Neptune in Aquarius

My first ever shot of Neptune! Neptune was the first planet found by mathematical prediction rather than by empirical observation, and wasn't directly observed until 1846! Took these photos last night at around 5:30am ET over the western horizon.

35 subs, 12 darks, 12 bias frames each at ISO 1600, 35mm, 8 sec, f/4.5

Cropped from 35mm image above

The "Coathanger" and Northern Cross Asterisms

I saw a post from Astro Bob about The "Coathanger" asterism, and I immediately went back to check my Northern Cross photos to see if they included this fun little group of stars. Indeed they did! Here is a Northern Cross photo I made last night at about 5:30am ET.

Update: Take a closer look at the Coathanger Asterism

34 subs, 12 darks, 25 bias frames each at 28mm, ISO 1600, f/4.5, 13 sec

Busy sky: Light trails and fireworks over Brownsburg

I made this image on July 3, 2013 from my balcony in Brownsburg, Indiana. People were setting fireworks off in the surrounding neighborhoods, and plenty of flights were coming and going for the long holiday weekend. 

405 images stacked in StarStaX, each ISO 400, f/4.5, 18mm, 20 sec

When I got back from visiting my family in Dayton for the 4th, I took a couple more from my balcony to capitalize on the somewhat visible skies (fairly hazy really, but at least it stopped raining for the first time in like 9 days).

192 images, ISO 800, 15 sec each, point and shoot camera

94% Waning Gibbous is the Missing Piece in my Moonsterpiece Moon Phase Composite!

My several month Moonsterpiece photo composite is complete! I've been working on this beast since February, slowly adding to my waxing phase collection, and eventually capturing all but one for several tantalizing cycles!

Victory was inevitably mine, however, as I was able to capture last week's 94% waning gibbous moon high above the haze at 3:59am on June 25, 2013.

It feeeeeels soooo gooooooood! Click to enlarge

The elusive final piece, captured in 30 subs at f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 100, 300mm

Now off to the printers! I'm totally making my composite into a print for my office wall.

June 2013 Supermoon with apparent size comparison

It was raining when I came out of the movie theater after seeing Man of Steel, so I didn't have high hopes of catching the Moon of Steel, er, "supermoon" last night. As always, I was walking my dog when I noticed a break in the clouds. It wasn't totally clear (a few thin hazy clouds remained) but there was another wave of heavy clouds on its way so I knew this was my chance.

I must say, I like having plenty of yard space to the side of my apartment complex, rather than a courtyard where all the doorways face the yard. This way I can feel less self-conscious setting up a tripod with big zoom lens in the middle of the night.

I stacked 19 frames in Registax, which cleaned up the supermoon a bit, but it's obviously not as clean as my Snow Moon from February earlier this year.

Moon photographs for the birds! (and of birds)

There's this big dead tree across the street from my apartment complex. I see it every time I take my dog out, and I've been waiting for an excuse to photograph it. On Thursday, I saw about 40 birds perched on the tree and thought it would make for a great photo (especially with the moon rising behind it).

Shooting in the changing light was a little difficult. The sun had already set, so I was in that "magic hour" right before it gets dark.

Click to enlarge, ISO 100, 300mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6

Nature in the warehouse district

Traffic was whizzing by at 35 mph with only a small sidewalk between me and the 5 lane road, but I'd still like to scamper across the street for a star trail photo some time. This big dead tree would be perfect (no moving leaves to blur the shots).

Brilliant ISS pass over Indiana

My brother called me on Thursday night to let me know the International Space Station would be flying overhead later that night. He said he heard it on the news. I verified by going to Heavens-Above and saw that indeed the ISS would be flying over Indiana at 11:00pm at -3.4 magnitude reaching a max elevation of about 60° or so.

I'm glad they reported it on the news, but you can tell they only report the really spectacular passes otherwise they'd be listing a handful of visible passes every couple weeks.

What luck! The station would be flying out of the NW directly toward my balcony, and the sky looked like it would cooperate. This was a great chance to try out ISS spotting from this new location, along with an app I've been dying to test under these circumstances - It's called Precise Time () and it "synchronizes time from high resolution Atomic Clocks from around the globe." Unfortunately it doesn't have the ability to SET your iPhone's clock, but you can open the app to see the seconds ticking away in precise time.

I used the app to watch for the appearance of the ISS, and was successful in comparing the predicted appearance within +/- about 1 second. This could be very handy for spotting Iridum Flares!

