Weather & Nightscapes

 

And so begins my new interest in photographing weather and nightscapes.  We had a week of gorgeous skies in Wisconsin at Castle Rock Lake followed by a beautiful night here in the south.  This kind of photography poses its own unique challenges, but sure is fun!   

Photo Details

First 8 photos above taken at Castle Rock Lake with and iPhone.
Postprocessing in Photoshop

Bottom Photo
Nikon D3100
Postprocessing in Photoshop

More Moon

Just over a week ago we had a remarkably clear and cool night, or what passes for clear and cool here in the South.  It had been a while since I'd been out to image anything and the Moon, as always, put on a fantastic show.

Photo Details

June 13, 2019

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap2.4

Y800 Codec
Image Stacking in AutoStakkert
Wavelet Filtering in Registax
Final Adjustments in Photoshop

Super Blood Wolf Moon

Eclipse Update:  I had time to go through the rest of the images and put together this short video.  The images are about 10 minutes apart until the moon is fully eclipsed.

We had a perfect night to watch the Super Blood Wolf Moon last evening.  It was eerie watching the shadow creep slowly across the moon's surface getting darker and redder with each passing moment.  We shot many images, that I'll process and post later, but this is the fully eclipsed moon at around 10:45 PM (CST).  Special thanks to Allison for helping record data throughout the duration of the eclipse.  

Photo Details

January 20, 2019

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap2.4

Y800 Codec @ 3872x2764
900 Frames @ 3 frames/sec
Image Stacking in AutoStakkert
Wavelet Filtering in Registax
Final Adjustments in Photoshop

California Nebula - NGC 1499

I first visited this celestial "geographic" wonder back in 2015 and was thrilled to come back a few nights ago when the skies finally cleared and we had a deliciously cold night.  This nebula is absolutely massive.  If we could see it with the naked eye, it would span about 5 moon-widths from tip to tail and about 2 moon-widths across.  However, since it is an emission nebula (think gas cloud lit by a nearby star) the light is very diffused and difficult to observe even through a telescope.  This one takes a lot of patience and faith that you're on target.  Total exposure time for this image was 2 hours.  

Photo Details

January 6, 2019

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Skyglow filter

40 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 Hours
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Messier 30 and 72

Messier 30

Messier 72

After a long summer without much deep sky imaging, I began again my slow march through the 110 Messier objects on Saturday evening (current total is 66).  Messier 30 and 72 are two notable globular clusters that have been hovering in the Southern sky as Mars puts on its own show.  M30 lies about 30,000 light years from us and is about 100 light years across.  It's interesting that when Charles Messier first observed M30, he was not able to observe individual stars.  Today, with modern equipment, we can clearly see countless stars, many of which are "blue stragglers."    M72 appears much smaller as seen above, but it's due to a greater distance from us (about 58,000 light years).  In fact, M72 and M30 are approximately the same size across.

Photo Details

November 3, 2018

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter
M30 - 5 subframes @ 3 minutes/frame = 15 mins total exposure
M72 - 11 subframes @ 3 minutes/frame = 33 mins total exposure

Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Jupiter

I was able to journey off planet last evening and had a wonderful trip to Jupiter.  This massive planet is 2.5 times the size of all the other planets in the solar system combined.  The four moons in this photo (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) are the most famous as they were first observed by Galileo who used their motion to demonstrate orbit of heavenly bodies around objects other than Earth.  In 1633 this assertion was considered heresy by the Church and he was placed under house arrest.  No worries, though, his good name was cleared 300 years later.  In addition to the 4 major moons, there are 63 additional known moons orbiting Jupiter.  It's a huge gravity well that collects anything and everything flying through our solar system.

Photo Details

June 6, 2018

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap 2.3

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert! 2.6.8
Wavelet Adjustments in Registax 6.1
Final Processing in Photoshop CS6

Lunar Landscape

These images were shot back in April and I just got around to processing them.  For a more dramatic viewing, checkout my short video at:  Lunar Landscapes

Photo Details

April 25, 2018

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap 2.3

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert! 2.6.8
Wavelet Adjustments in Registax 6.1
Final Processing in Photoshop CS6

Lowell Observatory

I'm continuing to live vicariously through my friend Brian's adventures out west.  This latest round of pictures comes from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.  This observatory has some impressive achievements that include: discovery of Pluto, moon mapping for the Apollo program and observing the rings of Uranus, to name a few.  The telescope in these pictures is the Clark Refractor which just completed a 20-month restoration.  This telescope was commissioned in 1895 as a state-of-the-art 24 inch refracting telescope.  It's been in regular use ever since and was first used for scientific research and now is open for public viewing.  It is a beast!

Sunset, Moon, Venus and a Telescope

I've always wanted to travel out west with a telescope to take in the crystal clear skies.  Right now, I'm living vicariously through my good friend, Brian Waller, who is on a western states road trip and is currently in Arizona.  He captured this beautiful image just after sunset last night as the Moon and Venus began to take over the night sky.  He reported a great night of stargazing with several shooting stars and countless satellites with some passing through the view of his telescope.  I may have to hop on a plane and get out there!

