Twelve-Years Ago (28-August-2007) — Colorado

Summertime Night Sky Over Colorado.

There was a partial Lunar Eclipse  while I was working at the Merck/Sirna site in Boulder. The sky was clear and I spent much of the night observing the eclipse from the Sirna parking lot. At one point I must have stood in front of the camera for a selfie.

Accidental Ghostly Self Portrait Taken During a Lunar Eclipse. Boulder Colorado, 28-August-2007. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 14 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 14 mm, f/2.8, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)
Accidental Ghostly Self Portrait Taken During a Lunar Eclipse. Boulder Colorado.  Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 14 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 400, 14 mm, f/2.8, 30 sec). (David J Mathre)

Four-Years Ago (27-August-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Star trails looking north and the waxing gibbous moon (both a composite and time-lapse video).

Startrails Looking North. Composite of 60 images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/4, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro with the composite processed using Phototshop CC Statictics/Maximum. (David J Mathre)
Startrails Looking North. Composite of 60 images taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 10.5 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 100, 10.5 mm, f/4, 120 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro with the composite processed using Phototshop CC Statictics/Maximum. (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon. Composite of 12 images taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Waxing Gibbous Moon. Composite of 12 images taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 200, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Three-Years Ago (17-August-2016) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Night Time Thunderstorm. Two minute time-lapse video. Moon, Clouds, Lightning. Approximately 3000 Images taken between midnight and 4 AM from my backdoor using a Nikon D810A camera and 24 mm f/3.5 PC-E lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/4, 4 sec). At one point I had to move the camera away from the door during a heavy downpour. Time-lapse video created from the in camera jpg images using Photoshop CC. This was the fourth night in a row that we have had thunderstorms.

Five-Years Ago (14-September-2013) — New Jersey

Backyard Late Summer Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

[Updated from five-years ago. Added a slideshow with the 25 individual frames extracted from the video.]

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. The bird is not very clear, or in focus relative to the moon. Someday, I want to catch a satellite transiting in front of the moon.


Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.

Six-Years Ago (13-September-2012) — Belgium

Gone to see Europe. Semester at Sea. Fall 2012 Semester Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 21: Antwerp, Belgium.

Early Dawn Jupiter and Waning Crescent Moon Over the Antwerp Cathedral from the Deck of the MV Explorer. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 70 mm, f/5.6, 2 sec).

Early Dawn Jupiter and Waning Crescent Moon Over the Antwerp Cathedral from the Deck of the M/V Explorer. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 70 mm, f/5.6, 2 sec). (David J Mathre)
Early Dawn Jupiter and Waning Crescent Moon Over the Antwerp Cathedral from the Deck of the M/V Explorer. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 70 mm, f/5.6, 2 sec). (David J Mathre)