A few more pictures from the mostly-clouded-out lunar eclipse on Thursday.
I just discovered that Blogger has somehow changed the way files are stored, so downloading images with the original filename and size no longer works. This seems to affect anything posted after 31 July. So this post is an experiment, linking images to Google Photos instead of direct uploads. Sigh.
The full Sturgeon Moon was already in eclipse as it rose above the ridgeline of Snowshoe Mountain on Thursday evening. Unfortunately, clouds obscured most of the event, leaving us with only glimpses as the Earth's shadow progressively covered the Moon.
The following images were obtained with an Apertura 60mmED f/6 refractor.
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| The curve of Earth's shadow is clearly visible on the rising Moon |
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| through thin clouds |
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| last view |
Near maximum eclipse it was dark enough to see the Milky Way, clouds permitting.
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| Panasonic Leica 9mm f/1.7 |
The full Sturgeon Moon occurs on Thursday evening and undergoes a nearly-total eclipse. These images were obtained in the days leading up with a Sightron infini D50 telescope and a Brandon 1.5x MDB (effective focal length = 902 mm, more or less).
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| 21 August (Friday) |
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| 25 August (Tuesday) |
The clouds were mostly gone near midnight on Saturday and Sunday (15-16 Aug). Sky brightness on Saturday was 21.38 mpsas and Sunday yielded 21.3. Dark enough, but not fantastic. The likely culprit is airglow, which adds some colorful layers to constellations photographed near the horizon.
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| Saturday |
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| Also Saturday, different lens |
On Sunday night an OM 20mm f/1.4 lens with a Hoya Softon filter was used to obtain some constellation photos.
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| Cassiopeia (left) and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) right of center. |
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| The Andromeda Galaxy (left of center) and the Great Square of Pegasus (right) |
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| The Big Dipper resting on the Bristol Head ridgeline |
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| Corona Borealis over Bristol Head |
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| Sagittarius and the Milky Way core |
All of these photos were obtained with the camera mounted on a Move Shoot Move Nomad star tracker with exposures of 60 s.
"You can't always get what you want"
-- The Rolling Stones (1969)
The Perseid Meteors peak on the evening of Aug 12-13. This year that coincided with a new moon, which is a perfect combination for dark-sky viewing. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. I was outside at 2:30 am on Aug 13, staring up into a hole in the clouds for about five minutes, and saw nothing. Later that evening there was some open sky, so I set up a camera with a fisheye lens. Polaris was hidden behind a large cloud, so I gave up on getting the star tracker polar aligned and just let the camera record star trails. The result is shown below. Unfortunately, not a single Perseid was captured. Clouds floated through the view during this 43-min exposure, which created breaks in the star trails.
Camera and lens: OM-5ii + 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fisheye.
The past couple days we have been getting heavy smoke from the Elk Fire by Lake City. Last night some stars were visible, but smoke was obscuring portions of the sky. In spite of the poor conditions, it was an opportunity to try out a new Move Shoot Move Nomad star tracker.
The camera was an OM-5ii with a Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 lens.
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| Sparkle-6 filter. Heavy smoke on the southern horizon |
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| Sparkle-6 filter. Heavy smoke over Bristol Head (left lower corner) |
The northern sky brightness last night was 21.68 mpsas. This is nicely dark. There was some wildfire smoke in the air, but it did not seem to have a significant effect on transparency.
The following images were obtained with a Sigma 56mm f/1.4 lens, some with a Hoya Softon diffusion filter, some without.
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| The constellation Delphinus. Softon filter. |
Delphinus is currently high in the sky in the late evening.
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| constellation Corona Australis. Softon filter. |
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| The Milky way in Scutum. Softon filter. |
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| The Milky Way in Scutum. No filter. |
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| Southern Scorpius. No filter. |
This view of the southern part of Scorpius shows two open star clusters (M7 and M6) and two emission nebulas (NGC 6334 and NGC 6357).
A closer look at M7 and M6:
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| M7 (LL) and M6 (UR) |
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| Monday night. Ross 154 (red circle), (8) Flora (turquoise circle). |
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| Wednesday night. |
Last night astronomical twilight ended near 10 pm and the Moon did not rise for another 45 min. Between those two times the sky was exceptionally dark. The SQML meter pointed at the northern sky above Polaris measured 21.84 mpsas. It rarely gets darker than that. Even better, none of the neighbors had porch lights blazing.
