The night of 18th November 2015 was special in that it was the peak of the Leonid meteor shower, so I made a special effort to get up and out very early in the morning to one of my favourite local spots for skywatching, the Pen Barras car park on the slopes of Moel Famau in the Clwydian Range Area of Natural Beauty.
I had hoped to see a meteor or two around the peak of activity at 4am, but there was no chance, with heavy drizzle laden clouds sweeping by overhead and only the odd patch of clear sky visible.
To add to my difficulties in watching for, and hopefully photographing, meteors, the moisture laden sky was glowing bright orange with light pollution coming off the nearby towns of Mold and Chester.
Ho hum, should I head back home and catch a couple more hours' sleep before getting up again and going to work?
No! After making the effort to be there, I wasn't going to waste the trip.
So instead of fruitlessly trying to photograph invisible meteors I turned my attention instead to the passage overhead of the glowing clouds as they streamed by down the valley between Moel Famau and Foel Ffenli.
The valley made a satisfying 'V' shaped silhouette into which the glowing clouds fell like liquid fire.
I even managed to photograph a few stars and the planet Jupiter through the odd gap in the clouds.
In the end I spent an hour filming the stills for this time lapse video, without a meteor in sight, but I rather like the effect of the light pollution lit clouds as they contrast against the odd patch of deep blue night sky.
Filename - clouds timelapse 13.mp4
Camera - Canon EOS 6D
Lens - 14mm prime
Exposure (start of sequence)
5 secs @ f2.8, ISO3200
Exposure (end of sequence)
5 secs @ f2.8, ISO3200
Capture interval - 5 secs
Location - Moel Famau, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p
Clip duration - 24 seconds
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