Stars Timelapses

Swiss Star Party 2021, Gurnigel

Timelapse of 33rd Swiss Star Party 3-5 september 2021 Saturday night on the parking area on top of Gurnigel.

Unfortunately we had again many people who drove through the parking area at night, were using the central locking of their cars or didn't turn off their interior light. Please don't do that. You are disturbing people observing and ruining the dark adaption of their eyes.

Capture data: 2141 single raw frames, 14.8 hours, Nikon D850, Nikkor 12-24mm f/2.8, interval 25s with MIOPS trigger, day/night transitions with qDslrDashboard, editing with Lightroom, ramping with LRTimelapse.

Mirasteilas 2020, Falera

Timelapse of the telescope meeting at Mirasteilas observatory in Falera on 21 August 2020. Passing by clouds are cool for timelapse photography but not for observing the stars through a telescope.

Light pollution in Switzerland has increased over the last 30 years. Here in the first part of the movie the yellow clouds are illuminated by the nearby city Chur. In the second part one can see the light dome of the huge italian city Milano. The clouds further away are dark and then turn yellow when they get closer. Also visible is the light pollution caused by the catholic church of Ladir which is like the church of Falera illuminated almost all night for no reason. At least they turn it off at 1 o'clock at night. Electricity is way too cheap.

The panorama panning day to night sequence with Nikon D850 failed due to a broken MIOPS trigger cable. QdslrDashboard could not adjust ISO and exposure time because the camera was constantly in a state of half pressed shutter. At least this time external power of Nikon D850 using Thether Tools Case Relay worked. The secret is to use the original Nikon battery adapter EP-5B and not the one from Thether Tools. Now they mention it on their website with a small footnote.

Cameras used: Nikon D3 and Nikon D850. Postprocessing with Lightroom, LRTimelapse and iMovie.

Swiss Star Party 2020 on Gurnigel

Timelapse of 32^nd Swiss Star Party 14-16 august 2020 on the parking area on top of Gurnigel. Cameras used: Nikon D3 (circum polar) and Nikon D850 (panning).

Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise Ion Tail Moving

This timelapse is a combination of 102 frames of 30 seconds exposure time and interval of 35 seconds over a time period of circa one hour. It shows how fast the comet travels across the stars and note how the patterns in the ion tail change. Shot with Nikon D850 and a Nikkor 300mm 2.8D. If you watch closely, you can determine the periodic error of the Vixen GPD2 worm gear.

One Night with Comet Neowise

Timelapse of comet C/2020 F3 Neowise in the night of 12/13 July 2020. Wide-angle shots with Nikon D3 and Nikkor 24-70mm 2.8G at 50 mm, f/2.8, maximum 10 seconds and ISO 6400 with 25 seconds interval, panning with Move-Shoot-Move. Close-up shots with Nikon D850 and Nikkor 300mm 2.8D at f/2.8, 1 second exposure with ISO 12800 and 2 seconds interval, guided with a Vixen GP-DX mount and FS2. Day/night transitions controlled with qDslrDashboard on a Samsung Galaxy tab. Timelapse and ramping with LRTimelapse and Lightroom. Location was Bözberg in canton Aargau, Switzerland.

Rise of Comet Neowise

Extended edition of Comet Neowise C/2020 F3 with rare behind the scenes footage. Cameras: Nikon D850 + Nikkor 300mm 2.8D on Vixen GP-DX mount, Nikon D3 + Nikkor 14-24mm. Shot on Bözberg in canton Aargau, Switzerland.

Milky Way Rising with ISS Flyby

Time lapse of the rising Milky Way, shot at Sattelegg near Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Shot in the night of May 20-21 2020. Some frames had to be deleted due to bypassing cars. That's why the stars jump a bit sometimes. At 0:16 the International Space Station (ISS) is passing by on the left hand side. The other trails are caused by airplanes. Pretty much air traffic despite corona shutdown. Shot with a Nikon D850 on a SkyWatcher Star Adventurer mount with half star speed to pan along the horizon. Interval 25 seconds with MIOPS trigger. Maximum exposure 20 seconds at ISO 6400 with later +1 EV push. Holy grail (exposure and ISO) ramping during dusk and dawn with QDSLRdashboard App. Image processing with Adobe Lightroom and many hours processing with LRTimelapse. Premature end at dawn because the camera reported empty battery, but power bank with TetherTools Case Relay was still full.

Astronomers do it at Night (with Mirrors)

Collection of various time lapse sequences of the night sky, taken with Nikon D3 in the years 2009 through 2018 and Nikon D850 in 2019. Put together with Apple iMovie. Music: "Pale Horses" by Moby, with free license from mobygratis.com.

Swiss Star Party 2019 on Gurnigel

Swiss star party on concreted observing area at Gurnigel pass in Switzerland. In the old days the Swiss army was shooting here with tanks and fighting enemy mountains. Most of the stargazers were on the other side of the area and was doing CCD astronomy. This site is surrounded by the light pollution of Thun (east), Fribourg (west) and Bern (north). Only south is almost free of pollution. 1529 frames every 30 seconds during about 12 hours. Nikon D850 with Nikkor 14-24mm 2.8G at f/3.5. Tracking with 1/2 star speed using SkyWatcher StarAdventurer, Intervalometer MIOPS trigger. Exposure control during sunrise/sunset with ControlMyCamea iPad app. Editing and transition smoothing using LRTimelapse and Lightroom.

Total Solar Eclipse of 11 July 2010 at Mangaia, Cook Islands

Time lapse movie of the total solar eclipse as seen from the airstrip at Mangaia airport (Cook Islands). There were three different layers of clouds crossing the sky in different directions.