The sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the earth. The starlight takes years to reach us. Our closest star is 4.3 light-years away from us. Meaning, if we travel towards it at the speed of light, it will take us 4.3 years to get to it. This means that what we see in the night sky is the past, whats happening with the stars right now, will be visible to us years later. This is the main reason why the night sky and astronomy attracts me so much. Also, its mystery, its depth, its precision and order makes you believe that there is indeed a supernatural being controlling it and maintaining its delicate balance. It makes me feel the existence of God.
Astrophotography is capturing images of the night sky. Deep sky astrophotography includes distant galaxies and nebulae. So far I haven't done that but here are some of my general astrophotography shots.
Orion, the Hunter (Flagstaff, AZ)
Orion, a prominent constellation in the night sky, can easily be seen each year from late fall to winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Ursa Major, The Big Dipper (Flagstaff, AZ)
Ursa Major is one of the most easily recognizable groups of stars in the sky. Being circumpolar (never setting below the horizon) it is visible throughout the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
Big Dipper Trails (Flagstaff, AZ)
As Earth spins on its axis, the stars trail around the North and South Celestial Poles. The Big Dipper trails around the North Celestial Pole.
Young Moon (Phoenix, AZ)
Meteor (Phoenix, AZ)
This meteor was captured during the Geminid meteor shower 2010. I got lucky here, since the meteor appeared within the set field of view.
Polaris (Phoenix, AZ)
Polaris is the current North Star since it lies very close to the North Celestial Pole around which the Earth spins. Polaris will not always be the North or Pole star. Over the course of years due to the wobbling of Earth, the axis of rotation will point towards other stars around its circular pattern.
Polaris is between the two red marks in this image.
The bluish white fuzz towards the left of this image is the stardust from our own Milky Way galaxy's arm that runs across the sky. It was not visible to naked eye but appeared in this long exposure.
Milky Way Band
The arm of our Milky Way galaxy is visible as a broad band of faint light in the sky. It is visible to naked eye only form dark places with minimum light pollution. However, cameras with long exposures can capture the stardust from the suburbs. Here's a shot from my backyard on a moonless night.
Almost Full Moon
Waning Crescent Moon and Jupiter
