Category: Astronomy

Views of the sun, moon, and stars

Nine-Years Ago (01-January-2009) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky: Star Trails and Night Sky Videos.

Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 222 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 222 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 129 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 15 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 129 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 15 mm, f/2.8, 25 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 279 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 279 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/2.8, 20 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 215 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 35 mm, f/4, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)
Star, Moon, and Jet Trails + Clouds. Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey Looking South. Composite of 215 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 35 mm, f/4, 30 sec) (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (05-December-2015) — New Jersey

Late-Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Jets Through the Star-trail Vortex

These are not fireworks. The challenge here is for someone to explain how I created this star-trail image… The Fuji X-T1 camera and 18 mm f/2 lens was mounted on a tripod just outside my backdoor.

Star-trails with jets going through the vortex. Composite of images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 18 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 18 mm, f/4, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star-trails with jets going through the vortex. Composite of images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 18 mm f/2 lens (ISO 400, 18 mm, f/4, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)

Four-Years Ago (05-December-2013) — New Jersey

Troll Family: Holiday Card

Edited images from 2013 for a Holiday Card. Troll family portrait with a background of Northern Lights from Tromsö, Norway.

Troll Family visiting Norway for the Northern Lights. The entire sky just exploded just after midnight. (David J Mathre)
Troll Family visiting Norway for the Northern Lights. The entire sky just exploded just after midnight. (David J Mathre)

Four-Years Ago (29-November-2013) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails Looking West.

Night sky view from the back of the house. This was the first time I did star trail series looking west. The first composite is from 336 images taken between 18:30-23:59 (PM), and the second composite is from 375 images taken between 00:40-05:40 (AM). All taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). There is significant distortion due to the wide-angle lens. I should look at reprocessing the data using the DxO image processing program to remove the distortion.

Star trails looking west (18:20-23:59 PM). Composite of 336 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star trails looking west (18:20-23:59 PM). Composite of 336 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star trails looking west (00:40-05:40 AM). Composite of 375 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star trails looking west (00:40-05:40 AM). Composite of 375 images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)

Five-Years Ago (16-November-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Star and Leonid Meteor Trails.

The sky was clear so I put a couple of cameras out with wide-angle lenses to try to capture some Leonid meteor trails.

Late Fall Night Star Trails and Leonid Meteor Trails over New Jersey. Composite of 35 Images taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 16 mm, f/2.8, 1 min). (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Night Star Trails and Leonid Meteor Trails over New Jersey. Composite of 35 Images taken with a Nikon D800 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 16 mm, f/2.8, 1 min). (David J. Mathre)