A photogenic comet visits in a year when the world is shut down by a virus. We can still appreciate its beauty and find an isolated area in a nearby park. Photographing comets has become considerably easier in the twenty years since my previous attempts trying to capture Comet Hale-Bopp on film!
Excelsior, MN
20 July 2020
Canon EOS Ra with 70-200mm (200)4 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600
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At the end of totality, the moon starts to uncover the sun’s incredibly brilliant photosphere and creates a visual effect called the “diamond ring”. It lasts only a moment, but leaves an remarkably strong emotional impression that may be responsible for why those that witness it, seek it again, at the next total eclipse of the sun.
Heise Hot Springs, Idaho
21 August 2017
EOS 6D on Televue-85, 480 mm f/5.6
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During the Great American Eclipse, the moon covered the brilliance of the sun’s photosphere, revealing the activity occurring at its surface. Deep red flares of energized gas erupt and eject for thousands of miles, then follow the lines of magnetic force back to the surface.
Heise Hot Springs, Idaho
21 August 2017
EOS 6D on Televue-85, 480 mm f/5.6
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Only when the moon covers the sun in a total eclipse can its halo be seen. This is the corona, a mystery to astronomers, who only get a glimpse of it for a few minutes during totality. The dot to the lower left is the star Regulus, in the constellation Leo, suddenly visible while the sun is eclipsed.
Heise Hot Springs, Idaho
21 August 2017
EOS 6D on Televue-85, 480 mm f/5.6
HDR composite of 8 exposures
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A “blood moon” is the name given to a total lunar eclipse, due to its reddish color when in the Earth’s shadow. The title “supermoon” is given to a full moon when it is at its closest approach, making it appear a bit larger than average. When a lunar eclipse happens at this perigee, it may be called a super blood moon.
At totality, the moon is entirely inside the shadow of the Earth, although it might not be perfectly centered. The color is a dark orange, but not uniformly so. It is so dim that stars, normally washed out by the moon’s glare, can be seen in the background.
Nokomis Lake, Minneapolis
27 September 2015
Canon EOS 60Da on Televue-85
1 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800
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We can see the curvature of the Earth as the moon enters its shadow. The color in the shadow is a coppery red, but it is a thousandth of the brightness of the still-illuminated half.
Nokomis Lake, Minneapolis
27 September 2015
Canon EOS 60Da on Televue-85
1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400
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It is rare for Venus to pass in front of the sun and so I assembled telescopes and equipment while Poldi hosted a picnic, inviting family and friends to view an event that won’t happen again for a hundred years. We spent the afternoon and evening watching the silhouette of Venus move slowly across the face of the sun until it dropped behind clouds and trees at sunset .
Minneapolis MN
5 June 2012
Canon EOS 20Da on Televue 85
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When the moon, in its monthly travel around Earth, moves across a bright star, it is called an occultation. On this date, the moon is moving toward the bright star Regulus. Here is a superposed series of pictures taken over 1 hour as Regulus apparently “approaches” and then is eclipsed by the moon.
3 November 2007
Takahashi CN212, Newtonian configuration, f/4
Canon EOS 20Da, ISO 800
1/500 sec, superposition of successive exposures, one minute apart.
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In 2007 a comet passed through our neighborhood and allowed me a chance to try the high dynamic range (HDR) imaging techniques that were being developed at that time. The idea is to combine a range of exposures to get a large range of detail. In this case 10 exposures covering the range from 1 second to 8 minutes are combined, selecting the best tonal information from each. This allows the otherwise obscured ion cloud surrounding the dusty nucleus to become visible as a faint blue-green glow. I was able to use this image as an HDR example in a conference presentation I made on this topic the following week.
2 November 2007
Takahashi CN212 in Newtonian configuration (f/4)
Canon EOS 20Da, ISO 800
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Also known as the “Seven Sisters”, the wispy blue glow is from dust reflecting the light of these nearby stars.
Monument Valley, Navaho Nation
5 November 2005
Televue 85 f/5.6
Canon EOS 20Da
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Thor's Life-Notes 