Fireflies Are Back!

I haven't had much chance to take the telescope out recently, but last night I saw the first fireflies of the year!

After seeing those fireflies I prepared to take a long exposure photo to better see them all. Tonight I set up my cell phone on a table and took a 16 minute video which was split into individual frames using a python script. I ended up with about 30,000 individual files.

A final image was created by putting all those frames into StarStax which takes the lightest pixel at each location from all the images.

It's not a true long exposure photograph but a neat alternative. This is the same process I use to capture star trails, but tonight it’s used for fireflies!

I love late spring and early summer evenings. The garden is sprouting, the air is warm without being hot, and it's just pleasant to be outside.

Happy summer everyone!