David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Birds of the day viewed in my backyard: White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco, European Starling, Black-capped Chickadee.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (128.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (40.5 kWh) from Sense. Cold outside, resistance heating required. Deficit of 87.70 kWh.
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As a really cold mass of air moved in the night sky was very clear. Lots of stars visible even though the moon was nearly full. I moved both the Stellina and Vespera telescope/cameras to the back patio and allowed them to equilibrate to the cold temperature (14°F/-10°C). Both systems needed to have their software/firmware upgraded before being initialized. They were then programmed to collect images of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). It appears that the boxier Stellina is more sensitive to wobbling in the wind. The system only accepted 33-50% of the images and even then there was some doubling/streaking of the stars. The Vespera with its curved surfaces is more aerodynamic and did not appear to be impacted by the wind. The software/firmware update improved the quality of the exported composite TIF images. Time-lapse videos were generated from the JPG images showing the movement of the comet relative to the stars. The battery for the Vespera gave up after about 5 hours, even though an external battery was attached due to the extreme cold. The Stellina does not have an internal battery. The external battery lasted a bit longer, allowing me to create a time-lapse video of the moon. You can definitely see when the wind was blowing resulting in some distorted moon images.
Stellina Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). TIF images processed with Topaz AI. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). TIF images processed with Topaz AI. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (100.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.5 kWh) from Sense. Sunny but cold. Deficit of 61.5 kWh.
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I just arrived back home from a short trip to Florida and the night sky was clear. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is now visible in the early evening sky. Both the Stellina and Vespera telescope/cameras were used to capture images. The telescopes automatically track the motion of the stars in the sky while taking 10 second images. During the time of the observations (15-63 minutes), the comet is moving, creating a tail in the image. This motion can be viewed in the time-lapse video.
Stellina and Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). JPG images processed with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Stellina and Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). JPG images processed with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (79.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (34.6 kWh) from Sense. Sun and clouds. Deficit of 44.9 kWh.
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