Winter Favorites

It's been a long time, winter has been over for more than a week and only now have I managed to compile few favorite photos from this winter. Well, finally, here they are.

Soon to come: more astro photos/news and gear reviews.


Foggy Road


Halloween meets Christmas

Tunnel of Snowy Trees

Major Blue Lights

The True Meaning of Christmas

Downtown Christmas Lights

Old Roadside Barn

Old Hilltop Farm

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Spring is Young Moon Season

Wednesday's thin crescent Moon with Venus.


While the Full Moon is often considered natural light pollution, the same astronomers who hate the full version may plan, days in advance, the perfect spot to sight a Young Moon just past new. So why the change in attitude?

Young Moons are, besides quite aesthetic, rare, very rare. To sight a Young Moon under 24 hours old (and even one under 30 hours old), all the conditions need to line up just right. If everything goes perfectly, on the day after New Moon, or even on the same day sometimes, just past sunset, a wire-thin crescent will pop out low on the horizon among the Sun's last rays. Needless to say, when dealing with a Moon less than 2% illuminated, binoculars are a must.

So here is why the Young Moon is so difficult to spot:

1. Timing. If New Moon is timed too close to sunset, it will be lost in the Sun's glare on the day of New Moon and will be way past a day old come the next night. A 36 hour Moon is no challenge, pure and simple.

2. Clouds. If it's cloudy, there's no seeing the Moon.

3. Light. Young Moon hunters are forced to fight twilight. With the Moon only 1-2% lit, just the act of spotting the Moon low on the horizon in such light conditions is a challenge because that is where the Sun is. A saving grace can be (and was for me both times) a nearby planet, Mercury and Venus, respectively. If you can use a bright planet as a marker, it is a lot easier to estimate where the Moon will appear once the sky gets dark enough.

4. Haze. Even more so than during the day, haze makes its presence known at dusk, looking similar to wispy clouds on the horizon. While the biggest problem during the summer, haze can even appear in winter, too. Even a crystal-clear day can produce haze on the horizon at dusk. While the haze will quickly dissipate come dark, that's too late for the Young Moon.

These difficulties compounded with horizon issues showcase why Young Moons are the Holy Grail of Lunar observers. How rare is it to see a Young Moon? In 2006, I caught a 19 hour old Moon and it wasn't until this February that I caught another sub-24 hour old Moon, this one a meager 17 hours past new. They were always there, but one of the conditions kept me from sighting one for nearly 4 years.

Now for the good news: spring is Young Moon season. Because of the near vertical ecliptic at sunset, the waxing Moon will hang higher in the sky now than any other time of year, which is good. For Young Moon Hunters, February through May (even June depending on time of month) is an ideal time to look. By the time July rolls around, the ecliptic is undeniably flattening too much to make observing the Young Moon really feasible.

Get out while you can!

Future thin crescents:
April 15, 36 hours old
May 14, 24 hours (a Young Moon!)
June 13, 40 hours


The Spring Sky: A Cosmic Zoo

Spring is the amateur astronomer’s cure for star withdrawal after the mostly cloudy season of Winter, and the Spring skies do not disappoint. Spring can be thought of as a zoo because so many of the Spring constellations represent animals.

Of all the seasons, Spring may be the easiest with which to navigate the night sky. Smart sky watchers utilize the now well-placed Big Dipper, an asterism within Ursa Major, the Great Bear, as a signpost to other parts of the sky. Follow the line of the handle’s arc about 30 degrees from the Dipper and you’ll come to Arcturus, an orange star and the brightest star of the spring sky. Looking up, you should be able to make out, ease depending on where you live, a kite shaped pattern of stars with Arcturus as the base of the string. This kite shape is the constellation Bootes. To the East of Bootes is a small arc of stars, Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown. Going from Arcturus to Corona, continue East to arrive at the constellation of Hercules. Although large, Hercules is composed mostly of rather dim third magnitude stars, the brightest six make almost an ‘H’ shape in the sky. Off of the top four stars in the 'H' are dimmer stars representing arms and legs. Using some imagination, Hercules looks quite human. Continuing about another 30 degrees from Arcturus using the line from the Big Dippers handle, you’ll find a bright blue star, Spica, the brightest star of the constellation of Virgo, which, like Hercules, is composed of mostly third magnitude stars. From Spica, keep going about another fifteen degrees and you’ll be looking at a trapezoid of second magnitude stars that represent another animalistic constellation, Corvus the crow. An easy way to navigate the Spring sky is to "follow the arc to Arcturus, speed on to Spica, and continue the curve to Corvus."

