• Friday-What'sUP December 7 - 05:23 pm

Over in the Marquette area, the stars have been out by the millions at night lately or so it seems, anyway. Mike Schneider was out there in the dark of the night, watching the stars peek through, as the clouds were moving over Lake Superior, in today's first photo.

The second photo was taken the same night, a little closer to the almost transparent clouds and Mike commented that it seemed like millions of stars beyond those moving clouds, one of which he thought came out looking a lot like Saturn. It sure does look like there's a ring around it. :->

Then on another night that Mike was out observing the night time skies, he snapped the last photo, in which he pointed out all the tiny dots of light in the darkened sky and mentioned that Orion's Belt was as bright as ever that night.

I have to admit, that I have no knowledge of the different constellations in the night skies, but I do know beauty when I see it and I think Mike has captured the beauty of the U.P. night skies perfectly.

That's the night sky I'm longing to see!

"Starry, starry night..."
Beautiful scenes, Mike!

I don't believe it is as much you're seeing Saturn as it is star trails caused by the long exposure time needed to capture the stars. We live just far enough away from the big city lights to see stars and the moon at night so I've been able to get some decent photos, but nothing compared to laying on the beach at Bucky's in the middle of the night, pointing the lens to the heavens and just shooting away......

Incredible photos! I can also see what looks like rings.

Amazing stuff....wow!!!

Holy smokes! Those are some fabulous pictures! Thanks, Mike!

Got my pasty calendar yesterday! LOVE IT!!!

Thank You Mike! You sure have a way with your camera and excellent timing to be using it!

Hi
One of the many nice things about up north is the lack of light pollution at night...or to put it another way, the nice dark skies. Even though the house that I rent in SE Michigan is semi-rural, only the really bright stars and planets show up.

Nice. The 2nd pic looks like the planet Saturn is in it, but I know it's a star.

Thanks for the comments! And you're right on target Capt. Paul...not really Saturn, just Saturn looking. That first photo too was illuminated with a little help from the moon behind the clouds there!

Nice photos Mike!