Big Dipper - Saptarshi

One of my first constellation photos. The Big Dipper/ Saptarshi (সপ্তর্ষি মন্ডল ).

Taken from the balcony of my second floor apartment in Woodbridge New Jersey ion July 4, 2014.  This west facing balcony that offered a restricted view of the sky and overlooked a parking lot was my first "observatory" where my budding interest in astronomy took root. Little did I know that the hobby with stay with me into the next decade.





This shot as from the camera is shown below. This was taken with my first DSLR a Canon Rebel Xti with its stock 18-55 wide zoom lens.

Deliberately left in the shot is a part of the balcony on the floor above as a reminder of the site.  This balcony was also the testing ground for my first telescopes (Orion Starblast 4.5 inch Newtonian and then Celestron ). I first identified the belt of Orion from my parked car in the lot, and the first views of Jupiter and its 4 moons using a pair of binoculars (Celestron 15X70).