Here in the UK, we've had a few clear nights recently. Great for me and my current obsession with star trail photography and anything landscape related at night. Last night's clear skies over Cambridge gave me all the excuses I needed to disappear in to the night for a few hours!
We took a road trip down to Cambridge well before dark. I usually aim to arrive in the "blue hour" so as to scout the location for the best points of view and maybe to snap a few sunset images.
The One Mile Telescope is a disused radio telescope which was once part of an array of telescopes used by Cambridge University. They were constructed in the 1960's but now lay dormant with more modern equipment elsewhere. The telescope left behind is still intact and looks almost as if it could be switched back on and used again, even it is a bit rusty in places.
Since I've been to this location before, it wasn't a chore to find somewhere to park and I already knew the best route in the fields to get to the telescope.
This is a collection of what I bagged last night:
The One Mile Telescope
This is 120 images of 30 seconds each shot at ISO 200 and f1.8 on a Sony G Master 14mm lens. Battling with a 98% full moon and some light pollution from the direction of Cambridge, I've made a note to myself to return on a darker night and possibly a warmer one!
The Unedited Version
One of the things you don't see (unless I missed one) is plane trails in the final image. As I stack the images together in Photoshop, I can't help but clone out those pesky planes and the occasional Starlink.
Blue Hour Arrival
As we arrived at the telescope, this was the scene that greeted us. I made a note to myself to turn up a bit earlier next time to grab some sunset shots.
Saturday Night Selfie
As we waited for blue hour to turn in to proper night time, I set about knocking out a quick selfie. My fake OCD can see the misalignment and if I was alone I would have spent way longer tweaking the positions to make it perfectly aligned. It will do!!
I found the torch beam casting it's light on the telescope quite pleasing here:
The Moon was so bright I contemplated wearing shades!
After I'd finished the star trail sequence, I wandered around the back of the telescope for a look to see if I could find other views or compositions. Here I placed the 98% full moon directly behind the structure and can barely see the stars!
Behind the Scenes
As I was waiting for the star trail sequence to finish I set up my iPhone 16 Pro on a light stand to allow me to be able to shoot a 30 second exposure. I am impressed!!
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in landscape, urbex and artistic model photography. I like to collaborate with other photographers and occasionally shoot outside my comfort zone.
