moon

A little luna to lift the spirits

Posted by Photonstopper on May 30, 2023

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, astrophotography, M101, moon, supernova. Leave a comment

Taking advantage of a string of “clear” rainless nights and days, I’ve been learning by doing. My first objective was to image the supernova that was discovered recently in Messier 101 — The “Pinwheel Galaxy”. The object has a low surface brightness and, in our light-polluted suburban skies (Bortle 6/7) made worse by Canadian forest fire smoke, it’s invisible to me by eye and a very challenging target for imaging. Add to that the steep learning curve I’m on using an astronomy camera instead of a DSLR and, well, let’s just say results were disappointing. So I turned to the waxing Gibbous Moon last night and got some experience and passable results. This same Moon, as its phase grows toward Full, is making the sky brighter nightly. At the same time the supernova is believed to be fading now.

*A portion of the 10-day-old, waxing Gibbous Moon as viewed from Medina, Ohio, USA the night of May 29, 2023. Crater Tycho is prominent among a heavily pockmarked area in the lower left of this image.*

*The same lunar image as above but with some major featured labeled.*

A challenging eclipse wonderful to behold

Posted by Photonstopper on May 20, 2022

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: 2022, astrophoto, lunar eclipse, moon, total solar eclipse. Leave a comment

Total Lunar Eclipse of May 15 - 16, 2022, at 12:30 a.m., EDT. Some viewers may be able to see several white spots in the dark space around Moon -- stars within the constellation Libra -- better visible in the original photograph. Photo by James Guilford — Total Lunar Eclipse of May 15 – 16, 2022, at 12:30 a.m., EDT. Some viewers may be able to see several white spots in the dark space around Moon — stars within the constellation Libra — better visible in the original photograph. Photo by James Guilford

It looked like a great opportunity to see and photograph a total eclipse of the Moon! Too often, it seems, lunar eclipses have been either just starting or in progress at moonset or sunrise, either curtailing what might be seen. The May 15 – 16 lunar eclipse was an exception.

The entire eclipse sequence might be visible from my location with its peak — totality — at about midnight; not too late or too early a time for those who need sleep. Of course the big “IF” was IF the weather would allow viewing.

Lunar Eclipse Sequence Illustation, credit: NASA/Ernie Wright — *Lunar Eclipse Sequence. Credit: NASA*

Early in the evening things looked good but forecasters called for an influx of cloud cover and, of course, just as the partial phase of the event began, clouds began to gather.

At first, the brilliant partially-eclipsed orb was easily photographed through thin overcast. The thin veil of clouds gave a mystical feel to the event. As the clouds thickened, however, the view worsened. At times, though the camera could pick it out, Moon was visible only as a smudge in the cloudy night sky.

Early in the partial eclipse period, Moon has a flat, indistinct appearance due to being in the subtle penumbral eclipse. Earth’s deep shadow crawls across the lunar disk from lower left to upper right. Photo by James Guilford.

Late in the partial eclipse, I could make out a trace of copper-red in the darkened portion of the lunar disk though that did not register with the camera.

*Thickening clouds threatened to ruin the view and succeeded much of the time! Photo by James Guilford.*

Just as totality was reached, Moon was covered with clouds thick enough to block the view entirely. Disappointment set in but the clouds had some streaks where a star or two could be seen.

A fingernail-thin sliver of the formerly full Moon remained marking the final portion of the partial eclipse phase. Faint red coloration was visible to the eye but, at this exposure, the camera did not record it. Photo by James Guilford.

So while I missed the precise moment of peak eclipse at 12:11 a.m., EDT, I waited to see if the moving clouds would allow a peek at the still-red Moon. It happened!

Deep red and copper tones mark totality. No direct light from Sun reaches Moon during this period leaving only light scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere -- coloration from all of Earth's sunrises and sunsets -- to make Moon visible. The two bright dots in the blackness are stars in constellation Libra. Total Lunar Eclipse of May 15 - 16, 2022, at 12:31 a.m. EDT. Camera Info: Canon EOS 5D Mk. 4, 400mm lens, ISO 8000, f/5.6, 1/4-second. Photo by James Guilford. — Deep red and copper tones mark totality. No direct light from Sun reaches Moon during this period leaving only light scattered and filtered through Earth’s atmosphere — coloration from all of Earth’s sunrises and sunsets — to make Moon visible. The two bright dots in the blackness are stars in constellation Libra. Total Lunar Eclipse of May 15 – 16, 2022, at 12:31 a.m. EDT. Camera Info: Canon EOS 5D Mk. 4, 400mm lens, ISO 8000, f/5.6, 1/4-second. Photo by James Guilford.