The lion is considered to be king of the jungle. Leo, the cosmic lion, rules the Spring sky. To find Leo, look high in the south. Leo’s brightest star is Regulus, a first magnitude blue star. Going West from Leo leads you to a dim, upside down ‘Y’ shaped grouping of stars, the constellation of Cancer the crab. Although Cancer is a zodiac constellation, it is not very prominent and will be difficult to spot from the suburbs The Spring sky is home to the largest of all constellations, Hydra the snake. Just below Cancer is another test for the suburbs, an oval grouping of third and fourth magnitude stars, the head of Hydra. The body of Hydra, pardon the pun, snakes its way over 80 degrees across the sky before finally ending below Virgo.

While a time for learning new Constellations, Spring is also a great chance to get a late glimpse of Winter constellations now descending in the West. Go out just as the sky is getting dark to catch Orion, Canis Major and Minor, Gemini, Auriga, Perseus, and Taurus before they take a vacation behind the glare of the sun before eventually reappearing months later just before sunrise in the Fall.

A special bonus in the Spring is the Zodiacal Light, caused by leftover dust from the solar system formation. The solar system formed on a disc along the Ecliptic plane, on which the planets now travel. In the Spring evenings, the Ecliptic is almost vertical, allowing for the last rays of sunlight to reflect off of dust left over from planet formation. However, to see the Zodiacal Light, you must live away from the city, the deeper in the country the better. As a consolation to city dwellers, because the ecliptic is nearly vertical, Spring evenings are a prime time for seeing the planets within the Earth’s orbit, Venus and especially elusive Mercury. Spring is also the best time to spot young moons just past new, again, thanks to the nearly vertical ecliptic at sunset. Between some recognizable patterns, the Big Dipper navigation system, and the planet friendliness, spring skies have plenty to offer.


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26 Hour Old Moon Captured

The Western sky last night at about 8:10pm. Click on the picture to see it bigger.

While not the sheer stretch that last month's 17 hour old Moon was, the 26 hour old Moon from last night was still a bit of a challenge, especially with the wispy clouds hanging low in the West. Still, I managed to get a shot of the conjunction with my Canon 30D and a Tokina 100mm macro lens. Missed the shot last night? Don't worry, tonight will be even easier.


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Catch a 26 Hour Old Moon Tonight!

The sky as it will appear tonight, thanks to Starry Night Pro.

Tonight, just after sunset, look due West and about 7 degrees up to see Venus and a 26 hour old Moon. True, while not within the lunar observer's Holy Grail status of sub-24 hours, a 26 hour old moon still isn't bad, and it will be relatively easy to spot thanks to it's partnering up with Venus, the third brightest object in the sky. So grab the binoculars and/or camera and head out to see the show-it's looking to be clear.


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Daylight Savings Time Returns: See the Winter Sky While You Can!

This morning marked the return of daylight Savings Time, an occasion dreaded by most amateur astronomers. Why? No more early-evening observing under dark skies. While the extra hour of daylight tacked onto the end of the day doesn't obliterate evening observing, it certainly pushes back the time of truly dark skies to about 9pm.

By that time darkness falls, the winter constellations/deep sky objects are really starting to sink into the Western sky, and eventually, into twilight. So, sky permitting, go out and see the winter sky before it's too late. By time darkness really arrives, the Pleiades and Perseus are due West, Orion Southwest, and Canis Major as high as it will get as it is due South. Try and get out, as the winter sky holds the brightest stars and some truly spectacular deep sky objects.

Now for the good news. Daylight Savings time means that you won;t have to stay up as late to see the spring sky, its animalistic constellations, and the galaxies that abound.


