ASTROPHOTOS
We present here a collection of astronomical (and meteorological) images by our members. This material is copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced without the explicit permission of the photographer. Most recent contributions are at the top. We hope you enjoy the science and art of our creations. Clicking on any of the thumbnails will enlarge the image in a new tab, without text, to enhance your viewing experience.
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Boötes Setting Over Devil’s Tower Comments: The bright star to the right of the summit is Arcturus, in the constellation Boötes. Devil’s Tower, an iconic igneous butte, stands some 867 feet above the surrounding park. The only illumination was starlight, but with some careful bracketing I nailed the exposure settings. |
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Super Blue Blood Moon Comments: The top image was taken at 06:20 MST (9 minutes before maximum totality). The bottom image was taken at maximum totality. Elevation was only about 10°, so there’s a lot of air between the Moon and camera. This was a very dark eclipse, maybe L=1.5 on the Danjon scale. The “bright” star to the right of the Moon is Asellus Australis, aka Δ Cnc, magnitude +3.94. |
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Partial Solar Eclipse |
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Total Solar Eclipse Comments: I got lucky on this shot. You should see the ones I didn’t share. I really wanted to spend more time observing visually, and less time working the camera. |
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Perseid Meteors Comments: Two nice Perseids captured, considering the Quarter Moon was up and there were intermittent light high clouds. |
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Leonid Fireball Comments: A nice fireball from the last Leonid meteor shower. |
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Five Planets + Moon v2.0 Comments: This was my second attempt the following day. With rains on the way, it would probably be the last opportunity to capture this grand display. The weather cooperated, as you can see. Of course, I again needed to splice two images. But unlike v1.0, I did that splice so it continues the alignment in a linear manner with the correct spacing between Mars and the Moon. In addition to the Moon and planets, several brighter stars are visible. The Moon was overexposed at these settings, creating multiple reflections in the 11-element Zenitar, so I shot it by itself at 1/8000 sec and pasted it into the original image. This matched nicely what the eye could see. Again, this is a large image: 18″ x 12″. The following image is the same, but includes ID labels. |
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Five Planets + Moon v1.0 Comments: This is the preceding image with objects labeled for easy ID. |
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Five Planets + Moon v1.0 Comments: This was my first attempt, mostly thwarted by clouds, to capture all five naked eye planets joined by the waning gibbous Moon in the pre-dawn eastern sky. The distance between Mercury and Jupiter = 113°, so I thought it would be possible to get the entire group in one FOV. Alas, during this photo shoot I learned that my Canon has a crop sensor (22mm x 15mm CCD) that effectively changes the focal length of the Zenitar to 25.6mm and reduces the diagonal FOV from 180° to 102° (which is just wide enough to accommodate a double rainbow). If you scroll down to July 9, 2008, you’ll see what I mean. Why I never noticed that reduced FOV I cannot say, but it became obvious during this shoot. Combine that with the clouds, which prevented all 5 planets from being seen simultaneously, and you’ll see why this had to be a composite image. Note: Mercury appears “larger” than Venus because it was diffused by the edge of a cloud. Venus was behind a cloud. The image is 24″ x 6.5″, so you may need to scroll or resize it depending on your monitor. |
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Conjunction of Venus and Mercury Comments: Venus and Mercury are seen here at a separation of 1°21′. I was clouded out for the closest conjunction on January 10 (when the separation was a mere 0°39′), as well as the subsequent 3 days, but this is still pretty close. Atmospheric reddening is clearly visible for both planets. Curiously, in the inset, Mercury looks distinctly redder. I suspect that’s due to the excess of blue-white light reflected from Venus. Elevation was around 15° and both were dropping toward some low clouds on the horizon. The inset is just a digital enlargement of the original photo, with some pixelation visible. Nonetheless, the gibbous phase of both planets is clearly seen. |
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Moon and Venus Comments: A nice pairing of Venus and a very young Moon. Note the atmospheric reddening on both objects. |
