15 Jan 2018 Loving star gazing in the 501
Story and photos
by Linda Henderson
One of my greatest joys in life is getting out in the night and gazing at the night sky. I love seeing meteor showers, planets, the Milky Way, the North Star and identifying the constellations in the night sky. I still have much to learn about astronomy but do enjoy observing God’s nighttime creations.
Regardless of your life’s situation, staring up into the vastness of the night sky is available for all to experience. Ancient people used the sky to navigate their way in the dark. Writers look up at the heavens and create stories. Photographers look up into the sky and try to capture that beauty into a digital image. Whatever our place on this earth, we all can enjoy stars any cloudless night.
Full moon light or even star light on a clear night is beautiful shining in the forest or on a waterfall. After your eyes adjust to the darkness you can see amazing things in night like the colors of stars. Many stars are brilliant white, but some are red and others are blue.
Experiencing a brilliant starry night sky can be a problem in some places in the United States. Even on the clearest nights, ambient light from roads, cars, houses, towns and cities can obscure the stars. There are vast swatches of wilderness in Arkansas where you can experience dark skies. A few of these dark spots that are good for star gazing are found in the 501. On occasion, I do have to venture just outside of the 501 to find a beautiful dark sky.
As for photographing the stars, pinpoint stars and the Milky Way are the grand prizes of nightscape photography. To capture pinpoint stars, you have to photograph them during the new moon phase. Pinpoint stars are stars that are photographed without any trailing or movement. As our earth orbits, if the shutter of the camera remains open for too long, then the stars will have trails.
Winter time is my favorite time to photograph pinpoint stars. The air is usually clear and dry in the winter so you see many more stars. Stars appear brighter, and many more will show up in your images.
I also love seeing the Orion constellation in the winter months. Orion, or The Hunter, is the most noticeable element in the sky from November to February. It is easily identified by looking for “Orion’s Belt” — three bright stars in a short straight row.
The Milky Way is the Holy Grail of nighttime photography. Under a clear, moonless sky, the Milky Way is easily seen with the naked eye in a dark area. Allow your eyes time to become sensitive to the dark by remaining in the dark for about 10 to 15 minutes. The Milky Way is the most prominent feature in a dark sky. Anyone who’s ever looked up in a dark sky has likely seen the Milky Way. It is a bright glowing band of stars that stretches across the southern sky. It may appear at first as a wispy cloud. Continue to look up at it as your eyes become more and more sensitive and you will see more detail, shapes, colors and structure in the Milky Way.
The most beautiful part of the Milky Way is the galactic core. The core is only visible in the Northern Hemisphere from March to September. During the summer months, it is the brightest and is seen in the southern sky. Its location changes from month to month and rises and sets at different times of night throughout the spring and summer.
To enjoy the Milky Way, you will have to be willing to give up a little sleep time. In the early spring months, you have to get up early to see it (3 to 4 a.m.). During the summer, you have to stay up real late (1 to 2 a.m.). As fall approaches, you can see it during the later evening hours (9 to 10 p.m.). During the springtime, the Milky Way is close to the horizon. As the summer progresses, it becomes more overhead and shifts its location to the southwest.
Star trails are another fun thing to capture in the night sky. Star trails, or light trails, are created when a camera records the rotation of the earth on its axis. These unique images are only crafted in the camera. Our earth is in a constant orbit, and the camera is able to catch the trail of light left in the sky as the earth rotates. If a camera’s shutter is left open for greater than 30 seconds you see a small trail. If you leave the shutter open for much longer you will capture longer and longer trails of light.
The direction you point the camera will determine the type of trail. If the desire to have a circle trail, then the camera will need to be pointed toward the north. The non-moving star in the middle of a circle star trail is the North Star or Polaris. Typical exposure time for a star trail ranges from 15 minutes to several hours. Star trail photos are very colorful. The longer exposure allows the camera to record the colors of each star as it trails across the image. I typically set my camera exposure to 30 seconds and have my camera fire off every 10 seconds. Then I combine 80 to 150 images together using computer software to get one image.
Light painting is also used in many of my nighttime photos. Light painting is using a low level light source to add highlights to a foreground subject like a waterfall or barn. Without adding a little light to the subject, you have a lot of dark blank area within the photograph. The key to light painting is low level and subtle light. My husband is my light painter and has become very adept at painting a scene with soft indirect light.
If you want to try a little night photography, it does take a little practice and time. The great thing about modern cameras is, due to the advances in sensor technology, star photography is very accessible. You will need a good modern, interchangeable lens camera. This could be a DSLR like a Nikon or Canon or a mirrorless like a Fuji or Sony. Nowadays, even the entry level camera can handle long exposures and yield good results. You will also need a wide-angle lens like a 14 to 24 mm lens. A tripod to mount your camera is absolutely necessary.
Regardless of if you choose to photograph the night sky or just enjoy it with your eyes, get outside in the 501 night and stare at the stars. Star gazing will likely lower your blood pressure and increase your feeling of well-being. The 19th century poet Sarah Williams wrote, “I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” Take her advice and love the stars.
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