Polaris

Hazel Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

It's always helpful to know where the North Star is when taking long exposure photographs of the sky at night. The star trails, caused by the rotation of the Earth, always circle around Polaris. So, pointing the camera toward Polaris results in the circular pattern you see in this photo. Polaris is located just above and to the right of the silo. The washed out white area near the horizon is caused by scattered light (light pollution) from the closest town, Edwardsville. This is a very long exposure, almost 10 minutes.
Shutter: 584 seconds; Aperture: f/5; ISO: 1600; Focal length: 18mm.