Blood red sunset over Indiana on June 17, 2013

My west-facing balcony is really paying off! I can easily check the sky conditions at any time. I saw this bright burning sky while I was on the phone with my mom and I said "I gotta go, there is a really cool sunset and it can't wait."

Not only can I not multi-task, but I had to use my phone to record a timelapse video (bottom).

  The TimeLapse app () on my phone now has smart exposure, so you can see it constantly trying to keep up with the changing light. 

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

Clouds rollin' in! Evening sky iPhone time lapses from my first week in Indiana

I took these videos using a time lapse app on my iPhone 5 shooting in 1080p. I forget the exact settings, but they're around 40-50 times regular speed.





I'm getting pretty sick of these clouds. They swoop in from Lake Michigan to the NW, and always get worse in the evening for some reason.

View from my new apartment balcony

Thoughts after my first week living in Brownsburg, Indiana... It's definitely not rural - even though we do have corn fields, the light pollution from the city and surrounding areas are distinct reminders that I am a 5 minute drive from sprawling malls, the intersection of 4 interstate highways, and the expanding residential communities of Indianapolis.

On the other hand, I've had nothing but thin layers of hazy clouds since I've been here (except the night that it rained for about 14 hours). With that in mind, I can't really give an evaluation of the sky on a clear night just yet. The light domes on the horizon were likely magnified by the reflective layers of cloud - making them look worse than normal. 

Clouds aren't all bad though, and I've gotten to enjoy a series of sunsets since day one. Here is a crescent moon from my balcony the night I moved in...

Crescent moon through evening clouds

And here's my view of the horizon facing west in the evening...

Screen shot from balcony sunset timelapse video, taken with iPhone

Setting sun with sundog (right) taken with iPhone

I'd estimate that I have a view of about 5º above the horizon from NW to S, which is where a lot of comet and planet action takes place in twilight. I'm also pretty excited about being able to leave my camera out at night without worrying about it getting stolen since I'm on the 2nd floor. 

Purbach's Cross / Lunar X on June 15, 2013

I've tried before to get a good shot of the Lunar X or Purbach's Cross. I noticed that I accidentally got the X in an earlier shot before I knew how to stack images to reduce noise, so I wanted to make a more deliberate attempt.

The X is clearly visible about 3/4 down the terminator of the lunar disc. Although the "Lunar terminator" sounds like a great science fiction movie, it's basically "the division between the illuminated and dark parts of the Earth's Moon. It is the lunar equivalent of the division between night and day" (Wikipedia).

I usually try to see the X around Half Moon (50%) but it actually occurs much sooner. Using a lunar phase iPhone app, this X occurred at 43.25% illumination.

Sorry for the JPG, Blogger was being funky and said my PNG wasn't an image file for some reason.