Astronomy and Astrophotography
Ojai - Rose Valley
North of Ojai, California people can drive up Route 33 into higher elevations. Ultimately this Route will take drivers all the way into the central valley just South West of Bakersfield. Regardless, about 30 minutes into the drive at an altitude of approximately 4500 ft, drivers will see a sign for Rose Valley Camping. There is also the Ojai Gun Club up here too. 12 August 2015 was the peak of the annual Persids meteor shower. While we would have liked to stay until the 3am peak time, there was work the following day that could not be missed. Instead the goal was to take wide view photos and with using specialized equipment on hand, many of us were able to capture great views of the Milky Way Galaxy. Some devices rotate with the movement of the Earth and counteract the effect thus preventing star trails. Ultimately this lets the full beauty of stellar gases, star clusters and other wondrous sights to be seen. Sadly most of my exposures were slightly out of focus.
A high resolution photo with zero post production work thus far. Reduced to 50% page width for ease of viewing.
Attempted to get a meteor shooting across the view. This was indeed accomplished but does not have the desired fidelity compared to the the 4 minutes of exposure. It is seen in the top right corner of the view.
An important contrast below... in the city, it is hard to achieve good results
Any lengthy exposure will be met with atrocious amounts of light pollution. Just nighttime city smog relatively invisible to the eye becomes apparent when lit by a million lights below it. This contrast is just a few days apart and both on cloudless nights.