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Two in One: Feb. 2010 Astrophotos and Tamron Goes Supersonic

First Up: February 2010 Astrophotography

Here's the astrophotography efforts for February 2010. Hopefully March will bring a return to deep sky objects . . .

That tiny, orange sliver is a 17 hour old Moon.

Finally some sunspot action!

Not strictly astronomical, but an interesting sky.

International Space Station flyby at dawn

Orion and light dome, 15 mins, ISO 800 on Canon 30D

And now Feature 2: Tamron Goes Sonic

Tamron has joined the modern world when it comes to autofocus lens motors. Yesterday, Tamron announced its latest lens: the SP 75-300mm f4-5.6 Di VC USD. For those who are not familiar with Tamron lingo, the USD stands for Ultrasonic Silent Drive, which is the same as Canon's USM, Nikon's AF-S, Sigma's HSM, and all the other sonic drive lenses out there.

What does this mean? Fast and virtually silent focus. While modern micromotors can be good, they are at one distinct disadvantage to a sonic drive: the ability for full time manual focus. On a sonic lens, autofocus can be overridden at any time simply by turning the focus ring. On a traditional AF lens, one must switch the lens to manual focus mode first to avoid damaging the focus mechanism.

Tamron makes some great gear, and with this latest development, the usual complaint from users, mainly noisy autofocus without manual override, will be a thing of the past. Now, if only this new technology could be added onto some higher-grade lenses, say the constant f2.8 zooms.

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PMA 2010: Winners and Losers

It has been about a weekend a half since PMA ended, and, here at last, is the long promised analysis.

Big Winner: Sigma
While not a company many people think upon hearing the word 'camera,' Sigma offered some truly revolutionary products that leads me to declare this company the big winner at PMA. First, there's the 8-16mm lens. Ever since digital SLR cameras came to market, they have been at a disadvantage thanks to the crop factor. While the extra reach on the tele end is nice, the loss of wide angle is irritating. One undeniable advantage of full frame was that the cameras can simply see a wider angle, up to 121 degrees without a fisheye optic courtesy of Sigma's 12-24mm. The best any crop cam could do is a 14mm equivalent, courtesy of the Olympus 7-14mm (2x crop factor). APS-C users were worse off, with the 15mm equivalent field of view provided by the numerous 10-xx zooms out there. Now, croppers can have it all, as 8mm on a APS-C cam provides a 12mm equivalent field of view. This lens may single-handedly induce many photographers to stay with crop cameras.

If that wasn't enough, Sigma updated its DP1/2 cameras as well. While more evolutionary than revolutionary when compared with their predecessors, Sigma's second generation of large sensor pocket P&S cams offer one distinct advantage: zoom. Yes, the zoom is a resolution-reducing digital one, but still, all the inherently better performance of a large sensor is retained. For photographers on the go who demand image quality, this could be the best travel cam out there.


Big loser: Sony
Yes, Sony is the world's largest electronics company, but it brought nothing new to PMA except two new P&S cams, one of which is a weather resistant model crippled by a touch screen LCD. Aparrently, Sony shot its wad at CES with a dozen more cookie cutter Cyber Shots, like the world needs more. Sony's tally, so far in 2010 is this: no SLRs, no good P&S models, and no lenses. Sony seems to be going for quantity, not quality. What Sony has in its lineup is this: two high MP, weather resistant, marketed as professional-grade SLRs (A900, A850) crippled by a total lack of weather resistant lenses, an aging prosumer A700, and more low end SLRs and P&S cams that one can shake a stick at. For not bringing anything to market for serious photographers, Sony is the big loser this year.


Next up: astrophotography for February 2010


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PMA 2010: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Photo Marketing Association's (PMA) show of 2010 is now officially over. Now that the vendors are packing up and that all of the products that were announced for PMA have already been unveiled, it's time to take a look back on what companies had to offer the photographic world this go-around.

The Good:
Sigma DP1x/DP2s. While similar to their predecessors in many ways, the new generation of Sigma large sensor compacts offers one significant improvement that may get many people to buy: zoom. True, it's digital zoom and resolution is sacrificed, but all the benefits of a large, low pixel density sensor remain. Well done, Sigma! You probably have made the best travel cam in the world for photographers who value image quality.

