Very faint, and surrounded by clouds low on the horizon in the north west – I did a double take, as they looked aurora-like (curtains), but I assumed they were clouds. Absolutely unmistakeable in the photo though. Irritatingly fused with a smudge on my lens, anyone got any ideas for whether I can digitally remove that?

Also got a shot of the Andromeda galaxy and the Orion nebula, got a lot to learn about astrophotography (using a 1960-something Pentax Spotmatic, exposures need to be shorter, 10 seconds instead of 15) but it’s a start.

Andromeda galaxy

Orion nebula

I got a good shot of the Pleiades too, with blue nebulosity visible around c.20 stars, but it’s too damned blurry – I left the lens open for 30 seconds, far too long. Damn.

Crookrise

Random boulderer

Or do we think the “aurora” in the photo is mere lens flare off the bright Venus in the photo? (e.g., aggravated by the smudge on the lens)

Diet Pepsi?

Coffee stain? As for the white smudge on the second star photo…