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Lunar Eclipse Comments: A nice shot of the “Blood Moon.” |
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Lunar Eclipse By: Dan Heim Optics: Zuiko 200 mm telephoto on Canon 20D Imaging: f/4, ISO 800, 0.5 sec Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: April 4, 2016 Comments: This image shows the Moon as it appeared to the eye. The following image is a longer exposure to bring out the Blood Moon colors. There was a slight haze of clouds to shoot through, so the lunar surface details are somewhat blurred. The Moon’s elevation was only 15°. This was a very dark eclipse compared to others I’ve seen. With the Moon so close to the edge of the umbra (totality only lasted 6 minutes) there was a large brightness gradient across the surface. That made it difficult to get a good exposure without saturating the bright edge, or losing the dark edge. The time of both photos was within a minute of maximum totality, which occurred at 05:00:16 MST. |
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Lunar Eclipse By: Dan Heim Optics: Zuiko 200 mm telephoto on Canon 20D Imaging: f/4, ISO 800, 1.0 s Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: April 4, 2016 Comments: This is the longer exposure that better shows the Blood Moon colors. |
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Comet Lovejoy Comments: No tail visible on these dates. Green coma is caused by photo-emission from cyanogen (CN) and diatomic carbon (C2) |
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Saguaro Moonrise Comments: These saguaro are on the south slope of Gavilan Peak, about 1/3 mile east of Heimhenge. It was quite breezy where I needed to set up, with gusts to 30 mph. The tripod was vibrating and the images are slightly blurred. Still, I was pleased with the results. The left image is the first in the sequence, and shows the Moon as if it were split in two. In the second image (about 10 seconds after the first), the Moon had risen slightly higher, and the crown of the saguaro shows clearly with individual flower buds just visible. The third image (which shows a different group of saguaro) was obtained ten minutes after the second image. When the silhouettes were no longer interesting, I relocated my tripod 30 feet north of its original position. This generated enough parallax to hide the Moon behind the mountain again. The second moonrise started just after I got my camera aimed, so I was able to shoot another sequence of images. Unfortunately, it was even windier at that location. Most of the images were badly blurred. The third image is the best of them. |
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The Pleiades By: Jay Chatzkel Optics: Tokina 12-24 mm lens Imaging: Nikon D7000, f4, 11 s, ISO 1600 Location: Chatzkel Nature Preserve, New River, AZ Date: Sep 23, 2014 Comments: Nice view of the Pleiades rising in the southeast. Aldebaran just below clearly visible as red. Good seeing with Circle Mountain blocking most of the Phoenix light pollution. |
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Partial Eclipse By: Dan Heim Optics: Takahashi FS-128 + 40 mm Coronado H-alpha filter + 26 mm Plossl eyepiece projection for EFL = 30 Imaging: Canon 20D, ISO 400, 1/13 s Location: Heimhenge, AZ Date: October 23, 2014 Comments: This image was captured at 2:45 pm MST, showing the maximum coverage of about 20% from this location. North is at top. Several nice prominences are visible along the solar limb from 7-10 o’clock. A large group of sunspots clearly displays both umbra and penumbra. And the long linear feature at 6 o’clock is not a hair on my lens … it’s a solar filament. If you look closely at the upper part of the Moon’s limb, you can see some topographic relief from mountains/craters along the limb. |
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Partial Eclipse By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 300 mm telephoto + filters (#1 mylar, #2 ND2X, #3 yellow, #4 light orange, #5 daylight, #6 polarizer) Imaging: Canon EOS XTi Rebel, asa 400, 1/100 sec Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: October 23, 2014 Comments: Photo at eclipse maximum around 2:45 pm MST. Huge sunspot group covers almost 5% of the Sun’s disc. Limb darkening nicely visible. |
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Milky Way By: Jay Chatzkel Optics: Nikon D7000 with Tokina 12-14 mm lens at 12 mm Imaging: ISO 500, T = 30 s, noise reduction in Lightroom 4 and Dfine 2 Location: Chatzkel Outdoor Observatory on the Hill, New River, AZ Date: June 21, 2014 Comments: Clear June Solstice evening, on tripod, a little light in the SE coming from lower clouds reflecting Phoenix city lights. |
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Lunar Eclipse By: Scott Rohrer Optics: Sony DSC-HX50V Imaging: f/6.3, 4 s, ISO 80 Location: Anthem, AZ Date: April 15. 2014 (12:35 am) Comments: Nice results from a point-and-shoot compact camera weighing a mere 9.5 oz. I got the best results playing with “scene selection” using the “Night” and Fireworks” modes. See the following image. |
