2021 Perseid Meteor Shower 8/14/2021

 

  This year's Perseid Meteor Shower was met with periods of perfectly clear skies and a new enough moon so that it was out of the picture by midnight.  The first photo is from Thursday night when the peak of the shower was predicted.  The rest are from Friday night which was slightly past peak but still provided a respectable showing.

 The next two photos were taken consecutively with camera's cable release locked, and they appear to show the same meteor, unless a fragment broke off of the main piece of space dirt. Never photographed that before.

  The last photo shows a jet and 6 satellites which superficially could be mistaken for meteors.

Sunrise Solar Eclipse 6/10/2021

 

Partial Solar Eclipse  with Old Presque Isle Lighthouse

  Though the actual sunrise was obscured by a narrow thick band of clouds, I was able to get some photos of the crescent sun as it rose a little higher.  

Frustrating band of clouds

Clouds thinned to the point that they enhanced the color

Solar filter required for the clear patch of sky

Jupiter and Saturn Conjunction T minus One Day 12/20/2020

    Tomorrow, Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in our solar system will reach a geometric configuration that will make them appear nearly aligned as seen from Earth.  The spectacular sight will have the two planets only 6 minutes of arc from each other.  That is a distance of roughly 1/5 of the Moons apparent diameter.  Both today and tomorrow were forecast to be 100% overcast.   But after a text from my friend Tim Bresnahan concerning the celestial event, I noticed a break in the clouds which had the possibility revealing the two gas giants.  It took me about 5 minutes to gather and set up camera, lens, lens plate and tripod.  The strip of clear sky exposed the planets for a total of 3 minutes during which I snapped off 34 photos at various exposures. 

 

   In the photo Jupiter being larger and closer appears brighter, while dimmer Saturn's rings give it an elongated shape.  Today the planets were seperated by 8 minutes of arc.

Comet NEOWISE C/2020F3

     Behold Comet NEOWISE. Not since 1997 when the great Comet Hale-Bopp appeared have I been able observe a comet without optical aid.  That 23 year gap exceeds the typical 10 year gap between great comets.   NEOWISE probably doesn't qualify as great but it does break the drought of prominent naked-eye comets which the northern hemisphere has been mired in.

   Saturday morning I was able to drive up to a location 370' above Lake Michigan to observe and photograph this stunning outer solar system interloper.

      Although this apparition of the comet thus far has favored the early morning hours, it is moving north and west and as of today it is best viewed in the northwest after sunset. Due to gravitational perturbations from the major planets, this visit to the inner solar system will increase the comet's period from 4500 years to 6800 years. You can check it out now or wait until the year 8820. 

Starlink Light Train 4/24/2020

  Since the middle of last year, Elon Musk's company SpaceX has been launching satellites in groups of 60 with the intention of creating a system which will bring high-speed internet to any location on Earth.  With the satellites all being launched together, they initially form a tight grouping that slowly separates over time as they reach their operational orbits.

   In the first few days the cluster forms what has been referred to as a 'Light Train' as they cross the sky together in a line.  On Wednesday the 7th launch took place and last night they passed over my region.

40 Starlinks rising from the west.

Gaining elevation above the northern horizon.

Heading east.

Disappearing into Earth's shadow.

   Three minutes later the next 20 appeared in the west.  These were dimmer because they were further along in their journey to their higher final operational positions.

   As neat as it was to see the light train, astronomers have serious concerns about how this will effect research and astrophotography when the entire system has been deployed.  Those of you doing the math at home realize that 7 launches of 60 satellites equals 420.  The project calls for 12,000 satellites needed for complete coverage and so far the satellites have been brighter than initially predicted.  After the first launch a black coating was tested to reduce reflectivity and the result was negligible.  Remember the Moon is the color of asphalt and it casts a shadow at night.

Freighter Floating on Air? 4/6/2020

    Early yesterday morning the lake freighter Roger Blough appeared to be floating above Lake Michigan as it passed by yard. I don't think it was a Fata Morgana, an optical illusion that usually results in a severely distorted image because it is an inverted image of an inverted image. I think my photo just depicts the ship surrounded in a haze that makes the water the same color of the background sky.

   Another nerdy thing seen from the yard the other day was the International Space Station having a favorable pass over west Michigan last Friday.  I was able to get a few photos with my 500mm lens plus a 1.4x teleconverter.

