Star Trails
Posted by Anthony and Christine Powell at 4/22/2009 4:15 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Antarctica Anthony Powell time lapse south pole stars mcmurdo station scott base antarctic photos
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Antarctica Anthony Powell time lapse south pole stars mcmurdo station scott base antarctic photos
We have had a lot of stormy weather here lately, so when I was stuck inside the other night I thought I'd run some of my time-lapse star sequences through a photo-stacking application to see how they looked.
Here's a few results from stacking a couple of hundred photos together each time so the stars become streaks in the sky...
Looking up the communications tower at Black Island.
Note how the celestial South Pole is only just slightly away from being directly up.
Wide angle shot of one of the dorm buildings at McMurdo, with a small green aurora overhead
View of McMurdo Station form out on the sea ice. The extra-bright streak on the left is from the moon.
Bust of Admiral Byrd with the American flag on the left moving about in the wind
Here's a few results from stacking a couple of hundred photos together each time so the stars become streaks in the sky...
Note how the celestial South Pole is only just slightly away from being directly up.
What kind of time frame where the pictures taken over?
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These ones were around 3 to 4 hours each. I could have gone longer with some of them, but was limited by the total number of photos the software could handle.
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WOW! AWESOME PIX. THANKS FOR SHARING!
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Loved these ..beautiful...brrrrr.
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I am thrilled every time I visit your site! Thanks for shortening the distance between Antarctica and North America!
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Wow, many of your images blew me away! What a subject for time lapse.
I have a week to decide if I will apply for a summer support staff position. NANA info and links eventually lead me to your sites. A wonderful find!
I enjoy photography too and am wondering what considerations I might think about before bringing cameras down to the ice for the summer. Perhaps one DSLR and couple fast lenses covering 24mm to 200mm with ND and polarizing filters do okay? Maybe extra battery for the cold? Just want the basics. I am sure there is something for the climate I am not thinking about.
Don't know yet how far one might get to go from the base or what all there would be to shoot yet.
Thanks for sharing your images!
Tom Barber
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24 - 200 should cover most things. Definitely a polarizer and spare batteries and plenty of memory. Possibly a graded ND filter.
In summer you should definitely be able to see a few things away from base if you want to, but the travel options are somewhat limited for most people.
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Anthony, Thanks for confirming. This short list will make a small but basic travel pack.
I see the small dry snow can get into just about anything with the wind. I would probably not take a DSLR out into poor visability and it is not fully weather sealed, but I've seen some camera/lens covers around - usually for more moderate inclemant weather. Any you would suggest or are they not of value there?
Thanks again,
Tom
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I generally don't have trouble with snow, or leaving cameras outside unless it is a major storm blowing.
The biggest hassle here is dust. During the summer the volcanic grit around McMurdo gets into everything.
Regular dust also ends up being statically charged (from the dryness) and loves to get inside cameras and stick to sensors.
If you bring an SLR, a newer model with built-in sensor cleaning is a huge bonus.
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realy cool&beautiful pictures! thanks!
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And how do you manage to make such pics? Cool! Is there any chance of uploading them at rapidshare ( http://www.rapidsharemix.com will ease the process) or somewhere else? Thank you.
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Thanks for the information!!!!!!!!!
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