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Lunar Eclipse By: Scott Rohrer Optics: Sony DSC-HX50V Imaging: 1:04 am, f/6.3, 2s, ISO 80 Location: Anthem, AZ Date: April 15. 2014 (1:04 am) |
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Lunar Eclipse By: Dan Heim Optics: 200 mm Zuiko telephoto on Canon 20D Imaging: composite image: f/32, 1/100, ISO 100; f/8, 1/1000, ISO 800; f/32, 1/100, ISO 800; f/32, 1/100, ISO 800; f/32, 1/50, ISO 800 Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: April 14/15, 2014 (MST times listed on image) Comments: Of the dozens of lunar eclipses I’ve seen, this was the darkest and most red. At totality (see following image), nearby stars came into view. |
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Lunar Eclipse Comments: This image was obtained just after maximum totality. I changed the exposure to enhance the Blood Moon color. To the right you can see magnitude +1.0 Spica (Alpha Virginis). Above the Moon is magnitude +5.4 76 Virginis. The unidentified pixel between Spica and the Moon is probably noise, since I couldn’t find it on my digital planetarium. |
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Jupiter By: Raul Espinoza Optics: C14 prime focus, 12 mm eyepiece projection Imaging: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi, ASA100, 0.25s Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: April 5, 2014 |
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Alpine Valley By: Raul Espinoza Optics: C14 w/ 25mm eyepiece projection Imaging: Canon EOS XTi Rebel, asa 1600, 1/125 sec Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: Sep 3, 2014 Comments: Visible are the Alpine Valley, upper-pair craters Aristotelese (87 km) and Eudoxus (67 km), lower-pair craters Aristillus (55 km) and Autolycus (39 km). I finally got some good results after wetting-down the area surrounding the observatory. That significantly helped to cool the air, reduced convection, and improved seeing. |
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Triple Conjunction Comments: Top to bottom are Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, all reddened by their low altitude. Elevations, top to bottom, were around 5°, 2°, and 1°. |
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Solar Prominence By: Randy Shivak Optics: Astro-Physics 152mm F8 telescope fitted with the DayStar Quantum PE .5 Angstrom Hydrogen Alpha filter Imaging: Point Grey Research’s Flea2 video ccd camera, EFL = 3000 mm Location: Anthem, AZ Date: May 1, 2013, 9:44 am Comments: Seeing conditions were very good. My estimate is 4 out of 5. That’s why such incredible detail is visible. See the following image that shows a sunspot group nearly face-on. |
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Sunspot Group Comments: Nice grouping of sunspots. FOV ≈ 100,000 km x 80,000 km |
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Full Loop Solar Prominence By: Randy Shivak Optics: Astro-Physics 152 mm f8 scope with DayStar Quantum PE.5 Angstrom H-alpha filter, effective focal length = 3000 mm Imaging: Flea2 CCD video camera, stacking and post-processing of frames in Photoshop Location: Anthem, AZ Date: Feb 5, 2013 Comments: The detail in these images is amazing. Stacking individual frames is the key to extracting this level of resolution. As the photographer, I really don’t pay much attention to the exposure. I just adjust the exposure by watching the histogram to capture the most data without overexposing. Most images are about 2.5 ms. I capture 3000 frames at 25 to 30 fps. See the following image, where I used the same process on a sunspot. |
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Sunspot Comments: Detailed umbra and penumbra structure is clearly visible. To the right of the sunspot, part of a long filament can be seen. |
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Saturn By: Raul Espinoza Optics: eyepiece projection w/14″ CAS using 25mm, 2x Barlow, no filters Imaging: ASA 1600 tried at various speeds Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: Apr 27, 2013, 10:00 pm Comments: The atmosphere was a bit unsteady both nights (see following image), but with Saturn near opposition I had to at least give it a shot. The Cassini Division is washed out, but the rings stand out nicely against the disc of the planet. These images are true color, as no filters were used during imaging. |
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Saturn By: Raul Espinoza Optics: eyepiece projection w/14″ CAS using 25mm, 2x Barlow, no filters Imaging: ASA 1600 tried at various speeds Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: Apr 28, 2013, 10:00 pm Comments: My second attempt the next evening. |