Black Hole Sun

    In the two days that I spent in Eastern Oregon leading up to Monday's total eclipse, I asked a few locals where they intended to view the eclipse.  I was kind of surprised that some of them planned to view from their homes just outside of the path of totality.  Although 99.7% rounds up to 100%  and that is adequate in most situations, it doesn't compare when it comes to eclipses.

99.7%

    When 99.7% of the Sun is covered you're still looking at the Sun.  When 100% of the Sun is covered you're able to see the elusive corona and prominences the filaments of particles attempting to escape the solar surface.

100%

     The eclipsed Sun is comparable in brightness to a Full Moon.

    During the 1 minute 56 seconds of totality I was frantically operating and adjusting 2 cameras, one with a 500mm lens and the other wide angle 28mm lens.  During the fleeting moment of the 'diamond-ring' effect as the last (first) ray of sunlight disappears (appears)  at the beginning (end) of totality, the Sun and Moon combination looks like a ring of corona with one bright point shining like a diamond. At those opportunities I should have been manning the telephoto equipped camera, Instead I only (accidentally) caught it with the wide field camera.

  Crop of photo above shows a diffraction obscured 'Diamond-ring' effect.

     A little longer exposure shows the sparsely illuminated foreground during totality.

   A crop of that photo shows the star Regulus to the lower left of the eclipse. Click on photo below to see it.

   Another neat effect observable during the partial phases before and after totality is that light passing through a small aperture reveals an image of the light source.  Among our group of eclipse watchers was my niece Danielle who's sunhat projected a multitude of mini eclipses on her shoulder. 

What ISS it? 3/4/2017

   At first (through maybe ten) glance(s) the above photo appears to be an empty or extremely underexposed black field.  It is neither.
   Here is the technical data of the image....
                                                Time/Date.........0643 AM/March 4, 2017.
                                                Exposure..........1/1250 sec @ f/16 at ISO 2500
                                                Focal Length ..700mm (500mm x 1.4x teleconverter)
                                                Camera.............Canon 5d Mark IV

  This version of the photo highlights the location of the subject.

   A closer crop reveals there actually is something in the photo. But what? A planet?

    No.  A tighter crop shows the subject has an irregular shape to it.

   A plane?

  Nope, it's the International Space Station.  The 356' wide object was 264 miles from my driveway when I took the handheld photo.  I'm somewhat pleased with the result that I was able to obtain with  my manually-focused lens at an effective 700mm focal length (500mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter).

   Things closer to my house than the ISS was when I took this photo....
                           Wrigley Field Chicago, IL.............153 miles
                           Ford Field Detroit, MI...................204 miles
                           Fort Wayne, IN..............................209 miles
                           Crane Creek SP, OH......................231 miles
                           Dubuque, IA..................................236 miles
                           Point Pelee NP Ontario.................243 miles
                           Copper Harbor, MI........................251 miles
                           Winona, MN..................................260 miles

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.......

Persied Meteor Shower 8/13/15

  Tried to photograph the Persied Meteor shower last night. Only caught three before the high clouds wiped out the contrast of the night sky. 

  Below is a timelapse video put together from the 1500 photos that I took. 

Nova in Sagittarius 3/29/15

  A couple of weeks ago a nova was discovered in the constellation Sagittarius.  Yesterday I tried to look for it from my house but found that the trees in my neighborhood blocked my view of that part of the sky.  Too bad because yesterday the sky was much more transparent than today.  

   I woke before dawn this morning and saw that it was somewhat clear out, so I packed my camera and headed for a unobstructed southeast horizon,   

  Not the most impressive photos but it's only the second nova I've ever photographed.  For more information here is a link to Bob King's astronomy blog. astrobob - Nova in Sagittarius

Big Starry Sky Country 9/2/2013

  Day 1 :  Saw 1 bird in North Dakota.

Lark Sparrow

  Then a herd of horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Sadly we passed by this group about 10 minutes later and the young brown horse on the left side of the photo was laying flat on the ground as the others stood over it.



  A pronghorn greeted us at our rental on day 1 in Montana.



    Big Sky Country became Big Starry Sky Country when the Sun went down.  This photo shows the center of our Milky Way Galaxy in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.  The dark parts are clouds of dust and gas veiling the galaxy's core.

The second photo show the view overhead of the Cygnus-Orion Arm of our spiral Galaxy. Our solar system lies on the outskirts of this arm.

  Next photo is of the far regions of the Cygnus-Orion Arm, away from the core of the galaxy,  with the Andromeda Galaxy on the right side of the photo.

  The Andromeda Galaxy is comparable in size to our Galaxy.