Lightning, Stars, Natural Phenomena

[BillOz]

Here's some Monsoon Lightning, shot from Willie G, looking towards the 202, a year ago.  Haven't had much to shoot this year.

[BillOz]

Here's a 1.5 hr. exposure of the Big Dipper, and a Cactus.  Look at only one set of endpoints of the seven bright stars in the middle, right above the Cactus, and you can easily see the Big Dip.

[BillOz]

Another spectacular Bolt

[coyote41]

Sorry this is not a helo.

[jslugman]

Having been in England for the past 3 years it was a great joy to see a real honest-to-goodness lightning storm. And I really like your "not a helo" shot! 

[BillOz]

Colin & James,

Both of those are very cool shots.

Here is my latest from two nights ago, with Mesa's own Red Mountain in the foreground.

[Matt Ottosen]

Alright, I'll play along.  This is the first bolt of lightning I ever caught.  This is from Papago Park (Hunt's Tomb) looking north west.  You can see the two towers from the old Tower Plaza right in the center.  This photo was featured on Good Evening Arizona (KTVK Channel 3 Evening News) on Monday, July 24, 2006 and is also licensed with Getty Images.

[BillOz]

That's a nice L-bolt there, Matt.

[CJPalmer]

How about some more stars. Billions and billions of stars.
The Andromeda Galaxy, the farthest one can see with the unaided eye at over 2 million light years away.

[BillOz]

Now maybe I lost count once or twice, but I probably also counted some more than once, but I come up a few short of Billions and Billions, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.  There's certainly a lot.

Very nice.  Was that with a std. camera lens, or with a camera adapted to a telescope?

[CJPalmer]

It was a standard lens piggy backed on top of a telescope for tracking.

[jslugman]

Oh I do like stars. Very nice CJ.

One of my first aurora photos but I love this one for the Pleiades cluster to the right of center.

[BillOz]

James,

That is a very nice photo.    Where was that taken, and what time of year?  Any idea on exposure info for it?

[John S]

Not the best of pictures but got these down in the new San Tan Valley (Queen Creek, Pinal County).  Camera was on a tripod on top of my truck with alot of wind so I think the truck was shaking a little

[jslugman]

Bill,

Not sure which photo you mean so I'll answer for both.

Lightning- Rancho Sahuarita looking south towards Fry's, 4SEP2009 20:56, ISO100, F5.6 for 5 seconds. Canon 40D 24-105mm f4 IS L @ 50mm, tripod, remote shutter release, mirror lock up.

Aurora- Flattop Trailhead above Anchorage, Alaska sometime in late fall 2002, Velvia 100F, push processed 2 stops, old Canon FTb QL, 50mm f1.8 lens @ f1.8 for 10 seconds. Crappy Velbon tripod, mechanical shutter release, manual mirror lockup. Old-school in every way... lol!

Auroras I know, lightning I don't. Learning something new every storm.