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Comet Pan-STARRS By: Dan Heim Optics: 200 mm Zuiko telephoto at f/4 on Canon 20D Imaging: f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO 1600, Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Mar 12, 2013 Comments: Not much of a comet, as you can see, but I did catch it south of the young Crescent Moon and got both in the same field of view. This photo was taken right at the “sweet spot” when the light of dusk was still decreasing, as was the elevation of the comet. Both Moon and comet are seen here at an elevation of around 8°. Pan-STARRS was not visible to the unaided eye that night. Had to scan with 10×80 binocs to find it, even though I knew exactly where to look. Estimated magnitude was +7 to +8. Tail length visible (through binocs) was about 8′. A disappointing performance overall. If it does decide to brighten over the next few days, I’ll try a prime focus shot with my Takahashi. |
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Comet Pan-STARRS By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 200mm telephoto Imaging: CANON REBEL XTi, ISO1600, f4.5, 2 s (top image), 3 s (middle and bottom images) Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto Date: March 16, 7:25 pm Comments: This comet was a tough target. Low elevation, not that bright a nucleus, and a short tail. Two higher magnification shots follow. |
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Comet Pan-STARRS By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 600mm telephoto Imaging: CANON REBEL XTi, ISO1600, f4.5, 3 s Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto Date: March 16, 7:25 pm Comments: This is 3X the magnification of the first image. |
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Comet Pan-STARRS By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 600 mm telephoto Imaging: CANON REBEL XTi, ISO1600, f4.5, 3 s Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto Date: March 16, 7:25 pm Comments: This is also 3X the magnification of the first image. But now the comet is getting even lower. Atmospheric reddening is significant. |
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Moon and Venus By: Dan Heim Optics: Canon 20D, 18-55 zoom lens at 55 mm Imaging: f/7, 1/80 sec, ISO 3200 Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Aug 9, 2013, 8 pm Comments: Not the only Moon + Venus conjunction in our collection, but nice enough to add. Earthshine is just visible on the Moon. A bit grainy with the high ISO, but I like it. |
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Moon and Jupiter Comments: I couldn’t get the Jovian moons to show up without over-exposing our own Moon, so this was the best compromise. Captured at near-minimum separation for my location, Jupiter is seen here 0.6° from the lunar limb. My astro software predicted 9 pm MST for closest approach, but it now appears minimum separation happened closer to 6 pm. North is at top, and the Moon was moving toward the 7-8 o’clock point. Extrapolating from there, minimum separation might have been as little as 0.4°. From parts of South America, Jupiter was occulted. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a long enough right-angle extender to capture that view. |
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Moon and Jupiter By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 270 mm telephoto on Canon Rebel XTi Imaging: ISO1600, f4.5, 1 sec Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto Date: March 17, 2013 Comments: A nice conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter with a separation of about 1.5°. |
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Solar Prominence By: Randy Shivak Optics: AP 152mm F8 telescope fitted with a DayStar Quantum PE .5 Angstrom H-alpha filter Imaging: Flea2 video CCD camera Location: Anthem, AZ Date: May 12, 2013 Comments: With so much happening today it was a real challenge trying to image both the lift off prominence on the western limb, and the spectacular loop prominence (see following image) on the eastern limb. |
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Loop Prominence By: Randy Shivak Optics: AP 152mm F8 telescope fitted with a DayStar Quantum PE .5 Angstrom H-alpha filter Imaging: Flea2 video CCD camera Location: Anthem, AZ Date: May 12, 2013 |
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Triple Conjunction By: Raul espinoza Imaging: Canon EOS XTi, 140 mm, ultraviolet filter, 8 s, tripod mount Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: Aug 5, 2012, 8 pm (shortly before Curiosity touched down on Mars) Comments: Top to bottom: Saturn, Spica, Mars. Objects are diffused from points of light by atmospheric haze and some intentional de-focusing. But the color contrast is very nice. |
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Transit of Venus By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 6″ AstroPhysics refractor, prime focus, H-alpha glass filter Imaging: Canon EOS Rebel XTi, 1/200 sec Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: June 5th, 2012 Comments: This image was about an hour into the transit. The following image show a later view. |
