Category: Astronomy

Views of the sun, moon, and stars

Five-Years Ago (24-February-2007) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey: Turkey Vulture Flying Past the Moon.

I was out in the backyard trying to get images of the birds wintering in New Jersey. I noticed a shadow, turned around and caught this turkey vulture flying past the moon.

Turkey Vulture soaring past the first quarter moon. Backyard winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture soaring past the first quarter moon. Backyard winter nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec). (David J Mathre)

Friday (17-February-2009) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky in New Jersey: Star and Jet Trails.

I used a 16 mm Fisheye lens to take acquire some winter night sky images. The images were combined using the startrails.exe program to get the star trail images. The first image is a composite of 15 60 second images relatively early in the evening. The next three are composites of 16, 35, and 300 second (5 minute) images.

Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 60 sec). Composite of 15 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)
Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 60 sec). Composite of 15 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)
Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 16 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)
Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 16 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)
Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 35 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)
Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 35 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)
Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 14 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)
Winter Sky Star and Jet Trails. Image taken with a Nikon D700 and 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, f/2.8, 300 sec). Composite of 14 images processed with Startrails program. (David J. Mathre)

Five-Years Ago (28-January-2007) — Norway

Gone to See Norway 2007 Family Vacation. Day 9: Hurtigruten Coastal Voyage Traveling North.

The extended family was on a winter vacation in Norway, traveling north on the Hurtigruten ship M/S Kong Harald. This was day 6 of the voyage traveling north along the Norwegian coast. The stops on this day were in Øksfjord (02:15), Hammerfest (05:15-06:45), Havøysund (09:45) Honningsvåg (11:45-15:15), Kjøllefjord (17:45), Mehamn (20:00), and Verlevåg. During the stop in Honningsvåg we took a bus to North Cape (Nordkapp) traveling through the North Cape Tunnel. Later that night, the Captain announced that Auroras (Northern Lights) were visible.

Moon at Dawn Over Havøysund Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 85 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 200, 85 mm, f/1.4, 1/180 sec). Modified using Nik Color Efex. (David J. Mathre)
Moon at Dawn Over Havøysund Norway. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 85 mm f/1.4D lens (ISO 200, 85 mm, f/1.4, 1/180 sec). Modified using Nik Color Efex. (David J. Mathre)

Wednesday (04-January-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky in New Jersey: Star Trails and Quadranitids Meteors.

The sky was clear last night so I set up two cameras to record the night sky. The SpaceWeather site reported that the Quadrantids meteor shower should peak in the early morning hours. The Nikon D3x with a 24 mm f/1.4G lens was set up to look north above my roof. I used an external power supply for this camera so I wouldn’t need to change batteries during the night. The second camera was a Nikon D3 with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens looking south. For both cameras, I used the MC-35 remote set for 59 second exposures, once a minute (the extra second is needed to transfer the image from the camera to the memory card). It was cold (getting down to 10° F), and I was glad that at least one camera was using an external power supply. I had to change the battery in the D3 every 2 hours, and even then it was so cold that the battery ran out before the time. The following are a meteor trail image and a time-lapsed video of everything from the night.

Quadrantids Meteor Trail. Night Sky Over New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2, 59 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Quadrantids Meteor Trail. Night Sky Over New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 24 mm f/1.4G lens (ISO 100, 24 mm, f/2, 59 sec). (David J. Mathre)

Monday (02-January-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Night Sky over New Jersey: Moon in Conjunction with Jupiter.

Jupiter is in Conjunction with the Moon Tonight. If you get a chance, go out and look. (http://www.spaceweather.com/). Jupiter is the small dot in the bottom right, about 4° from the moon. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 300 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec).

Moon with Jupiter in Conjunction. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Moon with Jupiter in Conjunction. Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 300 mm f/2.8 VR lens (ISO 100, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)