A Night at Okie-Tex

Click image for larger version.

This is just under a 4 hour star trail taken at the 2005 Okie-Tex Star Party.  A star trail is taken from a fixed tripod.  If done digitally, one or more frames are exposed and then later combined to show the relative motion of stars across the sky over the duration of the shot.  In this case, the motion of the star party guests carrying red light flashlights on the east observing field is also captured.  This shot is looking to the southwest into Sagittarius and the heart of our galaxy.  The hazy cloud appearance in the sky is the Milky Way.  The West Ridge at Camp Billy Joe provides the horizon with the camp's main building and dining tent in the distance below the ridge.

Date: 10/4/2005

Location:  Okie-Tex Star Party, Kenton, OK

Telescope:  None

Camera:  Canon 20D, 18-55 Telephoto @ f/4.5, ISO 800

Exposure Count:  44 frames @ 5 minutes, total exposure 3.67 hours

Guiding:  Unguided

Post Processing: Photoshop