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Transit of Venus By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 6″ AstroPhysics refractor, prime focus, H-alpha glass filter Imaging: Canon EOS Rebel XTi, 1/160 sec Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: June 5th, 2012 Comments: This image was 20 minutes before sunset, with significant reddening, and Venus near mid-transit. |
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Sun By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 300-600 mm telephoto, yellow multi-coated ultraviolet polarizer, neutral density solar filter Imaging: Canon DSLR, ISO 200, f5.6, 1/200 sec Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: April 23, 2012 Comments: With the upcoming annular eclipse and Venus transit, I thought it wise to start practicing now. Unfortunately, not much detail on the Sun in this shot. But at least I now know my system will work well for both upcoming events. |
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Sirius By: Raul Espinoza Optics: Dan Heim’s Takahashi FS-128 at prime focus Imaging: Canon EOS 20D with T-adapter, 1/4 second Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: December 8, 2012 Comments: Sirius was rising in the southeast and chromatic refraction was extreme. To enhance the colors, I de-focused the disc and captured these three images in sequence at 30 second intervals. All colors in the rainbow are visible. |
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Saturn By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 14″ CAS, eyepiece projection using 7 mm Imaging: Canon DSLR at ASA 100 Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: April 20, 2012 Comments: Seeing wasn’t the best that night, but after several tries I was satisfied to get these images. Interesting how the different ASA changed the color balance (see following image). |
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Saturn By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 14″ CAS, eyepiece projection using 7 mm Imaging: Canon DSLR at ASA 200 Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: April 20, 2012 Comments: This is with ASA 200 instead of 100 (as in the previous image). |
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Photometry By: Scott Lucks Optics: Celestron NSGPS 11 @ f/3.3 using Celestron 80mm, NexImage Imager: MetaGuide guiding software Imaging: SBIG 402ME CCD Location: Kickapoo Observatory – MPC G88, AAVSO LSCA, New River, AZ Date: data acquired from April 18-22, 2012 Comments: The calibrated image provided shows the target field with variable star RW Com (GCVS catalog) labeled “T” with comparisons stars labeled “1” and “2” (AAVSO Chart 6984CGN, 116 and 112 respectively) in Coma Berenices taken on April 20, 2012 LST at Kickapoo Observatory (formally LAMP Observatory, until I decided to officially recognize the fact that I need to kick dog piles out of my way to get to it). By the way, in case you were wondering, LAMP stood for “Loucks Astrometry of Minor Planets,” but I’ve pretty much gotten out of that game at this point. |
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Photometry Comments: Shown are differential magnitude measurements of the variable star RW Com and comparison stars. The plotted data represents instrumental magnitudes (unfiltered aperture photometry). Y-axis: range of differential magnitudes where 0.0 is centered on the mean magnitude of the variable (brighter values are negative in adherence to the visual magnitude system). X-axis: passage of time in hours (JD format). Charting software: MPO Canopus. The period was found by matching published value. Basically, I backed in my data to match. Seems to fit the published period well. Period (d): 0.2373459, Max (mag): 11.00 Min (mag): 11.70, but I make no claims as to its accuracy or correctness. This was my first attempt at gathering and plotting data for a variable light curve. |
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Moon and Clouds By: Raul Espinoza Optics: stock lens (18-55 mm) Imaging: Canon EOS XTi full auto Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: September 28th, 2012, 8:30 pm MST Comments: One day before the Full Moon, I caught a beautiful interplay of light and clouds. Read Dan Heim’s analysis in this post of Sky Lights. |
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Lunar Maria By: Raul Espinoza Optics: Celestron C-14 + polarizing filter Imaging: Canon DSLR at prime focus Location: Star Veil Observatory, Tramonto, AZ Date: May 9, 2012 Comments: This image was taken without a controller, so there’s some blurring, even with short exposures. The image shows some major lunar maria. Left to right: Serenity, Tranquility, Fertility. The Sea of Crises is at upper right. |
