Super Moon 2012!

Super moon...Saturday May 5th. I didn't realize it until I uploaded
this picture onto my computer, but I think that's a jet contrail in front
of the moon. I'm glad the weather was clear last night. What a beautiful
sight!

I took this picture of Venus and Jupiter on March 13th.

"Images of broken light, which
Dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on across the universe."
~ John Lennon

The planet Venus, crescent moon and the planet
Jupiter on March 25th. By the time I got out to
take pictures, the moon and Jupiter were starting
to set.

The planet Venus, crescent moon and the planet
Jupiter on March 26th. I got this shot earlier in
the evening. It was a beautiful sight!

Venus & Jupiter

The planets Jupiter and Venus in alignment last night. It was a
gorgeous evening to go out and get some shots of this celestial
encounter. This event happens every 13 months. Last night, the
two planets were separated by just 3 degrees. Venus is the brighter
of the two planets even though it's much smaller in size.


When two planets line up in the sky, astronomers call it "planetary
conjunction." March 24th, 25th and 26th, a crescent moon will join
the global meeting between Jupiter and Venus being visible with the
two planets.


I took this shot of Jupiter and Venus looking through the top of our
garden arbor. Beautiful! If you get the chance and the sky is clear
tonight, go out and check this out.

Moonrise...Feb. 6th.

"For most people, we often marvel at the beauty of a sunrise or the
magnificence of a full moon, but it is impossible to fathom the
magnitude of the universe that surrounds us." ~ Richard H. Bake

Stars and trees

More night time shots taken using the settings in my previous
post. I took both of these pictures well after dark. I had my
camera and tripod set up in our back yard looking toward the
back of our house. I love the surreal look of these pictures.


Sky and stars above the arbor in our garden. The streak toward
the top right of the photo is a jet flying over. The skies will be clear
tonight and I'm looking forward to taking more pictures. It's
amazing what the camera sees that the human eye can't see at
night.

Astrophotography

This is one of my first attempts at astrophotography. Terry sent
me a link to a webpage about this type of photography because
he thought it might be something I would be interested in, and
he was right. I was surprised at how easy this is to do. The
following are the camera settings I used to capture these stars
in the night sky on December 2nd.

Camera settings

• Program Mode - Set to Manual.

• Autofocus - Turn off, or set to Manual.

• White Balance - Set to Daylight or use a
• custom white balance (especially if your
  
• camera is modified).

• Drive - Set to One Shot.

• ISO - This is discussed in detail in a following section,
  
• but generally should be set to 1600 or 800 for long
  
• exposure deep-sky astrophotos.

• Metering - Generally doesn't matter, but you can try
  
• setting it to Spot if you are shooting the Moon or Sun
  
• (with proper filtration)

• Exposure Compensation - Set to Zero, no exposure
  
• compensation. Doesn't really matter because you are
  
• not using autoexposure.

• Shutter Speed - Set to the exposure you want, up to
  
• 30 seconds can usually be dialed in directly. For longer
  
• than 30 seconds, set to Bulb. On some cameras, Bulb
  
• may be a separate exposure mode setting, or it may be
  
• accessed on the shutter speed dial past the 30 second
  
• setting.

• Self Timer - If you don't have a remote release, you
  
• can use the camera's self-timer to trip the shutter so
  
• you don't have to touch the camera, which will help
  
• reduce vibrations and possible star trailing.

November Moon

Late Summer Moon

Waxing Moon

Waxing moon, April 9, 2011.

Waxing is a word meaning "growing." A waxing moon
occurs between a new moon and a full moon. The
amount of the lit surface we can see is growing,
heading to the west side of the Moon.

It's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's Super Moon!

Last night was the so called "Super Moon" or "super perigee
moon" A super moon happens when the moon is slightly closer
to Earth in its orbit than on average. The last full Moon so big
and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993. I had my camera
set up on our deck on my tripod with my remote in hand waiting
to get an awesome shot of the super moon rising. One small
problem was the moon had to clear a cloud bank first.


I took this shot after the moon cleared the clouds. I hope you
got a great view of the "super moon" last night! BTW, today
is the first day of Spring! Happy Spring ya'll!!!

Celestial Beauty

Feb. 18th full moon. A February full moon is also known as the
"wolf moon."

"That orbed maiden, with white fire laden, whom mortals call the moon." ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley)

Going back to October 17th for this picture. Enjoy!

Upon stepping foot on the moon, Buzz Aldrin remarked to
Houston, "Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation."

Afternoon Moon

Bad Moon Risin'

Oct. 17th moonrise

In My Backyard...February 15, 2010

Snowy tree


"We all shine on like the moon and the stars and the sun."
~ John Lennon

“The moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.” ~ William Shakespeare

I love the beauty of a full moon right before it gets dark.


Full moon at twilight.