David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Views of weather around the world. Rain, snow, clouds, lightning, rainbows, etc.
Nine-Years Ago Today. But I skipped that day crossing the International Date Line. The statue on the forward upper deck of the MV World Odyssey is holding back the sunburst as we crossed the Date Line. (16-Jan-2016, Semester at Sea)
The forecast for the night was light snow. So, no telescopes out observing for the night. Instead, I had a camera watch out the back door window to observe the Trolls. The camera was set in a fixed apertures mode (f/11) and auto ISO (64-6400) with the shutter speed to vary from 1/100 sec to 32 sec. The time-lapse video was created using PhotoShop and Premier.
Nine-Years Ago Today. Statue catching the Rainbow on the aft deck of the MV World Odyssey while crossing the Pacific Ocean. (15-Jan-2016, Semester at Sea)
Today, while looking at the sunspots (we are at or near the solar maximum) I captured images of a jets transiting the sun. This was with a Vespera Classic automated telescope fitted with a solar filter.
Slideshow of Jets Passing in Front of the Sun. Individual images are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
The forecast for the night was for the night sky to be clear, then intermittent clouds, then clear before morning. The waning gibbous moon is reducing in brightness but still very bright (97% illuminated). I programed the “Plan my Night” sequences on the Vespera telescopes to start soon after dark with several objects away from the moon and will see what I get depending on the clouds. During part of the night, I have the telescopes looking at the moon. I also set up the Nikon D9 camera with a 8-15 mm fisheye lens to take a sequence of images of the night sky with the full Vespera family of telescopes in the foreground. These images were then used to create the following time-lapse video. You can see the night starting out clear, then clouds, a brief clearing, then clouds again, and finally clearing before dawn. The telescopes automatically close before the sun rises. The time-lapse video is best viewed in the dark and expanded to full scale. Images captured by the telescopes to follow.
Nine-Years Ago Today. Brown Booby catches a Flying Fish for Lunch. From the deck of the MV World Odyssey while crossing the Pacific Ocean. (14-Jan-2016, Semester at Sea).
Today, while looking at the sunspots (we are at or near the solar maximum) I captured images of a jets transiting the sun. This was with a Vespera Classic automated telescope fitted with a solar filter.
Slideshow of Jets Passing in Front of the Sun. Individual images are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
The forecast for the night was clouds until near midnight. The waining gibbous moon is getting brighter (99% illuminated). I programed the “Plan my Night” sequences on the Vespera telescopes to wait until after midnight before starting to observe some deep sky observation targets in parts of the sky away from the moon. I also set up a Nikon D9 camera with a 8-15 mm fisheye lens to take a sequence of images of the night sky with the full Vespera family of telescopes in the foreground. These images were then used to create the following time-lapse video. It looks like I could have programed telescopes to start observing a bit earlier. One of the telescopes, the Vespera 2 shut down early when its battery charge went below 5%. This happened despite being plugged into a USB-C power source. I am not sure if there was a problem with the USB-C connection, or if the battery was not getting charged because the outside temperature was below 32°F/0°C. The telescopes automatically close before the sun rises. The time-lapse video is best viewed in the dark and expanded to full scale. Images captured by the telescopes to follow.
Nine-Years Ago Today. Brown Booby flying beside the MV World Odyssey as we crossed the Pacific Ocean. (11-Jan-2016, Semester at Sea).
The forecast for the night was mostly clear, cloudy, and then clear again. The waxing gibbous moon is getting brighter (94% illuminated). For the first of the night, I programed the “Plan my Night” sequence on the Vespera telescopes to first observe the moon, then later as the moon moves to the west picked some deep sky observation targets in parts of the sky away from the moon. While the sky is cloudy, the telescopes won’t add any images to the multi-night image stacks. Then when it clears up again, the telescopes will resume with the observation plan. I also set up a Nikon D9 camera with a 8-15 mm fisheye lens to take a sequence of images of the night sky with the full Vespera family of telescopes in the foreground. These images were then used to create the following time-lapse video. The moon is the bright object. You can watch the Orion constellation travel across the sky. Some jet trails, and lots of fast-moving clouds during the middle of the night. A little before dawn the sky cleared up again for the telescopes to resume observation of the last target of the night. The telescopes automatically close before the sun rises. The time-lapse video is best viewed in the dark and expanded to full scale. Images captured by the telescopes to follow.
Nine-Years Ago Today. Sunset from the deck of the MV World Odyssey. Semester at Sea. (07-Jan-2016, Pacific Ocean)
We had a couple of inches of snow yesterday. This morning, I went on a walkabout looking for animal tracks in the snow. I found bird, cat, fox, and rabbit tracks. I was especially interested in finding where the gaps in the deer fence were. In the past some of the larger critters (raccoons and possums) have enlarged these holes to the point where the deer finally got through. In those spots I needed to install a bottom section of plastic-coated wire fence to close the gaps. First a video of where a neighborhood cat gets under the front gate. She has used this as a way to escape being chased by a fox.
Animal Tracks in the Snow. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Animal tracks in the snow used to identify holes in the fence. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
The night sky started cloud free. I wanted to have the telescopes out but wasn’t really sure how long the sky would remain clear. I set up a Nikon Z9 camera with a 8-15 mm fisheye lens pointed SSE to monitor the sky. Settings for the camera were 15 mm, ISO 800, f/11, and 120 second exposures using the intervalometer with a 4 second delay between exposures. Composites were created using PhotoShop (scripts, statistics, maximum). First image, the sky was relatively clear for the Vespera Pro telescopes to observe the moon. Second image, an 8-minute segment with a meteor trail. Third image, the sky was relatively clear for the Vespera Pro telescopes to observe M42, the Orion nebula. Fourth image, the full night showing lots of clouds passing. I’ve also included a slideshow with 28-minute star trail segments for the night. At the end there is time-lapse video of the night sky.
Star trails slideshow. Individual images are available in my PhotoShelter gallery.
