Category: Astronomy

Views of the sun, moon, and stars

Saturday (19-November-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey: Time-lapse Video and Star Trails.

Wide-angle night sky time-lapse video looking south in New Jersey (~600 1 minute images taken with a Nikon D3x and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens at 15 mm and f/5.6). The moon was from another night (video taken with a Nikon D3s and 600 mm f/4 telephoto lens). The overall video sequence created using Adobe Premiere Pro.

The images were also combined in groups of 100 using the Star Trails program to create the following south view star trails. The orange background is due to clouds being lit from the towns to the south. In the last two images the moon is visible.


Friday (18-November-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey: Leonid Meteors.

I had two cameras out monitoring the night sky with the hope of catching a Leonid Meteor. Two of the images had small meteor trails. A bit later there was something much brighter. I am not sure if it is a meteor, however it does not have parallel lights or regular strobe flashes like a jet trail. The other possibility would be a satellite trail. The curved trail is due to the fisheye lens. I used DxO to process the image to correct for the fisheye effect (4th/final image).

Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with DxO Pro, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)
Late fall night sky over New Jersey with a Leonid Meteor. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 16 mm, f/5.6, 60 sec). Raw image processed with DxO Pro, Nik Define, Photoshop CS5. (David J Mathre)

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Saturday (05-November-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Night Sky Over New Jersey: Time-lapse Video of the Stars, Star Trails and the Moon.

It was clear and I had several cameras out capturing the night sky. I used the images to create a time-lapse video.

Friday (04-November-2011) — New Jersey

Backyard Astronomy in New Jersey: Sun and Moon.

The sky was clear so I took my telescope out. First to see the big sunspot (AR 1339), and then later the waxing gibbous moon. The Questar telescope comes with a solar filter to safely view the sun and sunspots.

Sun with Sunspot AR 1339. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7" telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sun with Sunspot AR 1339. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7″ telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (69%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7" telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon (69%). Autumn Night in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and Questar 7″ telescope (ISO 400, ~2500 mm, f/16, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)

28-October-2011

Day 11 and Counting

My Drobo disk-array is rebuilding after adding a new drive. Don’t know how long it will take. New images to follow. The down side to large storage solutions such as Drobo is the time required for backup and restore. Not sure how many days this will take!!!!

Winter is Coming!

Latest report from the National Weather Service: Snow Saturday Night?

Tonight: A chance of rain after 2am. Cloudy, with a low around 36. East
wind between 3 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts
of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Saturday: Rain, mainly
after 8am. High near 43. Breezy, with a north wind between 14 and 21 mph. Chance
of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.

Saturday Night: Rain and snow, becoming all snow after midnight.
Low around 28. Blustery, with a north wind between 17 and 24 mph. Chance of
precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 47. Northwest wind between 9 and
14 mph.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 29.
Northwest wind around 7 mph.

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Check out an image of the Moon over Colorado taken 4 years ago today with a Nikon D2xs and 200-400 mm VR lens: 28-October-2011