Night Sky With Film

Beyond my webcam I have been experimenting with taking film photos of constellations. My first two rolls were done with a stationary tripod and the results weren't impressive. I recently built what is called a "barn door" tracking mount for my camera which allows me to track the night sky while my camera's shutter is open. The first test of this device was supposed to be this past weekend at my in-laws home near North Vernon, IN. They have much darker skies than Indianapolis and the Milky Way is easily seen across 3/4 of the sky. Unfortunately I forgot my cable release which makes the the tracking mount useless. Nevertheless here are some of my first attempts with film.


This photo is an excellent example of the light pollution from Indianapolis. On a humid night Sagittarius isn't even observable. This photo was a 6 second exposure on a fixed tripod at f2.8 with a zoom lens set to 55mm. Despite the light dome from Indy, I think I may have captured a hint of M8, the Lagoon Nebula. The little patch of fuzzy light above the "M" in the photo above is in the same location as M8.

This photo shows the constellations Lyra and Cygnus (although the latter is slightly cut off). The bright star in the center is Vega. I didn't write down the stats for this photo although I'm guessing it was a 6 or 7 second exposure.

Here is a labeled version of the above.

The next week is supposed to be be cooler which could provide good conditions for some webcam images of Jupiter and the Moon. Otherwise I may have to delve into some older material.