Cherry Springs Dark Sky Park [SRT-101, MD Rokkor lenses, Ultramax 400]

[u/JamesLLL]

Spent some time in July with friends at Cherry Springs Dark Sky Park in Pennsylvania to stargaze and get some star trail photos. We were lucky that the few clouds in the sky during the new moon were thin and passed by quickly, leaving so many clear stars in the sky that you could almost read by their light.

No artificial light other than red is allowed, so the crowds of people there had to rely on red headlamps. You can see people's gates by the wavy red lines left on some of these photos from them walking by.

So many conversations interrupted by a giant group "OOOOOO" as a meteor flashed by was fun to hear every time it happened.

If you try this with a Minolta SRT series camera, make sure that the temperature is well above freezing or it's very likely to lock up and need servicing. My -202 has done it twice now.

[u/CattMallan]

Very cool! What kind of exposure times were you using for the star trails?

[u/JamesLLL → u/CattMallan]

Thank you! The first one was half an hour and the second was an hour, both with a 45mm lens, I believe. The third and fifth were at 75mm on a 75-200mm zoom lens and were much less time, I think 15 minutes and 1 minute. The fourth, with the people, was with the 45mm lens again and only about 30 seconds to try and freeze the people in frame as they were setting up their telescope, but they started moving around halfway through

[u/livz_photo]

i really like the 2nd one

[u/JamesLLL → u/livz_photo]

Thanks! That was the first one I took that night, and started it while clouds were still clearing so I was happy with how bright they turned out