There, in a narrow slot between masses of cloud, appeared the beautiful eclipse I’d waited for in the damp chill. I got busy with my camera, stood and wondered at the sight my eyes enjoyed, took a picture of my camera setup, and after only a few wonderful minutes, heavy overcast set in — the red Moon disappeared.

Camera rig used to make lunar eclipse photos -- camera with telephoto lens aimed at eclipse, visible in cloudy sky. — *Camera rig aimed at lunar eclipse. iPhone photo by James Guilford*

With no visible openings in the cloud deck approaching, I packed up my gear and went indoors happy to have been able to enjoy the natural wonder.

As a postscript, I submitted an image of totality to the local newspaper and it didn’t show up there. Okay, maybe not something they wanted. A couple of days later, too late to I checked my email spam folder and, to my dismay, the newspaper editor wrote that he wanted to use the photo but at higher resolution.

A smoke-stained Moon

Posted by Photonstopper on July 24, 2021

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, astrophotography, moon, photograph, photography, smoke, wildfires. Leave a comment

Though high in July 19th’s sky, our waxing Gibbous Moon was decidedly orange. Smoke, high in the atmosphere from North American wildfires, tinted what should have been a bright white Moon in the colors of moonset. Ruddy or not, I love that we can see mountain peaks and crater edges peeking up from the darkness just left of the sunlight terminator line. A friend commented on the sunrise-illuminated mountain peaks, “Mons Pico at 8,000 feet and Mons Piton at 7,500 feet are two solitary mountain peaks sticking up out of the lava plain in the northeast corner of Mare Imbrium.“

First Light and First Efforts

Posted by Photonstopper on July 10, 2020

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, astrophotography, First Light, jupiter, moon, photograph, photography, saturn. Leave a comment

Planet Jupiter and three of the four Galilean Moons are shown here, as imaged in the early morning hours of July 5, 2020. First Light for a new astronomical camera. And early efforts on new approaches to astrophotography for me.

I purchased a modest dedicated astronomical camera (ZWO-ASI178MC) recently, mostly for eventual autoguiding of my telescope during long-exposure imaging. The ZWO is described as a “planetary camera” so I thought why not? With Jupiter and Saturn near opposition and in good viewing position, let’s get first light tests using those beauties?

The penumbral eclipse of July 4- 5, 2020 was barely noticeable, even via telescope. The Full Moon, however, was impressive. Photo by James Guilford.

July 4 – 5 was the night of the very weak penumbral lunar eclipse and everything was set up in my yard for that. I had also made significant progress getting the new computerized telescope mount functional. Using SkyWatcher’s Wi-Fi module and my iPhone, helped immensely, providing precise GPS location and time information to the mount. Finder scope alignment helped, too!

So after finishing with the Full Moon and removing the DSLR camera from the telescope, I installed the little ZWO.

Planet Saturn shown here, as imaged in the early morning hours of July 5, 2020. First Light for a new astronomical camera. And early efforts on new approaches to astrophotography for me.

The camera worked well and I was quickly able to record images of Jupiter and Saturn. As a bonus, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot happened to be on the Earth-facing side of the planet. As for Saturn, I could see the image swimming on the computer screen so I didn’t expect much and didn’t get much. You can tell it’s Saturn and even begin to see some atmospheric banding.

Backyard telescope setup for the July 2020 penumbral lunar eclipse and later planetary imaging. This is an iPhone photo shot by the light of the Full Moon.

I still have much to learn about operating the camera control software and post-processing. As crude as the resulting images are, for first efforts the results are encouraging.

A celestial get-together

Posted by Photonstopper on July 10, 2020

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, clouds, conjunction, jupiter, moon, nighttime, photograph, photography, saturn. Leave a comment

The night of July 5, 2020 brought Earth’s Moon, and planets Jupiter and Saturn together in the night sky in what is known as a conjunction. The bodies

Conjunction of Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn the night of July 5, 2020. Jupiter is the bright “star” above the Moon and just below the clouds, Saturn is the tiny dot next to the cloud to the far left of the Moon. Photo by James Guilford.

didn’t appear all that close together, but because Jupiter is at opposition — its nearest orbital position to Earth — it was particularly bright. Much dimmer Saturn was off at an angle from the Moon forming a sort of triangle, if one drew lines between them. Humans love to connect the dots. At any rate, I went out to the countryside to photograph the gathering, first to a favorite storm viewing site. I shot an assortment of images, watching the motion of a few clouds around the Moon and planets. The clouds, I thought, added to the scene. From my first stop, I headed farther west hoping to capture an imagined scene with Moon and planets reflected in the waters of a small lake. By the time I arrived at the second stop, what I thought would be my prime location, slow-moving clouds had rolled. I stayed on location for quite some time, listening to bullfrogs and shooing mosquitoes, while watching the clouds. After some time I called it quits, packed up the gear, and headed home. I am, however, very pleased with the “consolation prize” seen above.