Two lenses were used: a 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fish-eye for wide views of the Milky Way and a Sigma 56mm f/1.4 for narrower views.
In the middle image above some small puffy clouds were lingering near the zenith. In the bottom picture the Andromeda Galaxy appears just over the cabin roof. Some faint green airglow is visible along the northern horizon.
The section of Sagittarius displayed above was captured with the 56mm lens and a Hoya Softon filter. The circle just above center marks the location of the asteroid (8) Flora and the star Ross 154.
Here is a closer look:
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| Ross 154 (solid red circle), asteroid (8) Flora (dotted turquoise circle) |
The asteroid (8) Flora was discovered in 1847 and is the closest large main-belt asteroid. It is currently at magnitude 9.7 and 10.7 light-minutes distant.
Ross 154 is a magnitude-10.4 red dwarf that is the 7th closest star system at a distance of 9.7 ly.
On the right-hand side of this image is the globular cluster M22, which is 10,000 ly distant.
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| Region in Sagittarius just above the Milky Way core. |
The Milky Way has lately been mostly obscured by the bright Moon and cloudy nights. Last night there was a brief interval between the clouds dissipating and the rising of the waning Buck Moon. This image was obtained with a 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fish-eye lens. Moonrise occurred about 20 minutes earlier, but the Moon was still well hidden behind Snowshoe Mountain. The sky, however, was already turning blue with scattered moonlight.
A solar storm hit the Earth the same day, but there were no auroras visible from Creede at the time (10:45 pm) this photo was taken. Here is a photo of the Sun taken earlier in the day:
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| 02 Aug. Apertura 60mm ED f/6 refractor |
Until the Moon rises, Venus is still the brightest object in the night sky. It shines brightly at magnitude -4.1 in the west during twilight.
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| Venus setting over Bristol Head |
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| Full Buck Moon rising over Snowshoe Mountain |
Early Tuesday evening the 8.0-day Moon was visible through slight haze.
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| Milky Way and Summer Triangle |
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| Pegasus rising, with the Andromeda Galaxy (circled) |
These last two images were obtained with a Panasonic Leica 9mm f/1.7 lens + Hoya Sparkle-6 optical filter. A digital 3x3 median filter was applied in postprocessing.
Lots of rain and cloudy weather lately—given the ongoing drought, that's a good thing. There was a brief view of the waxing crescent Moon and Venus during Saturday-evening twilight. Near midnight, the sky was clouded over.
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| 5.1-day Moon and Venus, 18 July. |
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| 6.1-day Moon, 19 July |
The image above was obtained with an Apertura 60mmED f/6 refractor. A 1.5x Magic Dakin Barlow (yes, that's what it is called) was installed near the flange of the Olympus E-M5iii camera to give an effective focal length of 555 mm (1.54 magnification).
There are currently a number of large wildfires burning in Colorado. The smoke density here in Creede varies from day to day depending on wind direction. Thursday night was clear but with some light smoke in the air. Outside lights blazing on some neighborhood cabins presented a challenge because of the scattered light in the smoky air. The views toward the northeast and overhead were the best options for astrophotography.
In spite of the challenging conditions, this was an opportunity to test an old equatorial mount (purchased in 2019) as a star tracker for wide-field photography. The mount is identical (I believe) to an Orion EQ-1 mount. It came as part of a package sold by Celestron as the Powerseeker 60EQ. The package included the mount and a 60mm f/15 optical tube and accessories. I had been considering buying the mount separately from Orion for a retail price somewhere above $100 (I don't recall the exact amount). However, the Celestron package from Amazon was only $73! So I got the same mount PLUS a telescope for $30-40 cheaper than the mount by itself. Orion is now defunct. The Powerseeker 60EQ package is still listed on the Celestron web site, but I can't see it offered for sale anywhere. However, there is a Powerseeker 70EQ package that appears to have the same mount, with a larger optical tube and a much larger price tag.
The camera for these tests was an OM-5ii + Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7 lens. The mount was driven by a motor that had been purchased many years earlier for use with an Orion mini-EQ tabletop mount.
The sky brightness was measured as 21.60 (pointing away from the neighbor's lights), and the transparency was good in spite of the smoke. I could easily see 7+ stars in the Little Dipper.
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| The Summer Triangle: Deneb, Vega, Altair |
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| Arcturus (bottom) and Corona Borealis (above center) |
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| T CrB is circled. Arcturus is at the bottom of the frame. |
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| The mount and camera |
