coons and skunks (Kirkfield)

After driving to Don Mills, Bill took me to The Secret Place. We were huntin' aurora! No joy. Despite a KP index rating of 4 or 5 with a predicted maximum of 6. But we saw a ton of meteors. And enjoyed the dark skies. Orion rose as we drove back.

§

While Bill worked on some star trails, I goofed around with the Canon 40D and the stock 18-55 lens. Grabbed a bunch of RAW images.

10:55 PM, 2 October 2013. Used Lyra to get focused.

10:58 PM. Aimed north. Had Bill paint the road with his flashlight. 30 seconds, f/4.5, ISO 1600, daylight white balance, self-timer, tripod mounted, no noise reduction, 18mm. .

11:28. Gathered a bunch of images centred on the constellation Andromeda. 10 seconds. Brightened and unsharpened in DPP.

11:34. Shot Taurus with the Pleiades. We moved to the causeway. Brightened and unsharpened in DPP.

12:19 AM, 3 October 2013. Shot Taurus again, but with the water. At 24mm. Brightened and unsharpened in DPP.

12:47 AM. We were both a little disappointed in the lack of aurora. Headed by to the school. Bill sat in the car. I didn't want to take too long. 30 seconds, 25mm.

All photos unprocessed, except where noted. I did gather a bunch of 10 second darks... for the database.