Aeroplanes, alien beams and a small perseid
by Sisto

Comment:
Beautiful shot, albeit without any Perseid meteors. The trail at top is definitely an airplane (you can see the regular dot pattern from a blinking wingtip light), and the one at bottom is likely a plane as well. The meteor shower's radiant point is about 3/4" straight up from the right tip of the bottom trail, so any Perseids would be aimed directly from that spot. Still an excellent nightscape on its own, though.

Air Show
by scalvert

Comment:

Originally posted by Art Roflmao: The 1 is well deserved....

ROFLMAO, Art! That 1 vote came from a troll [now banned] that we knew about during voting. The troll's votes in Colorful Objects were flushed, but 22 votes of 1 in Kitchen Tools and 16 gifts of contempt in this challenge were inexplicably allowed to stand, and that really disgusts me. While those votes might not affect the final order (much), they do leave a stain. KarenK was robbed of her fourth 7, which would have shown two places higher on her profile– her best finish in 5 years. :-(

Message edited by author 2018-08-03 12:59:40.

Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula
by scalvert

Comment:

Originally posted by GeneralE: Are some of the other bigger blotches galaxies?

No, this is looking almost directly at the center of our own galaxy, so anything in the distance beyond would be obscured by gas and dust. Those dark patches aren't empty space, but massive clouds of dust that hide the stars behind them. Everything you see here is part of the Milky Way. The two nebulae are about 4,000 light years away, and most of the bright stars are foreground objects a few dozen to few hundred light years away.

Message edited by author 2018-07-13 14:33:48.

M20: The Trifid Nebula
by scalvert

Comment:

Originally posted by pgirish007: Next time when you do, ping me and I will drive up north. I haven't done these kind of things and WOULD love to do that and see how you do :)

Of course, anytime! I'm out shooting on most clear nights (four times so far this week), so whenever it's convenient for you. I'll give you a tour of the observatory, too.

The Sombrero Galaxy: a black hole at heart
by scalvert

Comment:

Originally posted by Lydia: Never for me!

Never say never. The Andromeda Galaxy covers five times the area of the moon in the sky, and I've shot that with a 200mm lens. You could do it with enough determination.

d e p a r t u r e
by Bear_Music

Comment:
Free Study worthy. This was vastly superior to my entry in every respect (other than being the real thing).

Free at last
by LevT

Comment:
Well done! The blue ribbon was never in doubt.

Running Man and the Great Orion Nebula
by scalvert

Comment:

Originally posted by MAK: Top draw, I would love to try this kind of work.

Too bad you're not closer. I'm teaching classes on astrophotography next month.

Close Encounter of the Swimming Kind
by gyaban

Comment:
Nice! I once thought of shooting something like this on grass and calling it "Depth of Field."

Message edited by author 2017-04-10 13:43:09.

Eclipse2
by DJWoodward

Comment:
Excellent!