Audwulf Loc: Golden State

Took some star shots last night around 22:45, and had some problems.
1. Most of the stars came out as light points.(500 mm, "B" for 30 seconds, f 6.3, on a tripod with remote release). But, some of them showed some trace of RGB.
2. Had some streaks in some exposures, from 1 o'clock to 7 o'clock, while other exposures had streaks from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock.
Some web sites said "Shooting Stars", some said "Satellites".
Any words of wisdom will be appreciated.

roycebair Loc: Utah, USA

None of these streaks are meteors or shooting stars. Meteors are usually longer streaks and brighter at one end. The "RGB" streaks look like aircraft, and the solid streaks look like satellites. However, there is a real problem here, and that is that all of the streaks are parallel. Aircraft and satellite streaks in the same image would be at random angles to each other! It appears that you somehow have gotten a double exposure on some of your images (one exposure for the streaks, and one for the points of light)!

roycebair Loc: Utah, USA

Here's a composite image I produced some time ago for a lecture on starry night photography. It will help you identify some of the streaks in your photos. (These are enlarged from small areas of several wide angle photos.)

#1 - 3 are aircraft with constant and blinking navigation lights. #4 - 5 are satellites. #6 - 7 are meteors.


Aircraft, satellite, and meteor streaks are always at randon angles to each other. If you have several streaks at parallel angles - they are star "trails"


Streaks from the above photo highlighted

Audwulf Loc: Golden State

Hey Royce,
Thanks for the input. I know aircraft sometimes show R&G. But I'm getting RGB on stationary stars. Also, I'm trying to figure out why only a few streaks. My camera isn't able to D/E. (It's a Pentax K100D Super.) If it's clear tonight, I'm going to try again. Will post photos.