Star trails in the moonlight

 We had all the possible weather yesterday in Creede:  sun, wind, rain, sleet, and snow.  Just another day in the mountains.  And then things calmed down, the clouds disappeared, and the night was lit up by the Moon just two days before the May 23 full Flower Moon.

The stars in the northern sky traced out 15-deg arcs during a 1-hour exposure:

Olympus E-M1iii + Laowa 7.5mm f/2.  Live-composite mode.

This one-hour exposure also captured some meteors.  There is a bright meteor trail at the top middle of this cropped image.  Three nearly horizontal fainter streaks seem to point back to a common origin in the northeastern sky.

This was also an opportunity to test an old (but good) manual focus lens: a Vivitar Series 1 135mm f/2.3.  This lens dates back to the mid 1970's, so it is nearly 50 years old.  That was a time when the Vivitar Series 1 lenses were considered competitive with the offerings from the major camera manufacturers.  Here is Capella again, setting over the Bristol Head ridgeline:

Sony A7iii + Vivitar  Series-1 135mm f/2.3.  ISO 800, 10 s.

The short 10-s exposure prevents the mountain foreground from blurring too much as the camera tracks the stars.

In the northeast, Deneb and Sadr were rising over the La Garita mountains:

Sony A7iii + Vivitar Series-1 135mm f/2.3.  ISO 800, 10 s.

Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus and the head of the Northern Cross.  It is the 15th brightest star in the sky.

The measured sky brightness increased from sqml=19.35 to 18.95 as the Moon rose higher in the sky.  The sky in Santa Fe is typically around 19.5 on a moonless night , so these readings are a testament to the clear and thin air in Creede.

Camera and lens on a tracking mount.