Category: Astronomy

Views of the sun, moon, and stars

Saturday (14-September-2013) — New Jersey

Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

Last night the sky was clear, and the waxing gibbous moon (61%) bright, so I set up a couple of cameras with big lenses out on the deck. One of the systems (Nikon D4 camera TC-E III 20 teleconverter and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 400, 1200 mm, f/8, 1/60 sec)) was set to record video (1080p, 30 fps). While reviewing the videos I noticed one with something (a bird?) passing in front of the moon. Played back at 10 fps shows the transit to occur over 25 frames.

Tuesday (11-June-2013) — At Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 46: Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sunset on the Baltic Sea. Are there offshore oil platforms in the Baltic Sea off Denmark? Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera FT1 adapter and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec).

Sunset on the Baltic Sea. Are There Offshore Oil Platforms in the Baltic Sea Off Denmark? Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera FT1 adapter and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage. (David J Mathre)
Sunset on the Baltic Sea. Are There Offshore Oil Platforms in the Baltic Sea Off Denmark? Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera FT1 adapter and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)

Monday (10-June-2013) — At Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 45: At Sea between Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Late night or early in the morning (hard to tell this far north when there isn’t much darkness at night) I looked out my cabin window on the MV Explorer and saw the electric blue Noctilucent clouds. I read about them before (http://www.spaceweather.com/), but had never seen them.  The clouds are ice crystals that are very high that you can only see for a short time when the sun is below the horizon. One theory is the crystals are nucleated when micro-meteors pass through the upper atmosphere. We were in the Baltic Sea traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen and the sun doesn’t set until very late I set up a camera in my cabin and took a set of 99 images that I made into this time-lapsed video (Nikon D4 camera, 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec)).


Sunday (09-June-2013) — Baltic Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 44: At Sea.

Silhouette of a sailboat passing in front of the sun at sunset from the deck of the MV Explorer. Crossing the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Copenhagen.

Silhouette of a Sailboat Passing in Front of the Sun at Sunset from the Deck of the MV Explorer. Crossing the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Silhouette of a Sailboat Passing in Front of the Sun at Sunset from the Deck of the MV Explorer. Crossing the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sunday (02-June-2013) — At Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 37: At Sea.

Sunset in the Baltic Sea from the Deck of the MV Explorer. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 80-400 mm VR II lens (ISO 800, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec).

Sunset in the Baltic Sea from the Deck of the MV Explorer. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage Day 37. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 80-400 mm VR II lens (ISO 800, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sunset in the Baltic Sea from the Deck of the MV Explorer. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage Day 37. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 80-400 mm VR II lens (ISO 800, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec). (David J Mathre)