Time-Lapse Video - David Mathre Photography

Friday (03-February-2023) — New Jersey

Backyard Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

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.

Wednesday (01-February-2023) — New Jersey

Backyard Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

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.

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.

Sunday (15-January-2023) — New Jersey

Backyard Nighttime Sky Over New Jersey.

After several days of clouds and rain, the skies finally cleared. I had both the Stellina and Vespera systems out. There currently several active sunspots. During the night I captured images of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), Orion Galaxy (M42), Rosette Nebula (NBC 2237), Satellite Cluster (NGC 2244), Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), and the Moon. Also, I used the manual mode to search for the Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). It was finally high enough to be viewed to the northeast over the house from my patio. I used the Sky Live website to get the location, and then just plugged the numbers into the Singularity application. Within minutes, both the Stellina and Vespera systems had the comet centered and started taking images.

For the following images, I processed the final JPG image with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. For the raw TIFF images, I needed to use Capture One Pro first, followed by Topaz AI. Follow the link to my PhotoShelter Gallery for larger views of the images. The nebulae images taken using the dual H-alpha, O-III filter are more vivid.

Vespera Deep Sky Observations. JPG images processed with Topaz AI, followed by Capture One Pro. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Vespera Deep Sky Observations. TIF images processed with Capture One Pro followed by Topaz AI. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Since it was a dark night, I also set up a camera to capture images for a composite star and jet trails view looking north. Polaris isn’t exactly at the celestial north point. The file size is 11656 x 8742 (403.4MB).

alt_title. (David J Mathre) — Star and Jet Trails looking north. Composite of 110 images taken with a Hasselblad X2d camera and 30 mm f/3.5 lens (ISO 64, 30 mm, f/8, 323 sec). Raw images processed with Phocus and Capture One Pro. Composite created with Photoshop (scripts, statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (92.8 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (33.3 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Deficit of 59.6 kWh.

Weekly Electric Energy Used (618 kWh) from Sense. Weekly Solar Electric Energy Produced (121 kWh) from Sense. Deficit of 497 kWh.

Saturday (24-December-2022) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime in New Jersey.

It was cold and breezy in the morning, but the sky was clear. So I decided to try out the Vespera Astro-camera with a solar filter to view the sun. I followed the instruction on the Singularity app and within 10 minutes was getting solar disk images with several sunspots. Unlike the nighttime observations where multiple images are used to make a composite image, the camera is taking individual images. It continues to track the position of the sun for as long as images are being recorded. I made a short time-lapse video shown below. One of the images captures the silhouette of a jet passing in front of the sun.

Jet Silhouette. (David J Mathre) — Silhouette of a Jet passing the Sun. Image taken with a Vespera Astro-camera. (David J Mathre)

The sky was clear again in the evening. I set the camera up just after astronomical twilight. I replaced the solar filter that I used earlier in the day with a dual band filter. The filter transmits wavelengths of light from the Hydrogen Alpha (H-alpha) and Oxygen III (O-III) emission bands seen in nebula. The filter has a sensor that lets the camera know that it has been installed. Presumably to adjust the sensor acquisition parameters. The filter appears to really improve the detail and contrast of the nebula images. During the night I used the Vespera to obtain images of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000), North America Nebula (M45), Crab Nebula (M1), Jellyfish Nebula (IC 433), Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237), Orion Nebula (M42), De Mairan’s Nebula (M43), Thor’s Helmet Nebula (NGC 2359).

Vespera Deep Sky Observations. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

I also set up a camera for a star trail image looking south. The same general direction that is open for the deep sky Vespera astro-camera from my patio. Unfortunately, the raw file format (*.3FR) from the Hasselblad camera is not recognized by Capture One Pro. So this star trail image is a composite of the jpg images processed by Capture One Pro and PhotoShop CC.

Star Trails. (David J Mathre) — Star and Jet Trails looking South. Composite of 67 images taken with a Hasselblad X2D camera and 30 mm f/3.5 lens (ISO 64, 30 mm, f/8, 323 sec). (David J Mathre)

Daily Electric Energy Used (169.2 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (29.4 kWh) from Sense. Sunny. Deficit of 139.8 kWh. This is most electricity used in one day since I started monitoring. Mainly because the GeoThermal HVAC needed the resistance heaters to boost the amount of heating needed to keep the indoor temperature at 66°F. The outdoor temperatures are supposed to get warmer over the next few days.

Monday (19-September-2022)

Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Hamlett’s Tree folks continued clearing the “back 40”. The last of the dead Ash trees were removed. Individual B&W images taken with a Leica Q2 monochrome camera, and a time-lapse video taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera.

Hamlett’s Tree Service. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Time-lapse video to be added.

Daily Electric Energy Used (64.0 kWh) from Sense. Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (40.4 kWh) from Sense. Cloudy. Deficit of 23.6 kWh.