Light Pollution

Photograph Details: Nikon D7000, focal length 18mm, ISO-100, exp: 30 sec, f7.1

Shot with my new baby, the Nikon D7000. I was really hoping to get some images of the Milky Way this evening now I've had a few hours to play with the D7000, but this was all I could get...

Sunset

Photograph Details: Nikon D40, focal length: 18mm, ISO-200, exp: 30sec, f/3.5

Fish Eye Milky Way

The Greek philosopher Democritus (450–370 BC) proposed that the bright band on the night sky known as the Milky Way might consist of distant stars. Aristotle (384–322 BC), however, believed the Milky Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars which were large, numerous and close together" and that the "ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the world which is continuous with the heavenly motions." The Neoplatonist philosopher Olympiodorus the Younger (c. 495–570 AD) criticized this view, arguing that if the Milky Way were sublunary it should appear different at different times and places on the Earth, and that it should have parallax, which it does not. In his view, the Milky Way was celestial. This idea would be influential later in the Islamic world.

Milky Way

One of the main reasons I have not been blogging recently is that I've taken what was once a feint affinity for the stars to a new level. I purchased a small telescope and started looking at astrophotography in a whole new way.