A real winter show-off

Winter is usually rather mild, damp and cloudy in Denmark. Well, not this time around: the cold season is on a show-off streak for photography!

It has just been announced at DR 'Vores vejr' that the month of November has been particularly dryer, colder and sunnier than usual. During the day, the sun passes low above the horizon, enabling amazing yellow and orange colors, especially during sunset and sunrise. At night, the sky is rather dark and sharp, in spite of a veil of airglow, faint enough to be removed in stacked pictures and bright enough to be visible to the naked eye, and give an extra twist to your astrophotos.

There has been no aurora since the last G1 storm in Denmark, but the night sky was clear and crisp enough for me to keep shooting and improve my skills. Astrophotography is a surprisingly hard discipline and you are never finished learning new tricks and tweaks to better your final compositions. I have been shooting different types of astrophotography over the past week, and it feels like I haven't gotten a lot of sleep, because the clear skies won't let me rest! It's like winter is putting on a show-off streak, when it normally is overcast during this time of year. I don't even have time to process the pictures from the day before, I would just upload them to my laptop and head outside again to get more shots.

There has been three main subjects that I would like to showcase in this article, which will be presented in three different picture galleries, where you can read more about technique and conditions.

THE CRESCENT MOON AND VENUS

THE WINTER MILKY WAY

REMARKABLE WINTER DEEP-SKY OBJECTS

I am waiting for more clear skies and possible some aurora display. In the mean time, I will keep enjoying the opportunities of this ice-cold start to the winter!