On Wednesday, Sunspot AR3848 sent a powerful solar flare directly toward earth. Based on the intensity and length of the coronal mass ejections (CME), NOAA and NASA forecasted that it could cause a severe G-4 class geomagnetic storm, with the possibility of auroras being visible further south than usual. The CME arrived on Thursday generating multiple alerts.
I went outside a little after 7 PM to possibly set up a camera to capture the Northern Lights. I don’t have a good view of the horizon to the north and hoped to see something above the trees. I wasn’t expecting anything this early as it was just dark out. To my amazement the sky looking north was bright red, and when I looked to the east and then south saw the typical aurora green. The display was everywhere, even straight up. It was much brighter than I expected, easily visible to the eye, not just with a digital camera. I wasn’t sure which direction to point the camera. I ended up setting up several cameras with wide angle lenses pointing different directions, including one with a fisheye lens with a 180° view pointing straight up. Each camera was set to take images every 30 seconds (30 second exposure, f/8, ISO 1600). Even though I missed some of the initial brightest display, I left the cameras out for several more hours. They did come back several times. I used the images to create the following time lapse videos.
View Looking North
Camera 1: Northeast (82° Field of View). 19:19-20:21
View Looking East
Camera 2: East (92° Field of View). 19:30-03:00
View Looking Up
Camera 3: Up (180° Field of View). 19:48-22:36
View Looking NorthWest
Camera 4: Northwest (104° Field of View). 20:00-01:36
View Looking North
Camera 1: Northeast (75° Field of View). 20:24-03:00
View Looking North
Camera 5: North (114° Field of View). 22:05-04:49
View Looking NorthEast
Camera 6: Northeast (84° Field of View). 22:17-01:09
Individual Images
Star Trails and Northern Lights Over New Jersey. Composite of 304 images taken with a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens (ISO 1600, 8 mm, f/8, 30 sec).
With the sky clear, I set up the Vespera Observation station with a solar filter during the day to observe sunspots. When I reviewed the images, I found one with a silhouette of a bird (Turkey Vulture?) flying in front of the sun. In the past I have capture images of planes, and sometimes satellites transiting the solar disk. While on Semester at Sea voyages, we had an informal contest to capture images of ships at the horizon passing in front of the sun at sunset (or sunrise).
Silhouette of bird flying in front of the Sun. Image taken with a Vespera Observation Station (50 mm lens, 200 mm focal length, f/4, 1/4000 sec) fitted with a solar filter. Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
Once it got dark out, I set up both the Vespera and Stellina observation stations to observe deep sky objects (galaxies, nebulae, star clusters). The Vespera was fitted with a dual band (H-alpha and O-III) filter. The Vespera captured images of NGC 6960: Western Veil Nebula, Witch’s Broom Nebula; IC 1396: Elephant’s Trunk Nebula; and IC 1795: Fish Head Nebula. The final one didn’t go to completion due to condensation on the lens.
NGC 6960: Western Veil Nebula, Witch’s Broom Nebula. Composite of 407 10 second exposures taken with a Vespera Observation Station (50 mm lens, 200 mm focal length, f/4, 4070 sec) using a dual band (H-alpha, O-III) filter. Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
IC 1396 Emission Nebula (Elephant’s Trunk Nebula). Composite of 623 10 second exposures taken with a Vespera Observation Station (50 mm lens, 200 mm focal length, f/4, 6230 sec) using a dual band (H-alpha, O-III) filter. Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
IC 1795 Emission Nebula (Fish Head Nebula). Composite of 175 10 second exposures taken with a Vespera Observation Station (50 mm lens, 200 mm focal length, f/4, 1750 sec) using a dual band (H-alpha, O-III) filter. Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. Note: Observation did not run to completion. (David J Mathre)
For the Stellina, I used the “Plan My Night” option to collect images of Messier 29 Open Cluster (M29, NGC 6913); NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy); NGC 7331 Spiral Galaxy (Caldwel 30); Messier 31 Spiral Galaxy (Andromeda Galaxy, NGC 224); Messier 74 Spiral Galaxy (M74, NGC 628, Phantom Galaxy); Messier 110 Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (M10, NGC 205); IC 342: The Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis. The system was set to collect images for about an hour for each object. For some reason, the telescope did not automatically close at the end of the collection. I am not sure if the external Anker Power USB power supply ran out. The lens was covered with dew. The Stellina system has a lens heater that is supposed to prevent condensation so may be the reason the power bank ran out. The Vespera system does not have the lens heater option installed.
