Tales of Trails

We arrived at the base of Mt. Wilson Observatory around 5:00 on a clear Wednesday evening. The group gathered and took in the view-- some of Los Angeles' finest. We made our way up to the Observatory and took a tour around the property. Our tour guide showed us the impressive telescopes-- 60 and 100 inch. We stopped by the museum and learned a bit about Mt. Wilson's history. Andrew Carnegie and Albert Einstein were a few of the individuals who funded and supported the Observatory's initial development. 

Following the tour we settled inside the 60 inch dome and prepped our cameras, tripods and cable releases for some astro photography! Everybody did their own thing and experimented with the various light sources surrounding us-- LA's bright lights and the stars, of course. 

I set up my 35mm camera inside and outside the dome, taking pictures for various lengths of time, ranging from 5 minutes to well over an hour.  Inside, most interestingly to me, was taking pictures as the dome rotated. While we waited out the night, the awesome staff at Mt. Wilson moved the telescope around the night's sky to show us different parts of the cosmos! The highlight of course was Saturn, it was so surreal to see the planet at such magnitude-- rings and all!

My favorite photographs were the long exposure ones taken outside. Various places on the property offered different compositions and framing for capturing the star trails. Fortunately, I had two cameras, both using 800 ISO color film. One camera had a particularly large lens, yielding zoomed in images of the stars.

One thing I learned at Mt. Wilson was that you can find Polaris by following the tail of the Big Dipper. Polaris-- aka the North Star-- is the central figure for orbit, therefore, the stars appear to travel around it in a circular fashion. It was amazing how much was captured. Even planes flying by were picked up...

Almost 12 hours later we left the observatory and headed home to Orange. I was eager and curious to what the camera had captured, if anything! I was overjoyed with my photos post development. Overall it was an awesome night. Not only did we learn about the historical significance of Mt. Wilson and the early pioneers of astrophysics, we were able to shoot photographs unlike anything I have ever taken. What an enlightening evening amongst the stars!