Stardust
I read somewhere the other day that it's that time again and we're happily flying through the Perseids, and you can now see a particularly large number of shooting stars.
And so, last night we actually planned to go up to the "Energieberg" to take a look. However, it clouded over, so we stayed where we were and looked up at the sky when it cleared up.
I had brought my camera with me, even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get any decent photos without a tripod. I fiddled around a bit with the settings, long exposure time, etc. I don't have a camera suitable for that sort of thing, but you can rotate the display. So I simply laid it on the ground and took a photo:
On the small display, it seemed as if I could actually see something! Today, on the computer, the surprise came: stars! A look at the previous and following images, however, was moderately sobering:
All the long-exposure images showed exactly these star constellations, which turned out to be dust upon inspecting the camera. Yep, I am a professional. My phone (see picture at the top) did the best job.
I did see shooting stars, though—three of them, one of which was quite bright. That alone was worth it.