Series of 20 second exposures stacked (you can see little breaks in the ISS path)

Series of 15 second exposures stacked (point and shoot camera)

Venus-Mercury and Moon-Spica Conjunctions on the same night!

Dim Mercury was moving ever closer to brighter Venus just after sunset. I was able to get these photos of the pair low over the horizon.

170mm, 1.3 sec, f/5.0, ISO 400

The moon was also very close to Spica, but a blob of clouds was rolling over the area. I actually like it with the look of smoke surrounding a glowing moon and a little beacon off to the right. I have enough photos of the moon-next-to-things, so a few clouds for variety really ain't bad!

200mm, 1/5 sec, f/5.0, ISO 800

Milky Way Over Slippery Elm Trail, Don't Take Mediocre Dark Skies for Granted

I got a job at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) so I'll be moving to the Indianapolis area in just a few weeks. Because of this, I decided to try my hand at some Milky Way shots to take advantage of my rather rural location here in Bowling Green. I'd hate to get to Indy only to realize I was sitting under halfway decent skies all these years and wasted them. 

I've been waiting for the bright part of the Milky Way to return to the late evening sky later this summer, but I decided not to wait any longer and had to go out at 3:30am to catch the Milky Way high enough above the horizon. By the time the Milky Way is high around 11pm, I'll already be in Indy!

I took the dog out at 3:00am on May 16 and saw a fairly clear sky with some storms about 10-20 miles to the South. I figured there's no time like the present, grabbed my camera, and headed to the Slippery Elm Trail. I know the trail is closed at dark, but I figured I'd risk it since I've never seen anyone patrolling the path.

Stack of 10 subs, 5 darks, each at 15 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1600, 18mm

Single frame at 15 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1600, 18mm, processed in Photoshop CS5

The above image, before and after image processing

A fun piece of summer sky! Single frame color corrected in Photoshop

Stack of 7 subs, 5 darks, each at 15 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1600, 18mm

I got some pretty good results even with just a few subs stacked in Deep Sky Stacker (DSS). I only took 29 shots (15 seconds each) during my entire session because it was so late, I forgot a head lamp, and because I heard a creepy noise in the bushes next to me. Here is the story I told to my friends on our e-mail chain about my experience:

Last night, at 3:30am, I woke up to take the dog out. The night sky was clear overhead, with some very low clouds to the south producing flashes of lightning but no audible thunder. I looked at several weather apps and decided to seize the moment to take some night sky photos. Since I'll be moving to Indy, I don't want to take for granted the fact that I currently live about 5 minutes drive from some decently dark skies.

I slowly drove through the trailer park behind Walmart and parked as far down as I could along the Slippery Elm Trail. I quietly removed my camera bag and tripod from the back seat and shuffled down the trail beyond the reach of trailer park street lights. Under the highway overpass, I heard my footsteps echo as my pace quickened. I reached a suitable area and looked up to see what looked like a pale swath of clouds arching from the south horizon through the Summer Triangle - it was the Milky Way!

After shooting a few dozen photos, and struggling to find focus with no moon as a point of reference, I heard an unexpected noise about 100 yards in the brush to the southeast of my location. It was a short loud "WOO!" almost identical to the high pitched "woo!" sample in the 1988 smash hit "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock (http://youtu.be/vsxsyZqmmlQ)

It was loud enough to echo off the mound of the elevated highway overpass, but I didn't think much of it. It could have been a whistle or a wild turkey or a meth-head yelling "woo!" - so I continued shooting. 5 minutes later I heard it again much closer... "WOO!" At 4:00am in the middle of a field surrounded by young pine trees and honeysuckle, what could be making that noise? I froze to listen, and heard interval twigs snapping through tall grass under what could have been footsteps. I pictured an elk charging out of the brush, or a meth zombie eating my face and stealing my camera. Then I realized, it could also be the Ohio grassman sneaking up to see what I was doing out there in the darkness all alone. My eyes watered. I grabbed my camera bag without closing it and didn't wait to fold up my tripod before making an awkward speedwalk getaway toward my car. It was the kind of speedwalk you make after a 3 hour breakfast at Harris, except carrying an open camera bag and looking over your shoulder.

Did I have an encounter with the Ohio grassman? Ooooh probably not. But even though I had a camera on a tripod ready to go, I wasn't going to wait around to find out.

