The Bright Dots in the Sky!

Last night the stars in Madikwe were AMAZING!! This time of year is spectacular because you get to see the constellations of Orion and Scorpio at the same time which is quite unusual.

You see, according to African legend the Hunter (Orion) came to earth and announced to Mother Earth, Gaia, that to prove his skills as a hunter he is going to hunt and kill all the animals on the planet. Obviously not happy with this, Gaia said that she will send one of her animals to kill him before he could go ahead with his evil plan. As Orion was standing upright and proud Scorpion, sent by Gaia, came along the ground, stung him on the foot and killed the mighty hunter.

This is the reason, if legend is to be believed, that the two constellations do not share the same sky. As soon as Scorpio rises in the East, Orion dies and sets in the West! It is only at this time of year that you get to see both Scorpio and Orion in the same sky.

Anyway, my original idea was to do some star trails but unfortunately the remote control that I have for my old D50 does not work on my new D300. Until then I will have to just try and capture the constellations. The high ISO settings on the Nikon D300 makes this surprisingly easy!!

Here are the two I got last night.

The constellation of Scorpio around 20h00 (CAT) last night.

And just in case you cannot see the picture...

That is what you are looking for! :)

The Southern Cross and it's two pointers. And just in case...

That is what you were looking for! If you are every lost in the bush you can use this constellation to find celestial South but more on that some other time!

Well, will be posting more constellations, and hopefully star trails, soon!

As always I look forward to hearing from you!

Gerry