Wednesday began with cloudy skies and snow flurries. However, that changed, and while walking home late at night I was impressed by how clear and dark the sky was. The sky brightness was measured as 21.65 mpsas, which is excellent for this area. It helps that it is early in the season and a lot of the neighborhood cabins are dark and silent, with no windows or porch lights blazing.
These images were taken with an Olympus E-M1iii camera and an Olympus 12mm f/2 lens and a Hoya Softon filter. Unfortunately, the focus was slightly off, but that is mostly hidden by the size reduction employed for these versions of the images.
The three brightest object in this image are, from left to right, Procyon, Jupiter, and Capella. Procyon is the eighth brightest star and Capella is the sixth brightest. Just above Jupiter are the Gemini twins Pollux and Castor. Castor (the right most) is a fine double star for small telescopes. There is just a blush of Zodiacal Light visible above the Bristol Head ridgeline and a hint of green airglow.
In the northerly direction the Big Dipper and Little Dipper are both standing high at this time of year. The North Star, Polaris, is at the tip of the Little Dipper's handle. Polaris is the nearest Cepheid variable, a class of stars important for establishing the cosmic distance scale.
Looking toward the east, Arcturus is high in the sky. Arcturus is the fourth brightest star and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Below and left of Arcturus is the constellation Corona Borealis, outlined by a box in this image. This constellation is being closely watched for the expected reappearance of a recurrent nova, T Coronae Borealis. This nova is believed to erupt every 80 years. The last eruption was in 1946.
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