Venus visits the Seven Sisters

Posted by Photonstopper on April 13, 2020

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, moon, photograph, pleiades, venus. Leave a comment

Venus and a few of the stars of the Pleiades cluster the night of April 3, 2020. Canon EOS Mark 2 and Cassegrain telescope.

Early in April the planet Venus made an approach and passage through the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters. Many, even most nights were cloudy but we had a couple of clear evening skies that allowed a bit of astronomy and picture-taking. It’s notable that Venus makes the Pleiades transit only once every eight years so this was a limited opportunity to view and record.

Venus and Pleiades stars with labels.

Our Moon was also quite lovely the nights of the transit though it did provide quite a lot of bothersome intrusive light. Nonetheless, Moon remains a favorite target of mine….

Moon in its waxing Gibbous phase. Canon EOS 6D Mark 2 and Cassegrain telescope.

Tyco reprocessed

Posted by Photonstopper on August 13, 2019

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, astrophotography, crater, moon, photograph, photography, photoshop, Tyco. Leave a comment

Photo: Tyco Crater. Photo by James Guilford.

Tyco Reprocessed

I was messing around with my recent soft-focused “antique” image of Moon’s Crater Tyco when I discovered a Photoshop sharpening feature I’d never used. I reprocessed the image using that setting and got a “better” result: sharper appearance of the crater itself but with more grain. I think I like this new one better than the one I originally posted. Here they both are: Reprocessed Above / Original Below.

Crater Tyco, Sea of Clouds to the north.

We have some lovely lunar art

Posted by Photonstopper on August 11, 2019

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, moon, photograph, stephens memorial observatory. Leave a comment

Crater Copernicus in the Sea of Islands. Ocean of Storms to the north.

I’ve tried in the past to directly connect a modern DSLR camera to the ca. 1901 Warner and Swasey 9-inch telescope I operate for a small college. Because some original fittings have been lost over the decades and I use an eyepiece adapter a predecessor built, the telescope’s couldn’t be used for focal plane camera operation. Focal plane would have been like using the telescope as a 3,200mm telephoto lens. So I was limited to afocal use — holding the camera with one of its own lenses over the telescope eyepiece and trying to record that image. When it worked afocal photography produced very good, even excellent results for the Moon; dim objects could not be handled that way.

Recently it occurred to me that I hadn’t tried eyepiece projection: using a special adapter to hold an eyepiece, connect to the telescope and camera, and project the eyepiece image on to the camera’s image sensor. I scrounged around and found and eyepiece projection adapter in pieces, put it back together and, trying it last night, got interesting results. On this first try with the vintage scope the images all came out in soft focus with details at the center of the image somewhat better than those surrounding it. The overall effect is, I think, quite artistic.

I’ll keep trying with that old scope, with my own new telescope as well, to try and get sharp images but, for now, we have some lovely lunar art!

Crater Tyco, Sea of Clouds to the north.

A beautiful night for a gathering

Posted by Photonstopper on March 19, 2018

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: art, astronomy, Canada Geese, clouds, conjunction, crescent moon, geese, Letha House Park, Medina County Parks, Mercury, metroparks, moon, nature, northeastern ohio, ohio, photograph, photography, venus. Leave a comment

Photo: Sunset the night of a lunar-planetary conjunction. Photo by James Guilford.

Conjunction Sunset – Letha House Park

Sunday night, March 18, was to bring a lovely sight to our western sky: a conjunction of a very thin crescent Moon, with planets Venus and Mercury. I arrived at the Medina County Park System’s Letha House Park, where I have after-dark privileges, about half an hour before sunset. I was a bit disheartened when I saw the entire western sky covered with a mixed pattern of cirrus clouds. I thought, “Oh, well, even if I can’t see the Moon and planets, it should be a spectacular sunset!” I need not have worried.

Move! A Canada Goose lands behind another on waters lit by sunset, urging it to move along.

While I waited I was delighted by the evening songs of hidden birds. That sense of peace was shaken by Canada Geese, jostling for nighttime position, squawking and chasing each other in the air and on the waters. The geese provided me with entertainment and some lovely scenes of sunset-lit ripples and splashes.

Blue Conjunction. The setting Moon and planets float in skies that changed in color before finally fading to night.

As the Sun sank below the horizon, the clouds thinned considerably leaving some streaks floating in the light, reflecting in lake waters. The sunset, while beautiful, wasn’t as spectacular as I might have expected but suddenly the Moon became visible, then Venus, and finally tiny Mercury — and brighter than expected.

