Category: Astronomy

Views of the sun, moon, and stars

Six-Years Ago (24-November-2006) — New Jersey

Backyard Vandalism in New Jersey. A Tree in my Backyard Decorated with Toilet Paper.

An interesting night six years ago. I set up my Nikon D200 camera with a 10.5 mm fisheye lens to take wide-angle night sky images from my backyard. I actually put the camera quite a way back from the house, because I wanted to have the camera looking north in my back yard so I could see Polaris (the north star) above the roof of my house. I was still early in a learning mode on how to do night skies and star trails (30 second images + 30 second long exposure noise reduction) once every 2 minutes. I started the exposures beginning about 18:30 H (6:30 PM). The EN-EL3e battery used in the D200 camera had about a 2 hour life, especially when it was cold outside. I had to go out to change the battery every ~ hour. A little after 20:00 H (8:00 PM) I realized that a tree in my back yard had been toilet papered. Going through the images taken by the camera, I could tell when it happened. I am just glad that they didn’t trip over and/or take the camera and tripod. This was reported to the local Montgomery Township police, but nothing ever came of the report.

Toilet Papered Tree. Image taken with Nikon D2xs and 18-200 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 18 mm, f/3.5, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)
Toilet Papered Tree. Image taken with Nikon D2xs and 18-200 mm VR lens (ISO 800, 18 mm, f/3.5, 1/60 sec). (David J Mathre)

Time lapsed video of night sky looking north. The images were taken with a Nikon D200 and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, f/2.8, 30 sec).

Sunday (18-November-2012) — New Jersey

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

While processing through the images from the other night, I found three (maybe four) Leonid meteor trails in a star trail composite of 35 one minute exposures. The camera was facing south from my deck, and the sky was just starting to get light.

The Drobo disk array upgrade and data backups are finally complete (after almost three weeks). I can now start processing more images from my Fall 2012 Semester at Sea voyage, and the three-week trip to New Mexico and west Texas (including a week with the ANPAT 12 trip).

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)

Saturday (17-November-2012) — New Jersey

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

I had two cameras out all night last night. I captured images of a few Leonid Meteors. I now need to put together some time-lapsed movies of the night sky. It is clear again tonight, so will try again with some different angles.

Late Fall Night Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. Composite of two images taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 1 min). (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Night Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. Composite of two images taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 1 min). (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Night Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. 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 Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. 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 Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. Images taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 1 min). (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Night Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. Images taken with a Nikon D4 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 1 min). (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Night Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. 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 Sky and Leonid Meteors Trail over New Jersey. 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)

Friday (16-November-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Waxing Crescent Moon at Dusk.

I went out to check if the sky would be clear tonight for the Leonid Meteors, and saw the waxing crescent moon. I took this image with a Leica X2. The camera was set for black & white (natural). Since this camera does record raw (Adobe DNG) images, I was also able to process a color version. Let me know which image you like. Since the sky looks clear, I will have cameras out to capture some meteor images — and don’t expect to get much sleep tonight.

Late Fall Waxing Crescent Moon at Dusk. Image taken with a Leica X2 Camera (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec). In camera B&W. (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Waxing Crescent Moon at Dusk. Image taken with a Leica X2 Camera (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec). In camera B&W. (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Waxing Cresent Moon at Dusk. Image taken with a Leica X2 Camera (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec) (David J. Mathre)
Late Fall Waxing Cresent Moon at Dusk. Image taken with a Leica X2 Camera (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec) (David J. Mathre)

Monday (12-November-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails and Time-Lapse Video.

Last Night I tried to do some night sky photography. I had to give up after less than 3 hours as clouds moved in. With the images I had I did some star trail images, and a short time-lapsed video including the 15 minute star trail images.

Startrails Late Fall Night Sky in New Jersey. Composite of 175 images taken with a Nikon D800 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 60 sec) using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)
Startrails Late Fall Night Sky in New Jersey. Composite of 175 images taken with a Nikon D800 and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 14 mm, f/2.8, 60 sec) using the Startrails program. (David J Mathre)