4 hours of startrails

[Astroblagger]

Abit gutted last night as it was perfectly clear but had prior arrangements made to go to someones party (girlfriend made me) so just set the dslr up with a 18mm lens in the garden and let it snap away. this is the longest startrails pic iv managed so far. It was a nice change from setting up the scope/polar aligning mount/focusing/framing/guiding/ wires etc!

[tingting44]

nice, so was this one long exposure? or singles blended in?

[Space Ranger]

Great result. I normally have problems with dew on the lens long before 4 hours of imaging 

[tingting44]

Great result. I normally have problems with dew on the lens long before 4 hours of imaging 

yeah last time i tried a star trail a couple months ago i was getting hit with dew after half hour

[Stargazer33]

Nice picture. Looks like you had very clear skies that night, judging by all the star trails you have captured. I hope the party was worth it!

[Astroblagger]

thanks for the comments, they are 30 sec subs, i used a cable release and just locked it so it kept snapping away, used live view to focus in manual on a bright star, and used a program called startrails which does all the hard work for you. I used a dew tape wrapped round the lens to stop dew forming.

[kirkster501]

I really like that!  So you use 30s subs and the Startrails software stitches it all together?  What about darks etc?

I must have a go at this myself!

[jambouk]

Kirkster: essentially yes.

I use this freeware, it does allow you to load darks if you want.

http://www.startrails.de/html/software.html

James

[DaveGarland]

That Startrails program is great. It makes it so easy. My photography is pretty poor but even I managed this in light polluted Bristol.

It also does a meteor shower effect like this.

Hats off to your image though Astroblagger. Really nice

[Mike73]

Great result. I normally have problems with dew on the lens long before 4 hours of imaging 

I've just wrapped a pocket hand warmer around the lens and secured it with an elastic band.

[Astroblagger]

cool i love easy solutions like that! who needs to spend $$$!i  like the meteor effect will need to try this! 

[Timbo32]

yeah last time i tried a star trail a couple months ago i was getting hit with dew after half hour

hi when you have finished seting up put a bin liner around all your gear with your lens poking out a hole get some of those heat pads for your back attach to camera lens inside the bag and it will stop the dew all night

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Thats an awesome image.

For my opinion i think 4hours is too much. That being said ive only ever managed an hour and a half, and i cant get the circle in because of too much LP in the north, but would love to try that.

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