Venus and Moon With My Camera Phone

I got a quick shot of the Moon and Venus this morning. Of course M44 can't be seen. No time to drag out the scope, I was on my way to work.

The Moon Jupiter and Aldebaran

As promised I fired off a couple of shots this morning. I kind of like this one, subdued but three nice targets all in the field of view. Unsharp mask and a little color and contrast tweaking in Photoshop CS4. Canon Digital Rebel XTi, Canon 55-200mm zoom lens at 90mm f5.6, ISO 200 2.5 second exposure. Mounted on a fixed tripod, taken from the sidewalk just outside our building.

Hopefully I will add a few more from what I got tonight.

Clear skies all.

Venus, the Moon and conjunctions in September 2012.

I got a quick shot of Venus and the Moon on the morning of August 13th using my phone camera.

Of course the real photo ops I am looking forward to are coming this month (September, 2012).

On the morning of the 8th we will have a nice close conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter. The pairing will rise in the eastern sky around midnight and Jupiter and the Moon will close to within 1 degree of one another by 5am PDT.

On the next morning the Moon will occult the dwarf planet Ceres. Ingress will occur at 12:27am PDT, egress at 1:27am PDT. Since Ceres only shines at 8.8 magnitude seeing it visually next to the Moons bright limb will prove difficult if not impossible especially during ingress. Imagers will certainly have better luck.

Then on the morning of September 12th a slender crescent Moon and Venus will grace the same field.

Last but certainly not least, on the morning of the 13th Venus and M44 (the Beehive cluster) have a close conjunction. Binoculars or a low power telescope view will make this the most dazzling of all.

I have my fingers crossed for clear skies so I can get some good shots and views. If I am successful you can look forward to seeing them here.

Clear skies.

Elk Falls, Campbell River BC

If you ever have the chance to visit Vancouver Island in general and Campbell River in particular may I suggest a quick trip to Elk Falls. It is just a couple of minutes out of town and a short walk to see the falls. Here is a shot I got with my phone. I will be adding some that I took with my Canon XTi when I have done processing them (just got back from vacation on Monday). Got some great shots from various locations on Vancouver Island and around the Lower Mainland.

Colorful Sunset

Living on the Pacific coast of British Columbia offers some stunning natural beauty and tremendous opportunities to enjoy nature. But my goodness does it rain. Some times we don't even realize when the sun set let alone enjoy a sunset. But some days, boy do we get some beauties. I was fortunate enough to capture this especially colorful example one evening and it was by pure chance. Burrard Inlet and Lions Gate Bridge can be seen in the foreground as well. Canon Digital Rebel XTi, ISO 800, 1/3 sec exposure at f3.5, 18-55mm zoom lens at 18mm. Slight post processing in Photoshops CS4.

Sun Shot Through Baader Solar Film

I picked up some Baader Solar Filter Film to make a filter for my Burgess Optical 91mm APO to get some shots of the transit of Venus. I was totally clouded out for that but I am still going to get use out of it by getting some nice white light sunspot shots. Here is a quick example, Canon Rebel XTi, ISO 100, 1/1000 sec exposure, prime focus in B.O. 91mm APO, mounted on a Manfrotto tripod with a William Optics Alt/Az mount. Cropped and a touch of unsharp mask. No other processing.

My Little Refractor

This is a video I made about the refractor I use to take many of the shots you will find here. It is a Burgess Optical 91mm APO. The color rendition is terrific. I have been more than happy with the choice.

Here is a moon shot that I got with it at prime with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi.

Here is the video:

The nice thing about this set up is that I can be up and observing in minutes. It offers marvelous wide views and I can even manage some good planetary work on steady nights as it takes power really well. I have thrown a 4mm into it and had some great lunar and planetary views. My workhorse eyepiece in it is a 7mm William Optics, but I have used dang near my entire collection in it and it has handled all like a champ. Great scope.