The night of September 30 was clear, but again not remarkably dark, with a measured sky brightness of sqml=21.11 to 21.15. Seven stars were visible in the Little Dipper, but this required some careful observation. The likely culprit is airglow. At an elevation of 25 degrees above the horizon, the sky looked like this:
This 60-sec exposure reveals a murky greenish-yellow sky. This color is too faint to be visible to the unaided eye, but is easily revealed by the camera. The bright star at the center is 30 Piscium, and the one of similar brightness to the upper left is 33 Piscium. Seven satellite trails are visible. Starlink?
After adjusting the color balance, this image looks better:
All of the following images have been similarly adjusted. All images were obtained with a Rokinon 135mm f/2 lens and an Olympus E-M5iii camera. Exposures were 30 to 60 sec at ISO 1600.
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| Fomalhaut rising over the southern ridgeline of Snowshoe Mountain. |
Fomalhaut, (Alpha Piscis Austrini) is the brightest star in the constellation PIscis Austrinus. At magnitude +1.2 it is the 18th brightest star.
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| Star cluster NGC 7789, "Caroline's Rose" |
The cluster in Cassiopeia known as "Caroline's Rose" was first noted by English astronomer Caroline Herschel in 1783.
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| The globular cluster M22 in Sagittarius. |
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| The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and two satellite galaxies, M30 and M110. |
M31 is the largest galaxy in our Local Group. It is about twice the size of our Milky Way Galaxy and it 2.5 million ly distant.
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| The Triangulum Galaxy, M33. |
M33 is the third largest galaxy in our Local Group. It is about half the size of our MIlky Way Galaxy and about one-tenth the mass. It is about 3 million ly distant.
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