Category: Astronomy

Views of the sun, moon, and stars

Saturday (19-September-2020) — New Jersey

Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

Ricoh Theta Z1 camera set up to capture the night sky from my patio. Two versions of the 360 Equirectangular, 360 Little Planet, and 360 Tunnel view. The first ones processed directly with the jpg files from the Theta Z1 camera. For the second set, the DNG files (dual fisheye) were first processed with Capture One Pro then converted to single 360 Equirectangular 16-bit TIF files. By processing and converting the DNG files to 16-bit TIF files I was able to bring more detail out of the dark shadow areas in the images.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey. Equirectangular 360 degree Panorama. Composite of 360 (jpg) images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 360 camera (ISO 400, 2.6 mm, f/2.1, 60 sec). Star Trail composite generated with PhotoShop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey. Little Planet 360 degree Panorama. Composite of 360 (jpg) images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 360 camera (ISO 400, 2.6 mm, f/2.1, 60 sec). Star Trail composite and Little Planet view created with PhotoShop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum), (image size 1:1, image rotated 180 degrees, filter, distort, polar coordinates). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey. Inverse Little Planet (Tunnel View) 360 degree Panorama. Composite of 360 (jpg) images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 360 camera (ISO 400, 2.6 mm, f/2.1, 60 sec). Star Trail composite and Inverse Little Planet view created with PhotoShop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum), (image size 1:1, filter, distort, polar coordinates). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey. Equirectangular 360 degree Panorama. Composite of 360 (DNG) images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 360 camera (ISO 400, 2.6 mm, f/2.1, 60 sec). DNG images processed with Capture One Pro, converted to 360 Equirectangular with PTGUI, Star Trail composite generated with PhotoShop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey. Little Planet 360 degree Panorama. Composite of 360 (DNG) images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 360 camera (ISO 400, 2.6 mm, f/2.1, 60 sec). DNG images processed with Capture One Pro, converted to 360 Equirectangular with PTGUI, Star Trail composite generated with PhotoShop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). Little Planet view created with PhotoShop CC (image size 1:1, image rotated 180 degrees, filter, distort, polar coordinates). (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey. Inverse Little Planet (Tunnel View) 360 degree Panorama. Composite of 360 (DNG) images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 360 camera (ISO 400, 2.6 mm, f/2.1, 60 sec). DNG images processed with Capture One Pro, converted to 360 Equirectangular with PTGUI, Star Trail composite generated with PhotoShop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). Tunnel view created with PhotoShop CC (image size 1:1, filter, distort, polar coordinates). (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (35.3 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (54.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. Sunny. Geothermal HVAC system off A surplus of 19.3 kWh. Notice the hump in the afternoon solar — has to do with the Sycamore tree shading the roof mid-afternoon

Monday (07-September-2020) — New Jersey

Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

This was the third night in a row with a clear sky. The moon would rise a hour later. I decided to do star trails again with the Ricoh Theta Z1 360 degree camera. This time I mounted the camera horizontally so one of the fisheye lenses pointed straight up. I wanted to see if this would make a difference with the star trails. Camera settings (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). The images were processed with PTGUI, Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC to create the following 360 degree Equirectangular Panorama, 360 degree Little Planet View, and 360 degree Tunnel View images. Interestingly, the camera adjusted the output with a correct horizon. It turned out that the horizontal settings were not as stable (wind jitter?). Fortunately, the PhotoShop CC settings I use to create the composite images (scripts, statistics, maximum) has a setting that tries to align images. Presumably using major common features in all of the images. If you look close, you can see some firefly trails.

Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-20:59) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). Without image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-20:59) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). Without image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of images (22:00-22:59) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of images (22:00-22:59) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-03:20) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-03:20) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Little Planet View Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-03:20) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Little Planet View Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-03:20) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-03:20) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View Panorama). Composite of images (20:12-03:20) taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). With image alignment in Photoshop CC (scrips,statistics, maximum, align images) (DAVID J MATHRE)


Star Trails in one hour segments. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Sunday (06-September-2020) — New Jersey

Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

The waning gibbous moon was bright, so I took images with several different cameras and lens. All of the shots were done hand-held using lens or sensor image stabilization. Images were processed with Capture One Pro and then cropped so the size of the moon would be the same.

    1. Leica SL2 camera and 90-280 mm Leica lens (ISO 100, 280 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec).
    2. Leica SL2 camera and 100-400 mm Sigma lens (ISO 160, 400 mm, f/6.3, 1/640 sec).
    3. Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 160, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec).
    4. Nikon D5 camera and 200-500 mm f/5.6 VR lens (ISO 800, 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec).
    5. Nikon D810a camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec).
    6. Fuji X-H1 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec).


Waning Gibbous Moon. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Waning Gibbous Moon. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (46.9 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (59.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. More Sun. A surplus of 12.7 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (351 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (318 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. A deficit of 33 kWh.

Sunday (06-September-2020) — New Jersey

Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

This was the second night in a row with a clear sky. The moon would rise a hour later. I decided to do star trails again with the Ricoh Theta Z1 360 degree camera. Camera settings (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). The images were processed with PTGUI, Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC to create the following 360 degree Equirectangular Panorama, 360 degree Little Planet View, and 360 degree Tunnel View images. If you look close, you can see some firefly trails.

Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of 358 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of 358 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Little Planet View). Composite of 358 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Little Planet View). Composite of 358 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View). Composite of 358 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View). Composite of 358 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/2.1, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)


Star Trails (360 degree Equirectangular View). Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Daily Electric Energy Used (46.9 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (59.6 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. More Sun. A surplus of 12.7 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (351 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (318 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. A deficit of 33 kWh.

Saturday (05-September-2020) — New Jersey

Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

With a clear night sky, I decided to try the new Ricoh Theta Z1 360 degree camera to create some star trails. I set the camera up on my back patio (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). The camera can collect 358 raw (DNG) images which corresponds to just under 5 hours at 60 second exposures. The images were processed with PTGUI, Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC to create the following 360 degree Equirectangular Panorama, 360 degree Little Planet View, and 360 degree Tunnel View images. I’ve also included a time-lapse video of the night sky

Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Equirectangular Panorama). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Little Planet). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Little Planet). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Summertime Night Sky over New Jersey (360 Tunnel View). Composite of 360 images taken with a Ricoh Theta Z1 camera (ISO 400, dual 2.6 mm fisheye lens, f/3.5, 60 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (43.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (61.9 kWh) from Sense and SolSystems. More sun. A surplus of 18.9 kWh.