Astronomy - David Mathre Photography

Two-Years Ago (22-February-2016) — Burma (Myanmar)

Gone to See the World. Semester at Sea Spring 2016 Voyage on the MV World Odyssey. Day 48: Yangon, Burma (Myanmar).

Everyone had to be back on the ship by 22:00. We remained docked in Yangon and didn’t depart until the following day which was a class day. The moon was full (or nearly full) so I had the opportunity to take pictures of folks appearing to be looking at or holding the moon. I stood back some distance, and used a telephoto lens so the size of the moon would appear to be relatively large. What I wasn’t able to do was have both the person and the moon to be in focus, so the images are composites. The low light also required that I increase the ISO to 6400 for the images.

Individual images in the slide show can be viewed here.

Wednesday (31-January-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky Over New Jersey — Full Moon.

There has been a lot of media hype over the full moon that would be visible tonight (weather permitting). It is the second full moon in January, so it is a “blue moon”. It is closer to earth at this point in its orbit around the earth so it is a “super moon”. And finally, there will be a lunar eclipse, so a “red” or “blood” moon. Yesterday had been rain, snow, and rain so I wasn’t expecting to even be able to see the moon. As I was going to bed around midnight, I noticed that it was very bright out. I could see the moon directly out my window since it was so high in the sky. So I ended up having to go outside to see it. It was bitterly cold and windy, but the moon was visible. I wasn’t going to stay out very long, and didn’t want to set up a tripod — so the first image was taken hand-held looking almost straight up. I woke up again at 06:00 to see if any of the eclipse would be visible. Here in New Jersey, it would only be visible just before sunrise. The only view I got was one where the moon was going behind the trees. One note that the media forgot to mention, there will not be a full moon in February.

Full (Blue, Super) Moon at Midnight. Winter Night Sky in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/18, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Full (Blue, Super, Blood) Moon at Midnight. Winter Night Sky in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/16, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre) — Full (Blue, Super, Blood) Moon at 06:00. Winter Night Sky in New Jersey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T2 camera and 100-400 mm OIS lens (ISO 200, 400 mm, f/16, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (17-January-2016) — Pacific Ocean

Gone to See the World. Semester at Sea Spring 2016 Voyage on the MV World Odyssey. Day 12: Crossing the Pacific Ocean From Hawaii to Japan.

This was the day that magic happened. We lost a day, 16-Jan-16 never happened. Look at the images carefully to find the alien pretending to be a student on the voyage, and when gravity was suspended. Too bad if anyone on the ship had their birthday on the missing day.

Individual images in this slide show can be viewed here.

Individual images in the slide show can be viewed here.

Outdoor breakfast after shooting dawn and sunrise on the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 35 mm, f/7, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)

Individual images in the slide show can be viewed here.

First Quarter Moon from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Nikon One V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec). Field of View equivalent to an 810 mm lens on a 35 mm sensor camera. (David J Mathre)

We crossed the International Date Line (180 degrees) east or west (or half way around the planet) from the zero degree line going through Greenwich, England. We actually, didn’t cross the line until 13:19 but the Captain of the ship gets to select which day we cross datelines so as not to confuse things in the middle of the day.

Three-Years Ago (15-January-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky Over New Jersey — Comet Lovejoy.

It was cold, but very clear out on the night I got some images of Comet Lovejoy. I set up a Nikon D4 camera with a 58 mm f/1.8 lens to take 5 second exposures. Normally, when shooting star trails I go for longer exposures. The comet was visible as a faint, fuzzy blue-green ball. Three different views — still images (with different crops), as star trails, and a time-lapse video

Star Trails and Comet Lovejoy on a cold but clear winter night. The comet is the blue-green fuzzy streek moving from the center to the right of the photograph. Composite of 379 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 58 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 58 mm, f/2, 5 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC. (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (14-January-2016) — Pacific Ocean

Gone to See the World. Semester at Sea Spring 2016 Voyage on the MV World Odyssey. Day 10: Crossing the Pacific Ocean From Hawaii to Japan.

There were a few folks out to work-out, photograph, or meditate for sunrise. The Masked and Brown Boobies continue to follow the ship. I think they are using the thermals created by our motion as they search for fish. I managed to get an image of a Brown Booby just after it caught a Flying Fish. Later on at sunset, the conditions were just right for us to see a “Green Flash” as the sun disappeared into the Pacific Ocean.

Brown Booby with a Flying Fish for Lunch. Image taken from the deck of the MV World Odyssey while crossing the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to Japan. Semester at Sea -- Spring 2016 Voyage -- Day 10. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (147 mm, ISO 400, f/5.3, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre) — Brown Booby with a Flying Fish for Lunch. Image taken from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (147 mm, ISO 400, f/5.3, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)

Individual images from the slide-show can be viewed here.