David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Views of the sun, moon, and stars
Solar image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and Questar 3.5″ telescope fitted with a sun filter (ISO 400, f/16, 1/1000 sec). I didn’t see any sunspots. A good source for solar activity is SpaceWeather.com.
I didn’t have anything from previous years for this day so I went out and took an image of the moon tonight. The image was taken with a D3x and 400 mm AF-S f/2.8 D II with a AF-S TC20EIII teleconverter. ISO 100, 800 mm, 1/200 sec, f/8. Processed using Capture NX2, Photoshop CS5, Focus Magic, converted for web and sRGB using Photoshop CS5. The white balance in the camera was 3030 °K. This probably could be made a bit warmer.
I left the meeting early to get to the Pu’U’Ula’Ula peak in Haleakala National Park for sunset. When I got to the parking lot I saw this bird, which I later identified as a Chukar. The elevation is about 10,000 feet, and as the sun went down it got windy and cold fast. The thermometer on my GPS indicated 30°F, and I only had a light windbreaker. I didn’t think to carry cold weather gear for the trip to Hawaii. I did get several great images of the sunset over the nearby Haleakala Air Force Satellite tracking station and observatories.
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While attending a scientific meeting in Hawaii, I had the afternoons free. For the first day I decided to drive to Haleakala National Park to check out a good location for a sunrise or sunset photo shoot on top of the volcano for later in the week. It is amazing going from sea level to Pu’U’Ula’Ula (Red Hill) the summit of Haleakala at 10,023 feet. There were not many bicycles riding up, but many riding down. It looks like the tour operations bring you up the mountain and then let you ride a bicycle down. Up at the summit, I got some images of the rare Haleakala Silversword plant (one in bloom), and the Haleakala US Air Force Satellite Observatory Station. Going down the mountain, I stopped at the Kalahaku Overlook to take a panorama of the volcano crater. Further down, near the visitor center there were a pair of Nēnē (Hawaiian Goose) at the side of the road. The Nēnē is the state bird of Hawaii. I had previously seen Nēnē on the Big Island of Hawaii during a photography workshop with Thom Hogan.
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