Five-Years Ago (24-August-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Into the Vortex. North View Star and Jet Trails with a Bonus of a Meteor Trail. Summer Night in New Jersey. Composite of 442 images taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 16 mm f/2.8 mm Fisheye lens (ISO 800, 16 mm, f/5.6, 30 sec). Images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite created using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum).

Back then, I still had a lot of trees right next to the house, and one partially blocked Polaris, the North Star. Most of the trees are gone either to disease or the “mile a minute” invasive vine. I am now looking into putting some solar panels on the roof.

North View Star Trails. Summer Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3s and 16 mm f/2.8 mm Fisheye lens (ISO 800, 16 mm, f/5.6, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)
North View Star Trails. Composite of 422 images taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 16 mm f/2.8 mm Fisheye lens (ISO 800, 16 mm, f/5.6, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)

Monday (22-August-2016) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Star and Jet Trails Looking South. It rained Sunday night, and after the front came through we had very clear skies last night. Composite of 240 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum).

Star and Jet Trails Looking South. Composite of 240 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails Looking South. Composite of 240 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (19-August-2016) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

After several nights with thunderstorms, the sky was clear.  Star (and jet) trails looking south. Composite of 220 images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 60 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro, and the composite processed using Photoshop CC: Statistics, maximum.

Star and Jet Trails Looking South. Composite of image takens with a Nikon D810a camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star and Jet Trails Looking South. Composite of image takens with a Nikon D810a camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/2.8, 60 sec). (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (17-August-2016) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Night Time Thunderstorm. Two minute time-lapse video. Moon, Clouds, Lightning. Approximately 3000 Images taken between midnight and 4 AM from my backdoor using a Nikon D810A camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/4, 4 sec). At one point I had to move the camera away from the door during a heavy downpour. Time-lapse video created from the in camera jpg images using Photoshop CC. This was the fourth night in a row that we have had thunderstorms.

Seven-Years Ago (17-August-2009) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Right Angle Star Trails. Operator error, didn’t tighten the ball head on the tripod. Images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens.

Operator Error. Right Angle Star Trails. Images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens. (David J Mathre)
Operator Error. Right Angle Star Trails. Images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens. (David J Mathre)