Photos & story by Mike Shaw
It’s called “astrophotography,” the photographic capturing of the night sky, and the Lake Superior region often offers up the most rarified views imaginable. As an astronomy professor (and, yes, a real rocket scientist), I’ve had the privilege for decades to photograph night skies around the world, and also to share my knowledge through workshops. Using the Big Lake neighborhood as our backdrop, I’d like to share some favorite images here and, for a few of them, to tell you my tricks of the photographic trade in the hopes you’ll get out this winter to meet the night with wonder … and the successful snap of a shutter.
STAR TRAILS
Looking north from Big Bay State Park on Madeline Island, Wisconsin, this photo shows star trails. These trails express the movement of stars and can put foreground objects into intriguing perspective. Such shots are relatively easy to make. Set the camera on a tripod and shoot a set of sequential images, immediately one after another. Most cameras have a “continuous shooting” or similar setting. Letting the camera shoot for at least an hour will show the star movement, but three or more hours of shots are better. Later, you must digitally combine them with your favored computer software, such as Photoshop.
NIGHT FOLDING INTO DAY
Some images really are blending magic.
Blades of ice piled up about 50 feet out from Brighton Beach in Duluth and created a great foreground to photograph the rising sun. I’ve blended the lower left image of the sunrise diagonally with an upper right image of the Milky Way, captured a few hours earlier from the same position.
MOON SHINES, SUN SHINES
You know the full moon occurs once a month, but did you know that it rises precisely at sunset on the eastern horizon opposite the setting sun in the west? It appears full because the entire face of the moon reflects the sun’s light. When the full moon sets, that same alignment occurs. Lining up the rising (or setting) moon with a particular landmark can be done easily with the aid of popular apps such as Photographer’s Ephemeris or PhotoPills. For this photo, I set up at the perfect spot opposite the north pier lighthouse in Duluth before moon rise. I shot and later combined seven images taken at four-minute intervals.
A partial solar eclipse in October 2014 reflects brilliantly off the calm waters of Island Lake, north of Duluth.
An eerie halo surrounds the moon over Lake Superior’s Ellingson Island in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, Minnesota.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Colorful curtains span the sky in this panoramic image made looking over Wolf Lake, north of Duluth, during the St. Patrick’s Day display in 2015.
When viewed from below, the internal structure of an auroral curtain can be seen. This appearance is known as a corona, seen here from Stockton Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin.
Looking toward the southeast, a dazzling summer solstice aurora bathes in green the fortuitously docked Nordic Song at Stockton Island.
TRACKING THE SHADOW OF THE EARTH
The dark blue band of the earth’s shadow, just above the eastern horizon, and the pink “Belt of Venus” directly above that, progressively rise by Stoney Point on Lake Superior in this photo-montage, created from seven separate images made six minutes apart during civil twilight (when the sun is up to 6 degrees below the horizon) immediately after sunset.