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Annular Eclipse By: Ron Walker Optics: PST with H-alpha filter Imaging: Orion StarShoot II imager, 1 second, processing by MaxIm DL Essentials Location: Walker Ranch North (Dark Sky Site), enjoying SQM ratings of 21.8 Date: May 20, 2012 Comments: I wasn’t originally planning to do any photography — just visual observing. But as long as I had the equipment, I decided to give it a try. I got about 20 photos, and am quite satisfied with the results. This shot, taken at the moment of max annularity, clearly shows solar prominences on the limb of the Sun. As you can see, I was just barely in the path of annularity. |
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Partial Eclipse By: Kai Staats Optics: Canon 60D w/ 18-135 mm lens, neutral density mylar filter Imaging: HD video with stills extracted and composited Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: May 20, 2012 Comments: I was only planning to do visual observing, but ended up improvising a filter for my 60D using a piece of cardboard, mylar eclipse glasses, and some masking tape (with a little help from an Exacto knife). This montage shows the event from mid to max partiality. |
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Annular Eclipse By: Raul Espinoza Optics: Canon EOS Rebel + 600 mm XTi Telephoto Imaging: ASA 200, 1/180 sec, filtered Location: Page, AZ Date: May 20, 2012 Comments: I drove north to Page, AZ for this event and, as you can see, was right on the centerline. The optics were mounted on my modified Sun tracking system. |
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Partial Eclipse By: Julio Coppo Optics: PST w/ H-alpha filter Imaging: Nikon 990 (manual mode), ISO 100, 1/8 second, f/2.8 Location: Near Camp Verde off I-17 Date: May 20, 2012 Comments: We didn’t make it quite far enough north to see annularity, but got some good photos showing not only the partial phase, but also many solar prominences. |
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Moon + Venus + Jupiter By: Raul Espinoza Optics: Canon EOS 20D, stock 18-55 mm lens Imaging: Full auto Date: March-April 2012 Comments: This shot of the 2012 conjunction is seen over Star Veil Observatory in Tramonto, AZ. Their closest approach was on March 13th, when the separation was a mere 1 degree. The inset shows the view a few weeks later, when a young Moon joined the grouping. |
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Cirrus Rainbow By: Roger Serrato Optics: Canon 35-135 mm lens @ 35 mm Imaging: Canon EOS 20D, 1/400 sec., f 14, ISO 100 Date: April 7, 2012 Location: Verde Valley, AZ Comments: I saw this while southbound on I-17, just north of Verde Valley. The colors were vivid, and this was one of those “gotta git it” shots. Though not really a “rainbow,” which is a result of light refraction, this is cloud iridescence — a diffraction phenomenon. The beautiful pastel colors are produced by interference of light waves. Image saturation and contrast were boosted slightly for better visibility. |
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Mushroom Cloud Over Palo Verde Comments: While enjoying our Arizona sunsets, I often notice this anomalous cloud that always seems to form in the same location, approximately SW from my point of view. Even when there’s no other clouds in the sky. I always suspected it might be a artifact from the cooling towers at the Palo Verde nuclear power plant. But this one caught my eye because of its distinct “mushroom” shape (at least at the start). The 3 images in this montage are separated by 30 minute intervals. You can see the cloud at first grow, then dissipate. So I decided once and for all to settle this mystery and fired up Google Earth. You can see my results in the following image. |
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Mushroom Cloud Over Palo Verde Comments: This what I found on Google Earth. From my location in New River, the plant is located about 56 miles to the southwest. Mystery solved. The cooling towers at Palo Verde are always venting a plume of warm air. During the cooler months, when the dew point is just right, the plume creates a distinct cloud separate from prevailing weather patterns. As the Sun sets and atmospheric conditions change, the cloud morphs accordingly. |
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Moon and Jupiter By: Tyler Pettit Imaging: Insignia 7.0 MP “point & shoot” camera, full auto, afocal through Takahashi FS-128 at 200X Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Nov 1, 2009 Comments: Tyler Pettit, nephew of Dan Heim, visiting from Minnesota, captured these images via afocal (through the eyepiece) photography. Though the Moon was near Full, some good detail was visible near the terminator, as well as crater Copernicus (top right) with its prominent rays. No detail was captured on Jupiter, but all four of the Galilean satellites are clearly visible. |
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Crescent Moon By: Roger Serrato Optics: Canon EOS-20D at prime focus on Celestron C-8 Imaging: f10, 1/8 sec, ISO 100. Location: Phoenix, AZ. Date: Sep 22, 2009, 8 pm Comments: This image of the 4-day old Moon was captured from my back yard in north Phoenix. Seeing was less than optimal, but many fine details are still visible. The large basin at the upper right is Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). The only crisis that night was the bad seeing. |
