Not the Aurora Borealis

 On Friday the 10th of May this year the Aurora Borealis was particularly spectacular over Great Britain (and other parts of the world) and no end of people witnessed its awesome show and captured photographic images for posterity.  I was not one of those people because I had no idea such an event was taking place until the next morning when it was too late.  Fortunately, it was scheduled* to put on an encore performance that night as well, although it wasn't expected to be quite so spectacular.  This performance suited me because I was to be at my sister's down the road for an evening of cards and gin with a couple of friends and my other sister, so by the time we finished, I could just step outside and see it all going on in the sky above.  Hooray!

 

 Except I didn't see it because the performance was cancelled!  Although I didn't find that out until we'd already staggered wandered down to the cliff top and stood around taking photos of the sky just in case we were too drunk (and in my case, too colourblind as well) to see it.  Apparently the cancellation was something to do with a curtain malfunction or blown light bulb or something according to the conductor of the Nightship (which appeared rather disconcertingly - and in a cloud of noxious fumes from its malfunctioning catlitter converter - right next to where I'd set up Camera & Tripod.  If I hadn't had that last G&T I'm sure I would have noticed the stop).  Bah! 

 

 Anyway, despite that disappointment, I managed to get something out of the experience: some fuzzy photos of a few of the brighter stars:

 The night air was a bit hazy, so these photos are not as clear as my previous efforts. 

 This is made all the more obvious by comparing poor Capella and Polaris - the brightest stars of their respective constellations, Auriga and Ursa Minor - with how they looked just over three years ago on a clear, cold April night. 

 

 Poor Polaris.  Not only has it been dimmed by the hazy sky, but it looks like someone's shot a hole through it's middle!

 On the right is how it looked three years ago.

 Oh, and other than embiggening them by 5000%, I have not tinkered with these photos at all.  These are how the stars look to Camera on a 30 second exposure - colours and all!

Deneb (Alpha Cygni)

Alioth (Epsilon Ursae Majoris)

Dubhe (Alpha Ursae Majoris)

Eltanin (Gamma Draconis)

Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris)

And finally, that show-off, Vega (Alpha Lyrae)

 You can thank Ms Scarlet for this post as it was this post of hers which reminded me of the photos languishing inside Camera.

* Imagine me saying it, Melanie!