Star Gazing
There are no words; it was simply stunning. I’ve never felt so insignificant and little in my entire life. It was an expensive tour - NZ$125, but more worth it than I could ever have imagined. I saw over a million stars in a pin prick (through a massive telescope’s lens), admired Jupiter’s rings, and saw Orion shooting his arrow in the sky upside down (because I’m in the Southern Hemisphere). It was magical.
AND. Part of the tour included a photography lesson at night. WHOA. And all this time I thought my SLR camera wasn’t that good. *shakes head* False Liz, false. It was my camera skills that weren’t that good.
I took all those photos above. Yes, including the moon photo. And I am SO PROUD of myself for them *beams delightfully*
- Photo 1: The Southern Cross (found on Australia & NZ’s flags). My camera lense took this! SO CRAZY! ISO: 12800 | 1.5min shutter speed
- Photo 2: THE MOON! And yes, my little Sony camera took this! Granted, I used one of their lenses, but still - how cool is it I got to ZOOM IN ON THE MOON from my own camera?!
- Photo 3: Space & the Observatory. I think this is my favourite photo. Can you spot the shooting star on the left? The bright star in the middle is actually Jupiter. I played with my camera settings for a while and got this gem - was so freaking happy! ISO800 and 15 sec shutter speed (also, the original shows lots of stars in the sky - Tumblr/Instagram sadly decrease the quality).
So, with that, if you’re ever find yourself in New Zealand’s South Island, I highly recommend a trip to Earth & Sky. It’ll take your breath away - our universe it magnificently insane.