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Comet 17P/Holmes |
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M51 By: Barry Lindner Imaging: Celestron 11 (inch) SCT and ST-402ME CCD Processing: five 45 second exposures stacked and sharpened Location: LAMP Observatory, New River, AZ Date: Feb 2008 Comments: [Actually, this is the equipment owner’s comments, written by Scott Loucks.] We were just sitting in the control room that night enjoying some drinks. We made a run at one PHA and then I gave Barry control of the telescope, showed him how to pick off objects from TheSky, slew the telescope, and take the image. After that I couldn’t yank him away from the controls. This was the object he settled on. Not bad for a first attempt! |
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Lunar Eclipse and Saturn By: Dan Heim Optics: Zuiko 200mm telephoto on Canon 20D Imaging: f/4, 1/10 sec, ISO 1600 Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Feb 20, 2008, 20:30 MST Comments: The Moon rose, already in the umbra, and partly hidden by cloudy skies. At the time of maximum eclipse (20:26 MST) a fortuitous break in the clouds allowed us a clear view. The bright object at lower left is Saturn. We had about a 30 minute visibility window, after which it clouded over again and began to rain. The weather gods smiled on us this time. |
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Red Lining By: Dan Heim Imaging: Canon 20D, 18-55 mm lens, ISO 3200 Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Mar 3, 2007 Comments: Unlike a “silver lining” (which is forward-scattered sunlight), this intense “red lining” is an oblique reflection of filtered sunlight from beyond the horizon. |
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Crepuscular Rays Comments: With the Sun perfectly placed behind a dark cloud, conditions were ideal for the formation of crepuscular rays. |
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Crescent Moon and Venus By: Dan Heim Optics: Zuiko 200 mm on Canon 20D Imaging: f/16, 1/250 sec, ISO 400 Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: May 19, 2007 Comments: The Crescent Moon and Venus separated by a mere 0.8°. |
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Lunar Eclipse Comments: This fine lunar eclipse occurred in clear skies during a momentary break in our usually cloudy monsoon season. This sequence of images shows two interesting aspects of this celestial phenomenon. In the first image, you see the Earth’s umbral shadow cast on the Moon, with the peculiar curvature and haziness of the “terminator” typical of these events. It was this appearance of this “terminator” that suggested to early Greek astronomers it was indeed the shadow of the Earth, and thus was proof the Earth was round. The second interesting feature is shown in the last image. The Moon always looks more 3D when eclipsed, this one even more so. It was a relatively bright eclipse, with the lower right edge most illuminated and in contrast with the dark maria at upper right. It looked so 3D that I could almost imagine reaching out and grabbing it. The brightness of a given lunar eclipse depends, of course, on the extent of cloud cover around the Earth. The more transparent the atmosphere, the brighter the refracted red light illuminating the Moon during totality. |
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False Sun By: Dan Heim Imaging: Canon 20D, full auto Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Feb 15, 2007 Comments: Randomly oriented ice crystals in clouds above the sunset point produced this brilliant “false Sun” effect. |
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Double Rainbows By: Dan Heim Optics: Zuiko 28mm wide-angle lens on Canon 20Dat f10 Imaging: f/10, 1/10 to 1/4 sec, ISO 3200 Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Monsoon Season, 2006-2007, around sunset Comments: Late afternoon monsoon rains and a low Sun combined to produce these spectacular double rainbows. Note the obvious increase in sky brightness (back-scattering) both inside the primary bow and outside the secondary. I got lucky in the second image and managed to catch a bolt of lightning striking the side of Gavilan Peak, though the image needed considerable digital tweaking to bring out both the bolt and double bow. The third image is a digital composite showing the full extent of the bow — nearly 180 degrees thanks to the low Sun. Unfortunately, a 28mm lens, plus the effective 1.6x magnification when focusing on a CCD, constrains my field of view to around 44 degrees. And it’s tough to get the sky brightness constant for all images in the composite. |
