Camelopardalid Meteor Shower

Like many stargazers, I ventured out early Saturday morning in an attempt to see the "new" Camelopardalid meteor shower. While the shower may not have lived up to expectations, I did see a few meteors. Those meteors I caught on "film" were quite faint, so I decided to share my best night sky captures from that evening instead. All in all, it was a gorgeous night for stargazing, with few clouds and no moonlight. It was also a chilly 40 degrees!

These shots were captured between 12:36 and 1:09am, about 16 miles south of St. Johns, AZ, near Lyman Lake State Park. The first image was a 30-second exposure, centered on Polaris (the north star), with the cup portion of Ursa Major (the big dipper) to the upper left. The orange glow is light pollution from a detention center 3 miles away. 

The second image is an 8-second exposure of a portion of the Milky Way.