Northern Lights 9/29/16

   

 The sky cleared overnight just as an increase in auroral activity was to set to begin.  I drove out toward Ludington State Park at 9:30 and attempted to see and photograph the expected modest  display.  I stayed out there about an hour but the Kp index which had been predicted to be near 6 had decreased to 4 which made the lights out of reach for my location.

    At 5 AM I woke and saw that the skies were still cloudless, so per routine I loaded up the car and headed back out.  This time even though the aurora was not detectable with my eyes my camera did a fine job of picking up the color in the faint glow to the north.  Incidentally the Kp value was 5.3.

  Tonight the Kp is again expected to be near 6 but cloud cover is forecast to increase by nightfall in my area.  I may attempt to drive north of the clouds to witness another display.  Stay tuned.......

Planets at the Harbor 8/5/2016

     Last evening's twilight sky at Ludington Harbor offered up a series of photo ops.

Clouds just after sunset

Venus above the clouds

Moon and lighthouse

Jupiter enters the frame

Inset of Jupiter reveals 3 of its moons

Sunday Morning Storm 6/26/2016

   Quite a storm rolled in off of Lake Michigan this morning. I had been watching it on radar in the predawn hours as it was crossing Wisconsin. The storm front held together as it crossed the lake and arrived on the Michigan shore just after sunrise.

Woody Woodpecker shaped bolt

   I took over 1000 photos and only caught lightning on 5 or 6 shots.

Impressive strikes a little too far from the lighthouse

Crop of above photo

Now there's something I can work with.

Right-side crop of previous photo

Left-side crop of same

   The heavy rain held off as I was taking the photos as I only had to deal with sprinkles until the ominous cloud advanced toward the harbor.

   I could handle getting a little wet as I hovered over my camera to keep it dry, but the wind associated with the fast approaching low-hanging cloud started pelting me (and more importantly my camera) with sand, so it was time to pack it up.

Mercury Transits the Sun 5/9/2016

    A transit is when an inner planet is observed passing in front of the Sun. Transits of Mercury occur on average 13 times per century.  Today the entire event was visible from much of the Eastern US.

Mercury starts its transit

Composite of the 7 hour event

Close up view of Mercury in line with two sunspot groups, near mid-transit

Morning Planets 2/1/16

  This morning I took advantage of a rare winter cloudless sky to view and photograph four planets along with the moon. 

Brilliant Venus and elusive Mercury

Moon and Mars

Parallel Lines Meeting at Infinity

  We've all seen rays of light fanning out from the sun at dawn or dusk.  But that's not what the photo below is depicting.

  The photo was taken Saturday afternoon but not toward the setting sun in the west.  On the contrary, the camera was pointed east, in the opposite direction from the descending afternoon sun.  So what are the rays we see in picture?  They are anti-crepuscular rays, the parallel rays that had emanated from the sun, passed overhead and are seen  meeting at infinity 180 degrees from the sun.