Hey welcome Cindy. I am also from Las Vegas or as they say in CA, "Lost Wages". Been here for about 10 years and enjoy it. My latest passion is astrophotography with a mix of macro, landscape, and trains. Welcome to the Hog! Bill

Again, WOW! I want to try this and other galaxies. So far I counted about 20 galaxies in your image. What did you use to get this image? I just got an 8: RC and a CEM 40 last week and I am chomping at the bit to go out "star gazing" with this.

It's a Beyer-Garratt steam locomotive. What is unusual is that the boiler is in the center and the drivers are under the water tank and fuel at opposite ends of the boiler. This design had problems because as the water and fuel was consumed, the ends would get lighter and the traction effort diminished. Their claim to fame is that they were the largest steam locomotive, so they claim. I think the Big Boy out classes this by a mile and can pull harder than the Garratt can. These were used in South Africa and have migrated to other parts of the British Empire.

Thanks J. I still wish I could get to Cajon Pass and Tehachapi more often to get some good lash-ups.

Hey Trainspotter, what else would you like? I have about 12000 slides of trains collected from 1974 till now.
Oh and thanks for the recognition.

thanks, Pat.

Dennis, this always brings a tear to my eye and a deep felt respect for the servicemen and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. I could not be more proud to include my humble services in Vietnam and all my shipmates. Thanks to all the veterans who have served without asking. Bless you all! RFB

You did not say in what part of the country you live. This can be important since the darkness of the sky is very critical for decent astrophotography. As the other OP stated, you can start off with wide field photographs and work your way up. As also stated, there is a steep learning curve associated with AP, but don't give up! The results of your diligence will astound you! A telescope at first is not needed, but a good tripod is. IF you go to YouTube and search for astrophotography tutorials, there will be a large quantity of videos that are very informative. Later on, you can try a star tracker (I have the Star Adventurer) which will track the stars over a period of time ranging from a few seconds to 6 minutes. However, the polar alignment must be absolutely on! I have shown some of my work here before, but I will show some of it to you just to get your feet wet and to stimulate your interest. These pics were all shot with nothing but a tripod, and a remote release. Each pic will state the lens and time. I use a Canon 6d.

14 mm at 30 seconds at ISO 6400

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14 mm at ISO 6400 25 second exposure

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600 mm Sigma, 60 second shutter, ISO 6400 with a Star Adventure tracker

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While I was going to one of my favorite photo spots for some astrophotography, I found this lashup along Cema Road heading to Kelso in the Mojave Preserve in So Cal. I wonder, is he an illegal or does he have papers to be here? Just wondering.

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Hi Mth, I agree with the majority of the people that it seems to be camera movement. What could have caused this... Anyone's guess from touching the camera, mirror slap, curtain movement, or a host of other things. BTW, even walking around the camers can cause movement if the ground is not stable. BTW, was this shot at the West End Overlook. It looks like. I thought it might be from the Incline, but it seems too distant to get get all the Ft. Pitt Bridge in the view. BTW, I lived in Pittsburgh until I left to join the navy and only been back there about three times. Lost Wages for me!!! RFB

To start with, I have Lightroom 6 and Photoshop 6 stand alone programs. How can I remove a cigarette from a woman's fingers and also replace a man's head with another head? I checked the menu and I found that Photoshop does not support cloning brushes as Paint Pro does. How can I do these two things without getting into very complex programming issues. I can use levels and curves, but that is the extent of my Photoshop experience. RFB

Like a mentioned in the above post, Bernoulli's Principle is a work here. What happens is that the air foil of the prop creates a very low pressure right behind it thus causing the moisture in the air to condense. You can see this in the upper surfaces of the f-16 and other planes that have a high angle of attack to their forward direction. The high angle creates a low pressure area and thus condensing the moisture creating a fog-like cloud. I have seen this many, many times while flying and observing A/C in flight.
RFB

Great captures. The phenomenon of the P-40 is interesting. Bernoulli's principle at work where the sudden change of air pressure causes condensation from the prop. We has this a lot on-board ship (USS Hornet CVS-12). Again, great photos. Brings back memories of the AD on-board ship.

Benno, welcome to the Hogg. I shoot astro and there are a lot of shooters here. Look to the forum on astrophotography. Awesome pics there.

WHen I was actively shooting, I used a handheld scanner set to the local railroad frequency, that way I know when the train is coming. Living here in Las Vegas, the only trains are the Union Pacific and on other local lins and a Museum line called the Nevada Southern. Not much activity here. Cajon Pass was great for chasing trains.