Night Sky. Several questions.

[Netskimmer]

When I got home this morning the night sky looked so clear and beautiful that I wanted to try and get a shot of it. The first image was the best of my attempts. There is a little streaking in the stars to to longer exposures but was afraid to ramp up the ISO too high to avoid image noise. The second image is pretty much the same as the first but at much higher ISO and more noise. The third image is of some streaks that appear in different locations in some of my shots. Are they Aliens, shooting stars or what?

A somewhat related question. I am noticing that images in ViewNX 2 look much brighter than in other programs. In NX 2 the first image is way brighter with lots more color and the second actually looks a little overexposed and yet in photobucket (and here) they are both so dark that almost nothing can be made out at all. The same thing happens when I try to print my photos. What gives?

1.

2.

3.

 

[Muct]

deffo aliens.

 

[subscuck]

The streaks are meteors. No need for alarm.

 

[silentanathema]

I kinda think they look like power lines, if they aren't meteors.

 

[Netskimmer]

No power lines over my back yard so must be meteors. So does anyone know why my pics are so much darker after going through photobucket or my printer? If it was just one or the other I would chalk it up to that specific program but for both to do it something else must be going on. They look normal in RAW and in JPEG after conversion but even if I print them from NX2 what comes off the printer is way darker. It's obviously not my monitor because I'm viewing them all with it and the results aren't constant. I tried to post them via Flickr but the results are the same.

Here they are from flickr:

1.

stars01 by Netskimmer, on Flickr

2.

stars02 by Netskimmer, on Flickr

 

[Netskimmer]

No ideas? I have tried some google searches but have turned up nothing. Images in GIMP look close to what I see from photobucket and flickr so I am assuming that NX 2 is the aberration here which is a little disappointing. The software does me no good if alterations to my images aren't accurately reflected.

 

[LittleMike]

My guess as to what the streaks are is satellites. How long were your exposures?

 

[Netskimmer]

Exposures were 20-25 seconds. The streaks were a mere curiosity, I am mostly concerned with the brightness issue.