Aarrggghhhh!

[saltface]

It would appear that astrophotography just plain doesn't like me. My shutter got stuck open on my first night, ruining all my shots, and this is all I got on the second night:



I'm not sure what happened. Did my tripod start to sink in the dirt? Did some woodland creature walk up and lean on it?

And what's with the bright streat at the bottom left? It doesn't look like a tear in the film and it's too bright to be a meteor (but I did manage to capture one originating near Polaris). What do you guys think?

(Please excuse the quality, the preview was done with MSpaint).

 

[timbearden]

Maybe the spot is a UFO? No I'm just kidding. It could be many things that came and left the view of the camera.

The photo is typical of a photograph with that technique. So I don't understand why you think your tripod fell.

Hey, just curious how long was your shutter opened for?

 

[saltface]

Maybe the spot is a UFO? No I'm just kidding. It could be many things that came and left the view of the camera.

The photo is typical of a photograph with that technique. So I don't understand why you think your tripod fell.

Hey, just curious how long was your shutter opened for?

If you look close at the bigger picture, you'll see that the stars aren't forming perfect arcs. It's like the camera shifted.

I didn't really time it, but somewhere around an hour. I didn't have too much time as the moon would be rising shortly.

 

[timbearden]

Those quite possibly could be airplanes, or satellites passing by. Those won't make the same arch. On my screen there are very few that don't have a nice arch, then again maybe I don't have the best screen to view it.

I've been wanting to do this in the mountains and have yet to do it. That is why I asked your exposure time.

 

[saltface]

Oh, you mean the red dotted trails? Yeah, those are aircraft. But if you look at the stars, particularly around the celestial north pole, you'll see they're all messed up.

Stars move at about 15 degrees per hour (the speed of the rotation of the earth). I've done one that was about four hours long but had no real focus to grab the eye. The stars came out wonderfully.

 

[osirus]

possbile a wind gust shifted the camera a bit?


or..
the bright light int he bottom was a ufo that flew over really low, the vibrations causing the camera to shift..

Or maybe the trippod jstu wasnt fully setteld where it was sitting and after a few mins moved that tiny little bit unseen to the eye, but pickec up by the camera

 

[timbearden]

possbile a wind gust shifted the camera a bit?


or..
the bright light int he bottom was a ufo that flew over really low, the vibrations causing the camera to shift..

Or maybe the trippod jstu wasnt fully setteld where it was sitting and after a few mins moved that tiny little bit unseen to the eye, but pickec up by the camera

Yeah, I like that idea!

 

[saltface]

There was no wind, so I guess we're going to have to leave it to the UFO explanation. Some aliens just have no consideration for others!

 

[timbearden]

Maybe they had to move your camera for a second so you wouldn't capture their ship by photo, and then they put it back in place.....well almost.

 

[saltface]

I see. Advanced lifeforms capable of interstellar travel, but not able to realign a simple camera.