Tag: Night Sky

Friday (27-March-2020) — New Jersey

Backyard Spring Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

Star Trails looking up and west. Only about an hour with limited clouds. Not many jet trails crossing the western sky as air travel has been significantly curtailed. One meteor trail in the second image.

Star Trails looking up. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens (ISO 800, 11 mm, f/8, 30 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Star Trails looking up. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens (ISO 800, 11 mm, f/8, 30 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Star Trails looking up. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens (ISO 800, 11 mm, f/8, 30 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Star Trails looking up. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D850 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens (ISO 800, 11 mm, f/8, 30 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Star Trails looking west. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 19 mm f/4 PC-E lens (ISO 800, 19 mm, f/8, 120 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Star Trails looking west. Composite of images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 19 mm f/4 PC-E lens (ISO 800, 19 mm, f/8, 120 sec). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (61.2 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (71.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Lots of sunshine. A surplus of 10.3 kWh.

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Thursday (30-January-2020) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey.

The night sky was clear and I haven’t done star trails for some time (Part 2). I set up a Nikon D810a camera with a 19 mm PC-E lens (ISO 800, 19 mm, f/8, 120 sec) on my patio looking south to collect a series of night sky images. The images were processed with Capture One Pro and the composite star trails created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum). The images were converted to B&W with Capture One Pro.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (85.6 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (38.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny with some clouds developing during the day. A deficit of 46.8 kWh.

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Wednesday (29-January-2020) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Night Sky Over New Jersey.

The night sky was clear and I haven’t done star trails for some time. I set up a Nikon D850 camera with a 8-15 mm fisheye lens (ISO 800, 15 mm, f/8, 30 sec) on my patio to collect a series of night sky images. The images were processed with Capture One Pro and the composite star trails created using Photoshop CC (scripts, statistics, maximum).


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (78.2 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (39.5 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A sunny day. A deficit of 38.7 kWh.

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Sunday (03-November-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Outdoor Night Sky Over New Jersey.

I haven’t done any night sky images recently. It is getting colder, and the sky was clear with the Waxing Crescent Moon (nearly 3rd Quarter) shining brightly.

Waxing Crescent Moon. Composite of six images (15 second interval) taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop (scripts, maximum). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Crescent Moon. Composite of six images (15 second interval) taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop (scripts, maximum). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Crescent Moon. Composite of nine images (10 second interval) taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop (scripts, maximum). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Crescent Moon. Composite of nine images (10 second interval) taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop (scripts, maximum). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Crescent Moon. Composite of eighteen images (5 second interval) taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop (scripts, maximum). (DAVID J MATHRE)
Waxing Crescent Moon. Composite of eighteen images (5 second interval) taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 600 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and Photoshop (scripts, maximum). (DAVID J MATHRE)

Daily Electric Energy Used (77.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (34.3 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. The sun was out, but much colder outside. Overall a net deficit of 43.1 kWh. Geothermal HVAC was on to heat the house (11.9 kWh). Monthly server backups completed.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (444 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (134 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Overall a net deficit of 310 kWh. Cooler out so the Geothermal HVAC was on to heat the house. Notice the 12 hours when the power was off.

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Ten-Years Ago (31-August-2009) — Alaska

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 10: Alaska Marine Highway on the MV Columbia. Haines, Alaska.

After arriving at Haines, Alaska we disembarked from the MV Columbia. I could have slept in the RV, but decided to splurge and spend the night at the Halsingland Hotel (B&B). They even put benchmarks in the ground to mark the location of hotels in Haines — 118 feet above mean sea level. I set a camera up looking out my window to capture night sky star trails. I also managed to capture Northern Lights which I was not expecting.

Hotel Halsingland Bench Mark -- 118 Feet Above Mean Sea Level. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-300 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)
Hotel Halsingland Bench Mark — 118 Feet Above Mean Sea Level. Image taken with a Nikon D300 camera and 18-300 mm lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 sec) (David J Mathre)


Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.