The Roanoke Star
Night
When lit at night, the Roanoke Star, atop Mill Mountain, is visible from all over the city, and it’s really quite a sight from down below. Up close, it’s even more amazing. The star makes a quiet buzzing sound while it’s illuminated, and the entire star area is bathed in the friendly glow, which, due to the red-white-blue pattern, ended up being a purplish color. The view of Roanoke is absolutely amazing at night, with everything lit up brightly, the skyscrapers illuminated, parking lots brightly lit, and other buildings and roads lit as well.
On this particular night, the bottom part of the star’s white ring was burned out.
From a gas station at the foot of Mill Mountain, just before you start up the mountain, the star shines brightly, with the exception of the burned-out portion.
From the vantage point of the overlook, the city is brightly lit and sparkling.
The First Union building, tallest in Roanoke, is bathed in white light, and a little touch of green light around the top.
Meanwhile, towards the civic center, more light is to be found, plus a set of those familiar golden arches.
The Roanoke Star is a beautiful sight, whether you’re seeing it from far away, or right up close.
Each “ring”, with the exception of the red one, is lit by two rows of tubing, creating an exceptionally bright sight.
The center ring is a beautiful sight in its own right.
At the top of the star, held up by that extra little bit of support structure, the star reaches its full potential.
From far away, the star appears to be a continuous line of star-shaped tubing. From up close, we can see that this is not the case, with many smaller tubes forming each ring of the star.
Nothing but the pure glow of the star when the sun is down…
The view of the bottom of the star is very different at night, with the support structure completely hidden in darkness, and the lights turned on.
However, it’s clearly evident that the structure is still there, with the red light shining brightly.
Rounding a corner…
These shots of the neon tubing in its various colors is interesting because it shows the distance between the various rings of the star in an “up close and personal” way.
As you can see, the angles that the star makes are sharp and well-defined. A high-quality craftsmanship job, indeed.
Again, the actual structure of the tubing is evident in these two photos.
From a nearly edge-on viewpoint, the star is still gorgeous.
From beneath the star, the view is quite unique, indeed.
Another rounding of a corner, from a vantage point directly beneath the star.
This shot from beside the star creates a unique view. You are looking at the top of the star and the right “arm” of the star.
The star is an absolutely beautiful piece of work in Roanoke, don’t you think?
After shooting a whole lot of photos normally, I decided to get a few more “interesting” shots. I fired the camera before it had a chance to focus, producing this view of the star “filled in”, so to speak.
These two views fattened the lines of the star sufficiently to create the illusion that it is one continuous line of tubing around the star.
And finally, this is what the star is supposed to look like when all of the lights are operational, created here through photo manipulation.