August 2010 Astrophotography

Yes, over a month after shooting wrapped, here are my astrophotos for August, which feature both late summer and early fall deep sky objects. Enjoy.


The Trifid Nebula and M21 open cluster. Between equipment problems, unexpected clouds, work, and the Moon, this one took a total of 4 nights over the course of the month to get an hour and a half's worth time.



M33, the Triangulum Galaxy

The spectacular Double Cluster in Perseus



Orion through the clouds at dawn, hand-held to boot!

The Moon and Jupiter in the morning

Cassiopeia, a favorite fall constellation. Note the Double Cluster below and the Great Andromeda Galaxy to the right of the constellation.



Another fall favorite, Perseus. Again, the Double Cluster is present above Perseus' head and the Pleiades are in the bottom right, note the slight nebulosity in the 5 minute exposure.

Awesome sunbeam

Thin crescent in the morning

The next day and an even thinner crescent

Full Moon

                                        
Venus at dusk.

Venus over a highway. If you want to see the planet, don't wait around, this is essentially the last week you'll be able to see it.

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July 2010 Astrophotos

Here they are: July's astrophotos. The early part of the month was pretty much a bonanza of clear nights without an interfering Moon, good times! I may be adding a few more to this gallery, who knows what's still on my little Olympus. . .

Anyway, enjoy!

The Dumbbell Nebula (M27)

The Wild Duck Cluster (M11)

M52 open cluster in Cassiopeia

M56 globular cluster in Lyra

Aquila and the mid Milky Way, not bad for a semi-humid summer night!

Jupiter and moons through the ED80.

M15 glibular cluster in Pegasus

Venus with the little Olympus



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June 2010 Astrophotography

Here are June's astrophotos. Not much in terms of quantity, but more than adequate in terms of quality. The bad news is that June was pretty much a cloud-out in the thin, fickle type. Clear one minute, cloudy the next, no time for an all-night shoot. The good news was that it was clear for two bg events: the Lagoon Nebula-Ceres transit (2 of 3 here) and the start of a lunar eclipse.

In terms of quantity, July is so far looking to be a lot better for deep sky.

Enjoy these in the meantime.


Ceres on June 2.
Ceres on June 4.


Sunbeams at dawn.



M92, the last of the great spring globulars (M13, 5, and 3 are the others).



Start of a lunar eclipse, note how the top of the Moon is darker than the bottom.



Gibbeous Moon



Sun pillar at dusk.




Double rainbow at dusk


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Ceres-Lagoon Nebula Transit Caught On Camera

It was quite an event for amateur astronomers: dwarf planet Ceres was going to be crossing the Lagoon Nebula at the turn of May into June. True, while Ceres is always visible (and photographic), the fact that it was going to be crossing the second brightest nebula in the Northern sky would make it very easy to find and then shoot over the nights of the transit.

The only thing that could ruin the event would be clouds.

Fortunately, here in Northeast Ohio at least, the sky cooperated for two of the three best nights when the event was taking place. Below are two photos, the top one is from the morning of June 2 and the bottom is from the morning of the 4th (the 3rd was a cloud-out). Marked with an arrow is Ceres, the celestial body that was once considered a planet for about 50 years after its discovery.

Sorry for the low quality of the images, but these were single night events and the neighbors trees do not afford a long view of something this low in the sky.

Hope you like them anyway . . .

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Five Years Of Astrophotography

My very first true astrophoto, taken May 31, 2005

For anyone who has even just breezed through this website while randomly surfing around, it should be readily apparent that I am an astrophotographer, just look at all the images (there are actually many, many more than posted, but to get them all here would take a year)! When it comes to shooting the stars, I am anything but alone in the pursuit of what is, for many, a lifelong obsession. While being an astropgotographer is anything but unique, how many astrophotographers can say exactly, where, when, and how it all began? Probably not many.

