When night sky photography friends get together, you’ll likely find them looking up in places like the shores of Wallis Sands State Park in Rye, N.H.
Aaron Priest of Maine recently sent Space.com some spectacular photos taken during one such winter gathering.
The constellation Orion, the Hunter, can be spotted passing overhead in both shots. One of the most recognizable constellations in the sky, Orion includes several prominent stars including Betelgeuse, Rigel and Bellatrix. Seven of its brightest stars form an hourglass shape in the sky. [Amazing Night Sky Photos by Stargazers for February]
"I enhanced the stars of Orion a little bit to make the constellation easier to see in the sky," Priest wrote Space.com in an email.
Priest captured these images using a Nikon D700 camera, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, and a Promote Control @ 14mm, f/2.8, ISO 6400, and four exposures of 8, 15, 30, and 60 seconds, manually blended via masks and layers in Photoshop.
To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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