Some night-time pictures gone wrong

Last night it was mostly cloudy, but I was pretty sure that enough sky was showing to be able to glimpse a few stars. I have an assignment due in Astronomy soon, so that little glimpse might wind up being valuable. Since there's so much light around Wheaton (and especially around Chicago), the stars are pretty difficult to see. I thought I might be able to take my camera out and get some good long-exposure pictures of the stars. You know, something to take back to my warm, non-icy room for further examination.

In the end, the stars really didn't turn out too well. In fact, I don't think they turned out at all. There were just too many clouds. However, I wound up taking lots of pictures of buildings and the scenery in the dark. Even though it was the middle of the night, the sky turned up a deep blue when I used a long enough exposure.

I bought a tripod today at the thrift store. It was a little too cold outside tonight, so I set up the tripod and the camera beside my window and took a whole series off long-exposure pictures. I put them all together in a movie, and you can see the clouds pass by in the night. Just glancing out the window right now, I can vouch that the sky looks jet black, and you can't tell anything is moving up there. For some reason I get a kick out of this video.