When I was processing the photo of the Magellanic Clouds , I noticed that four of the photos had a light trail going across it. As these are long exposure photos, a light trail means a travelling object. The light streak - Composite shot of 4x10s There are many types of illuminated travelling objects in the night sky. They can vary from natural objects to different types of man-made objects. 1. Meteors The only extra-terrestrial natural object to make star trails on a long exposure photo like this one is a meteor. During a meteor shower, you will be able to capture many trails like this during the span of an hour. One of my wishes for a very long time has been to capture a meteor shower on camera. 2. Airplanes/helicopters/drones - flying machines There is a host of man-made objects that are not necessarily space borne that can cause a light streak. These include all the flying machines invented by man. In the past, these were limited to airplanes and helicopters. But than...
An amateur's attempts at astrophotography.