Stellar Sunshine

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 14, 2011613 views19 comments

In August around 3 am the Milky Way rises above the 14692 ft (4478 m) high Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. After moonset or at new moon millions of stars belonging to our galaxy light up the sky. Realizing pointy stars during the 4 minutes exposure time requires star tracking with the camera to compensate for earth rotation. This causes also faint stars to appear on the image so that the number of stars visible largely increases. However, the reflection of the stars in the lake remain as trails as the star tracking is mirrored and hence tracks in the wrong direction. Hence this effect documents the dynamics of the earth rotation. Under the vast firmament of the Milky Way the star constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius are setting below the horizon to the left and right of Matterhorn. The twofold Milky Way intersected by dark clouds of interstellar dust shows the constellations of Scutum and the Ophiuchus. Just above three bright stars are visible that belong to the so called summer triangle. These stars are Atair of Aquila, Wega in Lyra and Deneb in Cygnus. The constellations atop the image belong to Cepheus and the Cassiopeia.

August 2011

Canon 5D MkII, Rokinon 14 mm, f/2.8, static and dynamic exposure of 4 min, ISO 1600, tripod, AstroTrac TT320 digital astronomical mount

Comments

19 comments

Comment posted by Yiming Hu on August 14, 2011 at 6:20 PM

Very interesting and unusual effect. Since you used an equatorial tracking device, the mountains should appear to be blurred also, right?

Registered on April 28, 2011, 38 Posts, 733 Comments

Comment posted by Christian Klepp on August 14, 2011 at 6:25 PM

Dear Yiming Hu,
of course you are right - such photography only works as a composit of two images, as is stated in the technical description: static and dynamic exposure of 4 min. The static / dynamic border is the mountain horizon line, both images were done with no temporal delay between them.

Cheers
Christian.

Registered on January 28, 2011, 8 Posts, 30 Comments

Comment posted by Luis Argerich on August 14, 2011 at 6:57 PM

I would like to see this larger.
The sky looks strange and void of color. Someway along the processing you lost the color in both stars and the Milky Way.
The duality between the tracked stars and the untracked reflection is a little odd to my eyes.

Registered on December 22, 2009, 91 Posts, 1349 Comments

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on August 14, 2011 at 7:03 PM

I like how you were able to get the milky way lined up with the Matterhorn, and the vertical pano works well. I do find the static stars and star trails in the reflection to be a little odd - I understand the process you used, but I think it would work much better if you used an additional frame for the reflection to get static stars there as well.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on August 14, 2011 at 8:37 PM

Neat. Perfect positioning for the MW.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on August 14, 2011 at 9:56 PM

One of the most spectacular captures of the Milky Way I've seen. As commented above the startrails rather than stationery stars in the reflection are a small nit.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on August 14, 2011 at 10:16 PM

Well aside from a couple things that throw my mind out of whak, I think this is awesome. Really a spectacular shot of the night sky. It's the star trails that seem kind of weird, even with your explanation as to why they are there.

Chris

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by Basil Greber on August 15, 2011 at 2:32 AM

Really great. Love it. I like the contrast between trails in the water and points in the sky.

Registered on November 8, 2005, 219 Posts, 1340 Comments

Comment posted by Christian Klepp on August 15, 2011 at 4:46 AM

@Luis Argerich: The star colors can be seen in the trails in the lake. When you track for 4 minutes, every star remains on the same chip pixel position, hence gets white, in other word looses his color.

@Floris van Breugel: The only possibility getting point stars in the lake I can think of would be a very short exposure time using very high ASA settings, but this would cause high noise. If you come up with ideas how to I would be very thankful.
However, I like this effect as it nicely demonstrates the unavoidable earth rotation.

Thanks for all your comments on this image!
Cheers,
Christian.

Registered on January 28, 2011, 8 Posts, 30 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on August 15, 2011 at 8:27 AM

As if the Stellisee view of the Matterhorn isn't impressive enough, the stars add a layer of excitement on top of it. The blurry stars in the water are a matter of taste, but considering the technical difficulties this one might cause I see that this is as good as it gets. Great shot, Chris.

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Bob McQuade on August 15, 2011 at 10:11 AM

Enjoyed the explanation almost as much as the image, and the image is uniquely impressive.

Registered on October 8, 2009, 214 Posts, 432 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on August 15, 2011 at 10:19 AM

Wow, Very impressive. I love looking at this Christian. I like the format too showing this off.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on August 15, 2011 at 2:22 PM

I love the subject matter, very beautiful, and the comp is great with the vertical pano. I dont like the star trails, looks bizarre and just sceams 'composite' which is the very thing it seems you tried hard to avoid in the processing etc. Personally, id prefer more noise to the trails.

EDIT: or simply shoot the reflection at a lower ISO--there's not much happening there anyways and what is there is mostly black.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Marcellini on August 15, 2011 at 3:33 PM

The trails really throw me off. For all the work you put into it, it seems a short high iso image for the reflections would be fine. It is easy enough to run noise reduction on a relatively detail lacking area like that. It is a wonderful shot, definitely worth looking "right" to the human eye.

Registered on November 27, 2007, 250 Posts, 2468 Comments

Comment posted by Shantikara Valuska on August 15, 2011 at 5:39 PM

This is really unique! Love it! I also agree with the others on the distracting star trails in the reflection.

Registered on July 25, 2011, 38 Posts, 451 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Stough on August 15, 2011 at 6:08 PM

A very compelling image Christian. The center of the galaxy rising over the Matterhorn is just awe-inspiring. I think the star-trails work well enough with this composition. My only nit would be that the sky, particularly near the horizon, seems too light.

Registered on November 20, 2010, 26 Posts, 273 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on August 15, 2011 at 7:51 PM

Christian this is a beautiful shot! I have to find out more about the astro trac.

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on August 16, 2011 at 4:50 PM

Interesting concept, and execution. I also recently bought the AT unit, and plan to try it out this fall. The vertical pano and milky way position is appealing

I agree with the masses here, that the reflected star trails are a distraction, and a blended shot to avoid this would be my choice as well. As for color in the stars, I assume you processed this image to be cooler in temperature?

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Jody Grigg on August 18, 2011 at 8:12 PM

I dont care for the static stars in the sky then star trails in the water, just doesn't sit right with me.

Registered on February 7, 2004, 165 Posts, 1227 Comments