Stars Spinning

Saturday night at the lake, Andy suggested getting a picture of the stars spinning... well really of the stars while we (the earth) spins... I was thinking "uh? what are you talking about".... so I tried and the first attempt came out like this:

Exposure: 18 min
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55mm
ISO: 100
Time taken: 10:12pm

Now in that first one, I'm not sure what the two pink corners are from... maybe the campfire that was directly behind me??? And my camera shut off after 18 minutes, which my battery was low so I wasn't sure if that is why it shut off on it's own.

But overall I was really impressed, that it actually did something. Honestly I thought Andy was three sheets to the wind, but I think he new what he was talking about. Now this was the first time I've ever tried this. And knowing now, what I didn't know then, I'm excited to try this out again - next time I'm away from the city lights.

Take 2, I went away from the fire and over in an open spot. Although here I think the reflection of the moon off the lake was creeping into the shot on the bottom.

Exposure: 18 min
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18mm
ISO: 100
Time taken: 12:07am

After a fresh battery and the camera turning off AGAIN after 18 minutes I learned that my camera's shutter will not stay open longer than 18 minutes... hey I now know something new about my camera :-)

If you search google images (or the search engine of your choice) for 'picture of stars spinning' or click here you'll see some other shots people got attempting this same thing.