Star Trails #1.    Sedona, AZ 5/3/02

Paul's and Sue's house in Sedona. This is the first star-trail photo* I've ever been pleased with - even though at first I thought the shot had been ruined: When I got up at 4:30 in the morning to stop the exposure it was already beginning to get light out, and I assumed that the picture was overexposed & that the stars would be washed out. Instead, the dawn's early light was just enough to give the sky its blue color and cover the light pollution from the town beyond (see next pic for comparison). Also got a nice warm glow from the house interior.

*Star-trail pictures are made by setting your camera on a tripod, pointing it at the North Star, opening the shutter & leaving it for several hours; as the Earth turns, the stars circle the north pole and leave those arcs on the film.

Star Trails #2.    Sedona, AZ 5/5/02

I took this photo two nights later under identical conditions - same camera, same film - except that this time I stopped the exposure before daylight began. Thus the sky isn't blue, and you can see the city glow in the distance. The rocks have been lit from the front by the 4^th-quarter moon that rose sometime after midnight.

Miatascope with Planets.    Sedona, AZ 5/5/02

Brother Ed's awesome miatascope provided fab views of the planets, Comet Izzy, and various other space goodies. Here it poses with four planets - Saturn, Mars, Venus (triangle, left to right) and Mercury (right, just above roof).

Moon with Planets.     Crescent Beach, CA 5/13/02

Venus, Mars, Saturn and a 36-hour-old moon settle into the dusk over the ocean at aptly-named Crescent Beach, CA. And to think, I almost didn't stop here.

Moon with Saturn.     Crescent Beach, CA 5/13/02

Closeup of the crescent moon with Saturn (and could that be Mercury just below?)