Colors of Twilight. Left to right: Moon, Venus, and Mercury, in conjunction, sink in the tree-edged western sky.

So, I shot many photos, changing exposure and composition, and captured a few images I rather like. I was a bit surprised and disappointed with the captures from the Canon 7D Mark 2 camera (a “crop sensor” camera) — they came out “grainy,” even though I stayed with ISO 400 for the whole shoot; that’s the camera I typically use for wildlife shots, not scenics, and I normally don’t see the grain. The full-frame Canon 6D performed very well (its images are typically “smooth”) though I wish I would have increased my exposures — too many were too dark and not recoverable — I’ll blame that on trusting the camera’s built-in LCD panel whilst judging exposures. The LCD, of course, looks brighter in the dark tricking my eye!

Parting Shot. The Moon, and Company, sink into clouds and trees to disappear for the night, their light reflected in dark lake waters.

Still, in all, a beautiful night for a gathering of Moon, planets, and sky.

Eclipsed: Tired, wired, dirty, and happy

Posted by Photonstopper on August 22, 2017

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: astronomy, cameras, canon, computer, computers, eclipse, moon, photograph, photography, solar eclipse, sun, total solar eclipse. Leave a comment

Eclipse at Maximum

Yesterday (August 21) millions gathered along a thin path crossing the continental United States to watch a total eclipse of the Sun. Those with favorable viewing conditions along the path of totality enjoyed an amazing sight and experience. Totality fell close enough to a west-to-east center line across the continent that at least a partial eclipse was visible to anyone with access to clear sky.

Since, with some self-doubt, I had decided not to travel to the path of totality, I organized and promoted the Hiram Eclipse Watch event. With the support of the Hiram College Physics Department, it took place on the campus of the college.

Photo: Solar eclipse in progress, moving towards maximum coverage. Photo by James Guilford.

Moving Toward Maximum

I planned to set up two telescopes: a six-inch Meade refractor with a Baader Planetarium Safety Herschel Wedge, and a 90mm Meade refractor with glass/metal filter. I also was to carry my Canon EOS 7D Mark 2 camera, 400mm telephoto, and 2X teleconverter (>1,200mm focal length equivalent), and white light film filter. Only a day or so ahead of the eclipse, I was testing focus and exposure using the gear I’d planned to carry with me. The camera failed! I contacted Canon and they advised it needed to be sent in for factory service. Fortunately, I’d saved my old Canon EOS 50D DSLR. I pulled it from its storage box, charged the camera’s batteries, and without testing, bundled it up and took it to the Eclipse Watch site.

The 50D performed like a champ, making the images I’m showing here!

Despite last-minute worries over cloud cover, even possible rain, we had clear to partly-cloudy skies for the duration of our 80-percent partial eclipse. An estimated 375 visitors came out to share the experience, and by all accounts had an excellent time. Several guests even sought me out and thanked me profusely for bringing out the telescopes and hosting the watch event. Some families even brought blankets and enjoyed a picnic on the lawn in the shade of old trees!

Their happiness and excitement = my pay day!

Photo: Lunar silhouette shows rough edge.

Detail From Above – Looking along the Moon’s dark curve, Lunar mountains, craters, other relief features show subtly in silhouette.

It was very hot and fairly humid and I labored hard in the sunshine erecting and operating the telescopes, rationing out eclipse viewing glasses, explaining the eclipse event and solar features, and making a few photographs of my own. By the end I was dripping with sweat, dehydrated, hungry, and very tired. I packed the gear quickly because a newspaper reporter wanted me to email her my eclipse photos for publication.

Photo: Photographer with camera and telescope. Credit: Dave Dreimiller.

Intrepid Photographer with His Camera and Very Large and Heavy Meade Telescope. Credit: Dave Dreimiller

In the cool air of the Physics office I was ready to edit and upload my image using my iPad and cellular connection. Oh, right. No adapter for the old-style memory card the Canon 50D uses! I had a memory card reader with USB connection with me but >> gad! << Hiram College computer network was down because students were returning to school and bringing malware in with their laptop computers! The Physics Department’s computer didn’t have a card slot for camera cards so I couldn’t transfer files from old card to new and to the iPad from there. Frustrated at every turn! So, I had to rush home to process and upload a photograph of maximum eclipse to a newspaper.

At home, I loaded the images on to my computer, edited the best one, composed a brief email, went to click [send] and the computer froze!! First. Time. Ever. Fortunately, after an emergency restart, the computer came back up as if nothing had happened, the message and image attachment had been saved in [drafts] and the email was transmitted. Whew!

End of day I was tired, wired, and dirty.

Oh yes, and happy.

The (Ravenna) Courier-Record – August 22, 2017 – Page 1

PhotonStopper

Life, the Universe, and Everything….

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