Sigma 8-16mm lens. Essentially a shrunken-down version of Sigma's 12-24mm, the new lens offers crop cam shooters the amazing 121 degree field of view that was only previously available to full framers. Thank you, Sigma! If the inherently higher noise level and smaller viewfinder of a crop camera of no concern, this lens could single-handedly get many photographers to stay sub-frame in their choice of camera, now that the wide angle sacrifice has been eliminated.

Olympus E-PL1. This was the camera a lot of people were hoping for when Olympus launched its original Digital Pen a year ago: a small, affordable camera with interchangeable lenses. Well, the Pen fulfilled those needs, except the one about price. Now, finally, a large sensor, small body, interchangeable lens, and yet affordable camera comes to market in the E-PL1, priced at $600 with a 14-42mm (28-84mm film equivalent) kit lens, which is $150 cheaper than the original Pen body alone (and the update E-P2 and Panasonic GF-1 cost even more).

Nikon 24mm f1.4 lens. Nikon just sealed the last gap in its lens lineup: the fast, wide prime. Nikon used to make a 28mm f1.4 lens, but production ceased in 2006. Since then, the price for the out of production lens has tripled from when it was last sold new, as they are being increasingly sought, and jealously kept by current owners at the same time. Obviously, the fact that Canon makes three such lenses ($1,800 new being the most expensive) would be an incentive to buy into the Canon system. Now this new lens goes 4mm wider, adds AF-S, and offers weather sealing. Even though it's priced at $2,200, it should be a smash hit, especially when combined with D3s, D3, or D700.

The Bad:
Sony DSC-TX5. Sony has been making digital cameras for a long time, but it took the world's largest electronics manufacturer over a decade to finally launch a rugged compact, a class of camera that many other manufacturers had been making for years already. Now, with 2010 arrives Sony's first tough P&S cam, sporting a dust, water, cold, and shock-proof design all in the world's smallest rugged compact body. The camera sounds all good until one very important detail is reached: the 3" touch-screen LCD. Sony, what were you thinking? So now, instead of having easy-access buttons, the world has a camera whose settings can only be adjusted one at a time through diving into long, complicated menus in one of the stupidest features ever added to cameras. This clunky control system will undoubtedly mean many missed spur of the moment photo opportunities. A good camera ruined.

Nikon to offer 'better balance' between high ISO/pixels. Balance: the word in itself implies meeting in the middle somewhere. Right now, Nikon is leaps and bounds above everyone in terms of high ISO performance, with the new D3s leading the pack, old D3 and D700 still in second. This has much to do with the "low" 12 Mp count of the sensors. Now, Nikon is selling out to the pixel huggers by promising by splitting a camera line (D1-3), not by eliminating the top-notch12Mp sensors!

No new lenses from Tamron, Tokina. Two of the third party lens makers came to PMA, one of photography's biggest events, with no new lenses to introduce to the public. On the other hand, Sigma, the third member of the third party big three, came with a bagful of lenses, some revolutionary and others updates to already popular models. While Tokina did come to the show with an interesting mock-up of a 16-28mm f2.8 SD (sonic drive, super low dispersion glass, or something else-no one knows), they brought no new lenses to market for release.

The Ugly:
Pentax colors. The Pentax K-x might just be the best crop frame APS-C digital SLR on the market for low light/high ISO capabilities. The sudden ascension of Pentax from back marker to the leader of the pack was a shock to many, as previous Pentax models largely left JPEG files alone in regards to noise, leaving a detailed, but grainy image. Now, Pentax shooters can have out of camera JPEG files that retain all the fine details but now virtually noise-free at ISO 3200. Not content to rely on their wonder cam's imaging capabilities, Pentax Europe has launched the K-x in a rainbow of colors, including: beige, chocolate, fuchsia, pink, turquoise, dark gray, olive green, and light brown. True, while the colors do not impact performance of the camera itself, some of them look obnoxiously bad, and cheap, as such bright colors used to be a P&S cam marketing gimmick. Now those white Canon lenses don't seem as scary now that they can be compared to a hot pink digital SLR, do they?

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