The end.

Asteroid Vesta flying past Open Cluster M35

32 subs, 10 dark, 10 bias, each at ISO 1600, 1.3 sec, f/5.6, 300mm

Full moon rising between apartment buildings

Thanks to the couple in that apartment for not freaking out at the guy with the camera 50 feet from their kitchen window :)

I was at the gym when the moonrise began at twilight tonight, but I saw it hovering over the intramural fields on the drive home. I went inside to get our dog Katie and took her outside to scout a spot to set up my tripod. My plan was to get a picture of the moon rising over the apartments next door. While I was walking around the courtyard I saw a big yellow moon looming low between a the buildings. It was like the Stonehenge of equal opportunity housing!

Apartments at ISO 1600, 1/25s; Moon at ISO 100, 1/50s

Messing about with the Full Pink Moon (99%) and Spica

The Full Pink Moon, named after a type of flower called grass pink, will not actually be pink as it rises tomorrow 12 minutes after sunset. In fact, it will probably be orange - similar to this twilight moonrise in February. Deferring to the alternate name, the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, might alleviate some of the confusion.

Tonight, the moon caught my attention through my bedroom window. I noticed a strange glare caused by the window pane that created 6 reflections that looked like they were orbiting the moon.

75mm, ISO 200, 1/5 sec

When I went outside to get a good look, I noticed Spica to the upper right of the moon a couple degrees away. The star showed a subtle blue color. Spica is actually a blue giant star 260 light years away. It's 15th brightest in our night sky. Tonight the moon will actually occult (pass in front of) Spica in parts of South America.

Composite image, stacked moon each 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100, 300mm

Taken from my bedroom window, this tree silhouette in front of the moon looks like a cracked plate.

300mm, 1/200 sec, ISO 200

Photoshop emphasizing the cracked dinner plate look of a tree silhouette in front of the moon

42 stacked frames, each 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100, 300mm

Tonight's 90 percent waxing gibbous

I wanted to take advantage of the clear sky, even though the moon is dominating and drowning out everything else around it tonight. Here is one artsy/clever moon shot through a pine tree, and a stack of 100 frames trying to bring out as much detail as possible in a realistic way. I think I'm reaching the upper limit of the resolution I can get on an 8 MP camera.

100 frames stacked, each at 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/1000 sec

There's a faint stacking halo to the right of the moon, as if one frame got mis-aligned and spewed off to the side. So I guess it wouldn't be correct to say that this is the MOST detailed I could be at 8 megapixels, but for right now it is.

300mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1 sec

Just to say I tried, here's a re-stack of the 90% moon with only 58 of the 100 frames. Like magic, no alignment halo! I wish I knew how to fix this without just dumping frames, but in any case, here is a much tighter result (original color):

58 frames stacked, each at 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/1000 sec

Composite Moon Phases

I finally completed my set of moon phase photos! Obviously these are just the named categorical phases, because the shadow on the moon is constantly changing by tiny percentages all the time.

It was a fun project to work on! Each image is a stack of at least 20 frames to clean up the noise. I took the photos between February 25, 2013 and April 14, 2013. I left the colors a little different because I used different camera settings for each one and took the images at slightly different times of night (and early, early morning).

Variety of settings, all at 300mm, f/5.6 with Canon Rebel XT stacked in Registax

I'm really pleased with the result! It's my own little moon collection. Previously, I realized I only had waxing phases in my collection. I must say, the waning phases are quite cool and different. I guess the waning phases aren't as popular because you have to stay up later and later to get them, or get up right before sunrise to get a good waning crescent.

Lyrid Meteor Recap: 2 Sightings but Nothing in the Can

Last night I woke up at 2:30am to take the dog out. I planned ahead for the Lyrid Meteor Shower by setting my tripod and camera out before going to bed, and making sure my batteries were charged up. 

I read that the Lyrid shower isn't typically as dramatic as other meteor showers, however I figured it was worth a peek since I was up and it was clear. 

When I took my dog out, I did a quick scan of the darkest part of the sky and immediately saw a meteor streak from East to West (facing South). The 83% moon was still peeking over the top of the apartment building and producing a lot of sky glow. After picking up Katie's poops I went back in side, optimistic that the meteor shower would be as prolific as the Geminids this past winter. 