Messier 29 Open Cluster (M29, NGC 6913). Composite of 131 exposures taken with a Stellina Observation Station (80 mm lens, 400 mm focal length, f/5, 1310 sec). Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
NGC 6946 (Fireworks Galaxy). Composite of 220 10 second exposures taken with a Stellina Observation Station (80 mm lens, 400 mm focal length, f/5, 2200 sec). Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
NGC 7331 Spiral Galaxy (Caldwel 30). Composite of 143 10 second exposures taken with a Stellina Observation Station (80 mm lens, 400 mm focal length, f/5, 1430 sec). Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
Messier 31 Spiral Galaxy (Andromeda Galaxy, NGC 224). Composite of 601 10 second exposures taken with a Stellina Observation Station (80 mm lens, 400 mm focal length, f/5, 6150 sec). Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
Messier 74 Spiral Galaxy (M74, NGC 628, Phantom Galaxy). Composite of 203 10 second exposures taken with a Stellina Observation Station (80 mm lens, 400 mm focal length, f/5, 2030 sec). Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
Messier 110 Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (M10, NGC 205). Composite of 367 10 second exposures taken with a Stellina Observation Station (80 mm lens, 400 mm focal length, f/5, 3670 sec). Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. Located near the Andromeda galaxy (bottom right corner). (David J Mathre)
IC 342: The Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis. Composite of 239 10 second exposures taken with a Stellina Observation Station (80 mm lens, 400 mm focal length, f/5, 2390 sec). Image processed with Topaz Photo AI. (David J Mathre)
Daily Electric Energy Used (46.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (51.7 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Surplus of 5.2 kWh.
Birds of the day viewed in my backyard: White-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco, European Starling, Black-capped Chickadee.
Birds of the Day. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (128.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (40.5 kWh) from Sense. Cold outside, resistance heating required. Deficit of 87.70 kWh.
As a really cold mass of air moved in the night sky was very clear. Lots of stars visible even though the moon was nearly full. I moved both the Stellina and Vespera telescope/cameras to the back patio and allowed them to equilibrate to the cold temperature (14°F/-10°C). Both systems needed to have their software/firmware upgraded before being initialized. They were then programmed to collect images of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). It appears that the boxier Stellina is more sensitive to wobbling in the wind. The system only accepted 33-50% of the images and even then there was some doubling/streaking of the stars. The Vespera with its curved surfaces is more aerodynamic and did not appear to be impacted by the wind. The software/firmware update improved the quality of the exported composite TIF images. Time-lapse videos were generated from the JPG images showing the movement of the comet relative to the stars. The battery for the Vespera gave up after about 5 hours, even though an external battery was attached due to the extreme cold. The Stellina does not have an internal battery. The external battery lasted a bit longer, allowing me to create a time-lapse video of the moon. You can definitely see when the wind was blowing resulting in some distorted moon images.
Stellina Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). TIF images processed with Topaz AI. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). TIF images processed with Topaz AI. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (100.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.5 kWh) from Sense. Sunny but cold. Deficit of 61.5 kWh.
I just arrived back home from a short trip to Florida and the night sky was clear. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is now visible in the early evening sky. Both the Stellina and Vespera telescope/cameras were used to capture images. The telescopes automatically track the motion of the stars in the sky while taking 10 second images. During the time of the observations (15-63 minutes), the comet is moving, creating a tail in the image. This motion can be viewed in the time-lapse video.
Stellina and Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). JPG images processed with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Stellina and Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). JPG images processed with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.
Daily Electric Energy Used (79.5 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (34.6 kWh) from Sense. Sun and clouds. Deficit of 44.9 kWh.