Photo Details

Astrophotography by Brian Waller
April 18, 2018

Scott's Reservoir Campground
Sitgreaves National Forest
Pinetop, AZ
Impage caputured with iPhone 6S

First Moon Shot

Our good friend Presleigh, who will forevermore be known on this blog under the pseudonym Sun's Eye, captured her first moon photo.  This fantastic shot was taken through her own telescope with an iPhone.  With such a great start in astrophotography, I can't wait to see what Sun's Eye captures next.  The sky's the limit!

First Quarter Moon

It's always striking to me how dramatically different the moon appears depending on the phase.  Last week's first quarter moon provides a beautiful example where the rugged lunar terrain is clearly visible as long shadows were cast from peaks into valleys and rims into craters.  

Photo Details

January 25, 2018

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap 2.3

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert! 2.6.8
Wavelet Adjustments in Registax 6.1
Final Processing in Photoshop CS6

Messier 45 - the Pleiades

Nothing in the night sky says winter to me quite like the Pleiades.  This naked-eye cluster has been interwoven with numerous cultures for centuries.  Commonly known as the Seven Sisters from Greek mythology, they are also know as the Nā hiku o Makali‘i  (Seven Little Eyes) from the Hawaiian tradition.  The gossamer-like nebulosity lit up by the stars are not part of the cluster itself, but rather a cloud of dust lying somewhere between us and the seven.  This was also one of the first images I attempted back in 2013 when I was first getting started.  I've reposted that image below for comparison.  Lots of reading, some equipment upgrades and more patience seems to have been beneficial :)  

Photo Details

January 6, 2018

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Skyglow filter

42 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 6 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

M45 Photographed in 2013

Super Moon Part II

Another perfectly clear night to start 2018!  I set up again to capture the Super Moon, but this time with a shorter focal length telescope to capture the entire surface.  

Photo Details

January 1, 2018

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Image Acquisition iCap2.3

Y800 Codec @ 3872x2764
900 Frames @ 3 frames/sec

Super Moon

I had so much fun last night trying out my new solar system imaging camera.  There is a lot to learn, but I couldn't help but set everything up for the Super Moon.  I hope you got a good look, too!

Photo Details

December 30, 2017

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

NexImage10 Camera

Moonglow Filter

Image Acquisition iCap2.3

Top Image
Y800 Codec @ 2048x1536
400 Frames @ 3 frames/sec

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert2
Wavelet Processing in Registax6
Final Image Processing in Photoshop

Bottom Image
Y800 Codec @ 1256x958
750 Frames @ 3 frames/sec

Image Stacking in AutoStakkert2

Wavelet Processing in Registax6
Final Image Processing in Photoshop

NGC 7331 (Deerlick Group) - Revisted

One of the first images I every photographed, back in 2013, was the galaxy NGC 7331.  It's known as the main attraction of the Deerlick Group.  Two things immediately grabbed my attention in this image.  First, is the almost uniform spatial distribution of stars.  Second is the incredible number of galaxies in this one view.  I found over twenty, and with a longer exposure, more would certainly be evident.  The galaxies gathered around NGC 7331, though appearing nearby, are estimated to be 10 times more distant than the main galaxy.  For comparison, check out my first attempt at this image below.  Needless to say, a lot of reading, practice and some better equipment adds up to better images.

Photo Details

December 10, 2017

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

46 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 2 hours 18 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Pelican Nebula - Wide Field View

In mid-November, I revisited the Pelican Nebula (see original post below) with a new wide-field telescope.  The original was take with a much longer focal length reflector so it was zoomed in closer than the one above.  The new wide field covers a significantly larger area and was able to capture the entire Pelican, along with part of its neighbor (North American Nebula) visible in the upper left portion of this image.  It's hard to get a sense of scale for this image, but the Pelican covers nearly 8 times the sky area as a full moon.  Too bad we can't see it without long-exposure photography!

Photo Details

November 13-14, 2017

AstroTech 65Q on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Skyglow filter

83 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 4 hours 9 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop

Pelican Nebula - IC 5070

Soaring high in the sky on these increasing cool fall nights is the Pelican Nebula.  It takes some imagination, can you see it?  This is an HII region of ionized intersteller atomic hydrogen left over from "recent" star formation.  The gas clouds are still evolving and in a few million years may look like something else entirely.  Enjoy it while you can!

Photo Details

October 17-18 & 26, 2017

Orion 8" Astrograph on VX Mount

SBIG STF-8300C Camera

Baader MPC Mark III Multi-Purpose Coma Corrector

Skyglow filter

66 subframes at 3 minutes/frame

Total Exposure Time = 3 hours 6 minutes
Image Acquisition in CCDOps
Image Stacking in Deep Sky Tracker
Image Processing in PhotoShop