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After that previous image, my camera started claiming that its batteries were dangerously low, so I let up on the night sky exposures. However, I did want to snag a pic of Orion near the end of the night, and the above is the 60-second exposure of just that.
Because of the battery issue, I only took a 60-second exposure, not a 15- or 30-second one. (I think a 30-second exposure might have been better, as the stars would look less elongated.)
Still, I couldn't have hoped for a better setup. Orion, just rising, was close enough to the dome of IRTF for both to be in the same image. Moonlight was glinting off of the dome. And we just happened to be pointing the telescope in the western sky at the time, so I had a nice view inside the dome from this vantage point.
This is probably my best night-sky image of the night.
Above the dome are the feet of Gemini. In the lower right are Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky), and Mirzam right next to it. Mirzam was given a name meaning "the announcer" because it rises about twenty minutes before Sirius does.
It felt like a great accomplishment to see both Scorpius and Orion in the same night. They are at opposite ends of the sky, so it is necessary to catch one in the evening and the other in the morning.
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