon dslr and images were uncalibrated.

1st image is a single shot, deliberately overexposed, taken during cloudy condition in one of the darkest sites in Singapore. With so much stars in the sky, one can easily produce a decent star trails shot and even more stunning one if the sky is clear and dark.



2nd image is a result of stacking 50 images. Now you see why it's still possible to see milkyway and pursue astrophotography in Singapore?



I've also developed a simple web tool to check sky condition and head out only if the condition is favorable for long hours of shoot.

[justinngphoto]

Mount Bromo Star Trails

[justinngphoto]

"To North Polaris"

A composite star trails image taken in Singapore. The north polaris is slightly off center so I blended the sky with star trails taken in the same site into the foreground.