Too Many Stars to Count - 50with50 No. 34
So Many Stars and Electrical Wires
Stars fill the nighttime sky as seen from our driveway on a recent summer night, for the latest entry in the 50with50 series.
When I was outside last week photographing Comet NEOWISE, I decided to turn the camera in the other direction for a general star-filled photo as well. It is always amazing to me how many stars you can see on a clear night out here in the country. But then a long-exposure photo can see even more stars than we can see with our eyes. They just go on and on. And if you zoom in on the photo to get a closer look, you can see even more. Fascinating.
You can see part of the Milky Way here, and I hope to attempt some more Milky Way photos in the future. And that bright larger item to the left of the utility pole is Jupiter. Just in case you were wondering.
Also for those who were wondering, I purposefully included the utility pole and transformer, just to give the photo a slight sense of scale. And if you are wondering further, the pole and transformer were being lit by our neighbor’s barn light. Our neighbors are pretty far away, but their lights can seem rather bright sometimes, especially if we have all of our lights turned off and those distant barn lights are the only lights around.
Can You Count the Stars?
Sights such as this photo always make me think of an old church song that we sing sometimes, “Can You Count the Stars?” That song talks about God’s creation and how he made it all, from the countless stars, to the birds in the sky, to the fish, to all of the children in the world.
I always like the last line of the first verse, “God the Lord, who doth not slumber, Keepeth all the boundless number, but he careth more for thee.” Even if you prefer newer English to that old English, the meaning should be pretty obvious. God created all those things that we can’t even count, but he cares more for each of us than for all of those things.
And then the last line of the last verse says, “He has not forgotten thee.” That is always a comfort to me to be reminded of that fact. Even with all of the things in creation that are far beyond our ability to count, God has not forgotten thee, er, me. I don’t know how he does it, and how he can keep up with so many things when I can barely remember what I did last week, but he can. And he does.
The God that we serve is all-powerful and all-knowing, but he has not forgotten us. That lifts my spirits every time I hear it. Hopefully, it helps you, too.
Bible Verse
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. - Psalm 8:3-5
About the Photo
This photo uses the exact same settings as what I used for the Comet NEOWISE photo. Be sure to refer to that post if you want some tips on how it was done. Once again, the 50mm lens shines here, as it has for all of the 50with50 entries.
This photo has a slightly different look to it because it was facing away from the sunset direction, so there was not as much light in the sky for this photo as there was for the NEOWISE photo. But all of the stars in the sky more than made up for that.
As I stated in the previous post, I am nowhere near an expert in astronomy photography. I would like to learn more about it and see what else I can do. Things like that take time and practice, but they are often worth the effort that you put into them.
And rest assured that if I do take more star photos, you will most likely see them posted here, too.
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: SonyFE 50mm f/1.8
Date: July 19, 2020
Location: Home, Williston, Tennessee
