When George C. Bailey gets his camera out at night, you know there will be some spectacular scenes to behold. He did just that recently and captured a plethora of nighttime beauty, including stars, meteors, auroral glows, constellations, galaxies and he said at least one planet was viewed on the north shore of the Keweenaw Peninsula near Copper Harbor.

Starting with the first photo, you see thousands of stars in the sky and off in the distance a glow, which George attributes to Thunder Bay, Ontario, about 80 miles away.

According to George, photo number two is looking straight north at the auroral glow. I’m sort of directionally challenged, so I wouldn’t know which direction, especially at night, but oh my, the only direction you need for a night like this, is straight UP!

In the third photo, off to the right a bit, you can see a meteor cutting across the cup of the big dipper. And what about the reflection in the water? Is that from the bright star above or could that be a planet?

About the last photo, George had this to say, “Mars is the reddish glow in the center right of the picture and Copper Harbor glows from 4 miles away over the horizon to the right. Andromeda Galaxy is just right of the Milky Way, nearer the top of the picture.”
Not only does he snap beautiful shots, but he’s pretty well spoken in Astronomy, too. Thanks, George!

After all the stars and night time glows, it’s about time for the sun to rise and brighten the skies. We join Nicky Outinen out at Big Traverse, to watch a time lapse of the sunrise there. The perfect way to start any day!

Perfect!
"Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul"
(Don McLean)

Beautiful George. Thank you. Last time I was on Isle Royale I was hoping for some nice night sky watching but was disappointed by the light pollution emanating from Thunder Bay. It's even worse than on the Keweenaw. Fortunately, the views to the south are quite free of light pollution bit Houghton/Hancock is more getting noticeable.

Starry, starry night? I just recently learned that the Don McClean song, actually titled "Vincent" is really an homage to Vincent van Gogh and his most famous painting "Starry Night". I happened to catch McClean being interviewed and performing it live on Governor Huckabee's TV show.

Beautiful pics and video!! Can't see that
spectacular display in SE MI!! Another reason to
blast North soon!! lol

Also, the Sun is now entering its minimum or quiet zone of its 11 year cycle. The Northern Lights offered up will become less and less for awhile. So sad, but then again the chances that all our electronics will get wiped out, causing an existential catastrophe, will be decreasing.

Brockway Mountain is said to be one of the best dark sky sites in the Midwest:
DarksiteFinder.com - Brockway Mountain

Holy wha eh!