A hundred million stars

It's a stunning night out there, mild and the country darkness lit by a waxing moon.

Being out on Banks Peninsula (and approximately 20km from the nearest solitary sodium light at Motukarara) we're blessed with dark skies unspoilt by significant light polution, especially when viewing south as this shot here shows.

I love this view from my front gate - it's fantastic in any light. Summit of the peak shown is around 710m, so sometimes it's clad in snow during the winter months, other times shrouded in fog or cloud. As it's one of the higher peaks up the valley that faces WNW, it also enjoys being bathed in the burnt orange light right on sunset, just like it was this evening.

I was originally intending on going for some star trails, but the ambient light from the moon coupled with the fragmented clouds would have played havoc with a 30 minute exposure, so instead I plumped for a nice wide open shot to capture all those stars that our eyes cannot see, but thankfully the CMOS sensor in my Nikon can.