Listening to the stars

Star trails are magic. They tell me that nothing is static, even when it looks like it is!


During the holiday, we had clear skies and the apartment where we stayed was in a distant spot from any source of light. Around us, there were just the grapes and the olive trees. A magic place and an invitation to be quiet, silent and appreciate nature.


The technique to shoot star trails is a simple one, but it requires some software to pile-up the many expositions. More information can be found here.



For those shots, I made one single exposition of 600 seconds (I was lazy). There were some clouds very high on the sky, which reflected Firenze's lights a bit. The post-processing was done in Lightroom, just to remove the yellow color-cast and the noise (almost impossible to remove since I left the camera open during 600 seconds). I could have profited from shorter and more frequent expositions, but I was lazy.

Next time I will make more frequent shots and merge them. Unfortunately we can’t use this technique in Netherlands, at least not on North-Holland. We have too much light here! We can't see stars...

Our favorite occupation - watching the stars

But while I was there, enjoying the stars, it came to my mind a poem from Olavo Bilac about listening to the stars. It is so beautiful! Below both versions, in Portuguese and in English. I've got them in Wikipedia.

Let's be with the stars!

VIA LÁCTEA - Soneto XIII (Original version)

"Ora (direis) ouvir estrelas! Certo

Perdeste o senso!" E eu vos direi, no entanto,

Que, para ouvi-las, muitas vezes desperto

E abro as janelas, pálido de espanto...

E conversamos toda a noite, enquanto

A via-láctea, como um pálio aberto,

Cintila. E, ao vir do sol, saudoso e em pranto,

Inda as procuro pelo céu deserto.

Direis agora: "Tresloucado amigo!

Que conversas com elas? Que sentido

Tem o que dizem, quando estão contigo?"

E eu vos direi: "Amai para entendê-las!

Pois só quem ama pode ter ouvido

Capaz de ouvir e de entender estrelas."

MILKY WAY - Sonnet XIII (Translation to English)

"Well (thou´ll say) hearing stars! Certainly

Thou´ve lost your mind!" And I´ll say to thee, however

That, to hear them, many times I wake

And open the windows, palid in awe...

And we talk all night long, while

The milky way, as an open canopy,

Shines. And, at the coming of the sun, missing and crying,

I still look for them in the desert sky.

Thou´ll now say: "Crazed friend!

What do thou talk to them? What sense

Has what they say, when they are with thee?"

And I´ll say to thou: "Love to understand them!

Because only he who loves may have ears

Capable of hearing and understanding stars."