About a month ago I purchased some ISO 800 print film. My intent was to use it on Canada Day weekend to take pictures of stars from the cottage I was at near Bancroft. Unfortunately, I didn't really have an opportunity to do so. So I vowed that on the next clear night I would go out and try to capture some night shots on film. It was cloudy for almost a month... then on Sunday the sky began to clear. I could see from satellite photos that the sky was relatively clear north of Listowel. So Russell, Aravind, Derek and myself headed up there at 1am Monday morning to do our thing. Unfortunately, due to a screw up at the camera store, I didn't get the photos until now, which is why this week's picture is so late. I also haven't had a chance to review the pictures in detail, so I just picked one of the most striking images for this week's picture. This is a shot looking north along the road we set up on. The bright part of the sky is where the moon set. To the right, you can see what looks like clouds. I haven't verified it for sure, but I believe those are actually hydrogen gas clouds in the Milky Way.

Comments

I didn't think stars existed in Southern Ontario... ;)

Nice picture!

Isn't that a bit low in the horizon for the gas clouds in the milky way ?

After talking briefly with Russell, I now believe that the smudge in question
is actually starlight from the Miky Way galaxy.  

Hydrogen gas clouds wouldn't
glow bright enough to be visible without a lot more light gathering capability.

I do have evidence to support my theory that those aren't clouds... but I have
to go over my pictures in more detail to be sure. 

OK!  After further analysis, I have identified most of the objects in the
picture.  Click here for the annotated
version!