Category: Astronomy

Views of the sun, moon, and stars

Four-Years Ago (06-November-2011) — New Jersey

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

The old deck had not been demolished yet, and I was able to set up a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens looking north over the house. The first image is a composite of 158 images from the early morning hours. The second image is a composite of 190 images before midnight. Note the pesky alien stepping in to have its selfie taken.

Early morning star trails looking north. Autumn night sky in New Jersey. Composite of 158 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 16 mm, f/4, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
Early morning star trails looking north. Autumn night sky in New Jersey. Composite of 158 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 16 mm, f/4, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
Evening/night star trails looking north. Autumn night sky in New Jersey. Composite of 190 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 16 mm, f/4, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)
Evening/night star trails looking north. Autumn night sky in New Jersey. Composite of 190 images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 400, 16 mm, f/4, 59 sec). (David J Mathre)

Nine-Years Ago (06-November-2006) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey.

Sometimes the clouds come in and you can’t do star trail images.

Moon behind a cloud layer blocking the night sky. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec). (David J Mathre)
Moon behind a cloud layer blocking the night sky. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/2.8, 15 sec). (David J Mathre)

Thursday (05-November-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Star and Jet Trails Looking South.

I decided to do some star & jet trails with a different lens (14-24 mm f/2.8). Unfortunately, I did it in vertical/portrait mode and too much of the top and bottom were cut off by the ceiling and ground so I had to crop the image. Nine years later and still learning best method to do star trails. Also, no meteor trails during this sequence. Clouds moved in as it got toward morning.

Star and jet trails. Southern night sky view from my backyard. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/4, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star and jet trails. Southern view from my backyard. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 14 mm, f/4, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (04-November-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky over New Jersey: Star and Jet Trails Looking South.

Night and early morning star and jet trails. Also, two very faint meteor trails. Composite of 193 images taken with a Nikon D810A camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E camera (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Lightroom (to convert the RAW image to TIF) and Photoshop CC.

Star and jet trails. Southern view from my backyard. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Star and jet trails. Southern view from my backyard. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 120 sec). (David J Mathre)