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Double Rainbow Comments: To capture the full 94 degrees of the primary rainbow (and another 20 degrees for the secondary) in a single image, I would need to use a 7mm ultra-wide-angle lens (essentially a fisheye). That lens, available from Canon, is prohibitively expensive. But I recently found the Zenitar online for far less. It’s made in Russia, is compatible with my Canon, and can shoot at f/2.8-22. It’s a rectangular format fisheye, with a 180° diagonal FOV. This image is the first taken with that new lens. Unfortunately, in my haste to capture this fleeting phenomenon, I left the aperture at f/4 which was too fast (hence the washed out colors). I’ll keep trying, as we get these doubles often during monsoons. Next time I’ll bracket around f/10 and use a lower ISO. |
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Solar Prominence By: Dan Heim Optics: Takahashi FS-128, Coronado SM40 H-α filter, eyepiece projection @ 104X, Canon 20D Imaging: f/15, 1/10 sec, ISO 400 Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Nov 8, 2006, 11:00 MST Comments: This flare was imaged earlier in the day, before the Mercury transit began. I was just practicing my settings and caught this nice image. The focus could be better, but it’s tough to set that manually through an H-α filter, since the CCD is far more sensitive to red light than the human eye. And I was shooting under an opaque hood. |
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M31 By: Roger Serrato Optics: Rokker 28mm on Minolta XG1 Imaging: f/2.8, 10 min, Kodak Gold 200 Location: Black Canyon City, AZ Date: 2005 Comments: A fine view of the dense starfield near M-31. |
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Deep Impact Meets Comet Tempel 1 Comments: The collision of NASA’s Deep Impact probe with comet Tempel 1 is captured here (see light curve in following image). This image was used on the BBC television program “The Sky at Night” with Sir Patrick Moore. |
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Deep Impact Meets Comet Tempel 1 (Light Curve) Comments: Brightening of the comet due to the probe impact was not visually noticeable from LAMP Observatory. However, by plotting the delta magnitudes measured against time (delta magnitudes via Astrometrica minor planet software) the impact brightening was unambiguously detected as an increase of around 2.5 magnitudes. |
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Cloud Shadow By: Dan Heim Imaging: Sony Mavica MVC-FD81, full auto Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Jul 3, 2001 Comments: A monsoon thunderhead over Lake Pleasant casts its shadow in the sky as the Sun sets behind it. This effect is closely related to how crepuscular rays are formed. |
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Sun Pillar By: Dan Heim Imaging: Sony Mavica MVC-FD81, full auto Location: Heimhenge, New River, AZ Date: Nov 12, 1999 Comments: Ice crystals in the air produced this brilliant Sun pillar just after sunset. |
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Comet Hale-Bopp By: Raul Espinoza Optics: 150 mm telephoto on Olympus OM-1, piggy-backed on a 6″ guide scope Imaging: f/3.8, 25 min, ASA 100, Fujichrome Location: Star Veil Observatory, Yarnell, AZ Date: one fine night in 1997 around 10 pm Comments: Minor guiding errors, as you can see by the stars, but the comet still comes through nicely. Dust and ion trails are both clearly visible. |
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Comet Hale-Bopp By: Steve and Deannea Dagilis Optics: 200mm telephoto on Nikon F3 Imaging: f/4.5, 11 min, hypered TechPan 2415 |
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Annular Eclipse Comments: This image was captured < 1 mile from the exact eclipse center-line. I decided to use the overcast as a filter and got lucky. |
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Total Eclipse By: Dan Heim Optics: Zuiko 100 mm telephoto on Olympus OM-1 Imaging: f/2.8, 1/8 sec, Kodachrome ASA 64 Location: San Jose del Cabo, Baja, Mexico Date: Jul 11, 1991, noonish Comments: Ideal geometry provided a nearly 7 minute totality for this event. |
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Halley’s Comet Comments: The comet is seen here between Crater and Hydra, at a distance of 90 million miles from Earth. Note the star (magnitude +3.1 ν Hydrae) diffused by the comet’s tail. This image has been cropped to a 21°x13° frame. The comet’s tail can be seen extending to almost 10° |
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Atlas and Hercules By: Dan Heim Optics: Celestron Comet Catcher, 200X eyepiece projection, Olympus OM-1 Imaging: 1/2 sec, Kodachrome ASA 400 Location: Phoenix, AZ Date: Jun 1, 1985, 9 pm MST Comments: This view of the northeast limb shows the elusive twin craters Atlas and Hercules, caught during a favorable libration. |
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Total Eclipse Comments: This image was captured after an all-night drive from the University of Chicago. |
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