It was exactly 5 years ago today (at 9:42pm EDT to be specific) that I took what rightly can be called my first true astrophoto. Sure, I'd gotten pictures of the Moon before, buy anyone with any camera can do that, no special skill required. These were my first astro shots requiring special knowledge.

It was Tuesday, May 31, 2005. I was finishing up high school, and I was in a journalism class and had signed out one of the cameras (to cover what, I don't remember). That night I decided to turn the camera toward the stars. I had been reading up on astrophotography (of the film variety) for quite some time, however, I didn't have any camera besides an instant Polaroid at the time. Rats! So, knowing that this was probably my last chance to get my hands on a real camera for the foreseeable future, it was now or never to try some astrophotography.

The camera was an ancient (even in 2005) Sony Mavica, circa 2000. Long relegated to the bargain bin at local camera stores (and maybe to the garbage bin in the near future now that Sony is stopping production of floppy discs, which is this camera's storage medium), in their time, the big 14x zoom Mavicas set the standard for serious digital cameras. It was time to see what kind of astro cam one would be (it only had a 2 second minimum shutter speed).

Heading out into the driveway with the tripod, I set my sight on the brightest thing in the sky that night, Jupiter, then in the constellation of Virgo. The camera went on the tripod, I equipped the self-timer, zoomed in somewhat, focused on a far away light, then swung up the camera toward the king of the planets. The camera took the picture and sure enough, upon playback, Jupiter was captured as a perfect dot with two stars, Porrima (left) and Zaniah (right).

This was cool!

Not content with just Jupiter, I set my sights on some other celestial targets. Keeping with Jupiter, I zoomed in all the way and tried another shot. Much to my amazement, some of Jupiter's moons came out in the picture! Despite being my one of my first photos, this is still a favorite.

Before the night was out, I finished up by snagging Jupiter and Spica, Vega and Deneb, and lastly, Saturn with Pollux and Castor just above some shrubbery as they sat in the West. As a last astrophoto, I also managed to get the waning crescent Moon as I was getting dropped off for school the next morning.

Looking back, these photos are nothing in terms of technical quality, but everyone has to start somewhere and this is where I started five years, and thousands of photos ago.

Jupiter and Moons

Saturn, Pollux, and Castor

Spica and Jupiter

Deneb and Vega

Waning crescent Moon


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April 2010 Astrophotos

It's back: the Meade LXD-55 is working again (expect some information on the problem and the solution soon) and it's as good as ever. The result: for the first time in months, deep sky astrophotos of some early spring favorites. These, plus a couple of Moon shots constiture the astrophoto gallery for April. Be sure to check out the archive, too.



The Whirlpool Galaxy (M51)

The Leo Trio Galaxies (M65, M66, and NGC 3628)

The Sombrero Galaxy (M104)

Third Quarter Moon through the Tokina 100mm ATX-PRO Macro, image cropped

Rising Orange Moon with my Olympus Stylus 550WP

The Full Moon sporting spikes due to aperture blades. Taken with the Olympus again (duh, look at the noise!)

Up Next

The Stylus 550WP review is almost done, then there's the already mentioned LXD-55 saga, and who knows what else. Stay tuned, something cool is bound to show up in the next few days.

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March 2010 Astrophotos

Here's the astrophoto gallery for March. Again, a lot of quick stuff except for the Constellation shots. April should start bringing some new deep sky as the LXD55 is finally working again after a reboot. Enjoy.
Young Moon and Venus

The Big Dipper, rapidly rising in the North/Northeast

Leo, almost directly overhead by true dark

Corvus. the tiny constellation in the South, May is the optimum time for viewing for the non-night owls before it quickly disappears

Venus and a 2 day old Moon

The same thing about half an hour later with my new Olympus Styulus 550WP weather-sealed point and shoot. Expect a review of this sub $100 bargain cam soon!

Sunspots through a white light filter

Waning Crescent in the dark

After a cloudy winter, it's nice to see the Sun first thing in the morning

Moonstars with the Olympus, the little P&S can do night astro!

Third quarter Moon

Waning gibbeous in the morning


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