Rebel XT: 18mm, 20 sec, ISO 1600, f/4.5

Rebel XT: 18mm, 20 sec, ISO 1600, f/4.5

PowerShot A3100 IS: 6.2mm, 15 sec, ISO 1600, f/2.7

Rebel XT: 18mm, 20 sec, ISO 1600, f/4.5

While my cameras were running, I spotted one more meteor in the general area where I thought it would make it into frame - alas, either it was just out of frame or it was too brief to show up on the sensor. Visually, I was able to observe 2 pretty good Lyrid meteors, but I was left with nothing on "film" a.k.a. nothing in the can. 

While I was out, I did become more familiar with the late spring sky, which will soon become the early summer sky. I spotted Hercules, and of course the Summer Triangle. I also took a picture of Arcturus, Spica, and Saturn in a triangle next to the glow of the moon just behind the apartments. 

Crescent moon with Jupiter tonight, April 14, 2013

It was cloudy all day here in Bowling Green, Ohio. At dusk, I saw the clouds break a bit, but a thin layer of haze remained into the night. Photographed from my apartment complex courtyard at 10:00pm ET, the crescent moon created a ghostly smile through the clouds. In this single exposure, Jupiter is a small point to the lower right.

Single exposure at ISO 100, 210mm, 1/2 sec, f/5.0

I also made a stack of the crescent moon to round out my stacked lunar phases collection. Before, I only had a single exposure of this phase of the moon. Now I should have enough for a composite picture of the main phases: crescent, quarter, gibbous, full, gibbous, quarter, crescent, new.

I also have to say, I'm super impressed with the Registax software! I took these 38 subs through a haze of thin clouds, and after stacking you would think the sky was completely clear tonight!! Impressive!

38 subs at ISO 100, 1/100 sec, 300mm, f/5.6

Waning 48% Moon from April 3, 2013

I grabbed this waning quarter moon between some clouds at 6:00am to round out my waning moon phase photos. I'm not sure why I shot both my waning phases a little darker than my waxing phases. I kinda like the darker moon, it looks more like a stone and less like a spotlight.

Stack of 43 frames, each ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, 300mm

Shooting star in the Big Dipper April 2, 2013

What is THIS? While I was shooting at Slippery Elm Trail last night, I set up my point and shoot to take some photos to stack into star trails later. I had 83 frames total, and I didn't see this object until I got home to upload my photos.

At first I thought it was an iridium flare, but it's not listed in the heavens-above.com predictions for my area. Plus, it looks like there are a total of 3 streaks of light simultaneously. My guess would be it's a meteor split into one big chunk and two little ones!

Update 4/8/2013: After further analysis, and some expert eyes over at Reddit, it has been determined that the 3 lights in the sky were, in fact, a trio of Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) satellites. I had no idea satellites flew in formation, and flew this close together! It still looks odd though - still more like an iridium flare than the slow crawl of the NOSS formation.

9:10pm facing NE, ISO 800, 15 sec, taken with Canon Powershot A3100IS

83 frames stacked in StarStaX, the odd angle of the shooting star stands out

Help from Redditors to identify the NOSS formation

Adding to my Waning Moon Collection

Since I made my waxing moon composite, I realized I was missing a lot of the waning phases in my moon collection. It probably has something to do with the fact that after the full moon, the moon rises later and later at night and into the early morning (at least recently). It could also be that the full moon is sort of the climax after watching the moon grow, and afterward it's less impressive to watch it slowly shrink.

In any case, here is a 70% waning gibbous from 5:45 this morning!

Stack of 48 frames, each at 1/400 sec, ISO 100, 300mm, f/5.6

Two hour star trails before and after color correction

I took these 210 images at ISO 800 for 15 sec each using my point and shoot camera with the shutter taped down. I'm so sick of light pollution, but I'm also sick of jacking up the contrast to make my photos look cool - so I couldn't decide which one to post.

Color-corrected and contrast adjusted version

Original stacked image with yellowish light pollution at ISO 800

Which one is more "real," the one that looks more like a red brick building and night sky, or the one that was untouched out of the camera (after stacking of course).

What's with the checkerboard JPG compression in this post? Below is a PNG version to compare. Ugh, it's always something!

This two hour stack is long enough to illustrate that Polaris, the North Star, is not at the actual celestial pole. The curved trail shows that it is very close to the pole (within 1º), but if the star were perfectly aligned with the pole it wouldn't make a trail at all! 

Green dot added to show approximate location of true celestial north pole