West Texas Milky Way

When's the last time you saw the Milky Way? I mean really saw it in all its splendor under the night sky, not just a ghost of it from the suburbs or a picture of it?

Recently, my son Brian and I trekked from Dallas out to the near edge of West Texas to the Fort Griffin State Historical Site. We braved black widows, skunks, swarms of mosquitos, way-too-close pack of coyotes and other things lurking in the dark we're just as happy to have not known were there, all to capture the beauty of the summer night sky.

We are pretty happy with the results. They aren't great - we made plenty of mistakes - but I think it's a good start. We're looking forward to shooting some place like this again. Perhaps from the even darker skies of Big Bend next year.

One thing you may notice about the last shot is why, under pitch dark skies, are the ruins lit? We were practicing a technique called low level landscape lighting. It's similar to another night photography technique called light painting but we both think it makes for a more pleasing view, allowing us to add a foreground element without it dominating the shot.

Enjoy and clear skies!

A view of the site from visitor center while we wait for the sun to set. 

A daylight view of the ruins we shot. 

One of Brian's shots of the site with thunderheads rising far to the north over Wichita Falls.
Photo edits by Brian Eaton 

A silhouette of the ruins and the Milky Way Brian shot with our Nikon D7000.
Photo edits by Brian Eaton

One of my better shots of the ruins and Milky Way shot with our new Nikon D750.
Photo edits by Brian Eaton

Daydreaming: Astrophotography

I haven't had (made) any time in awhile to focus on astrophotography, so I enjoyed the opportunity last week to hear members of the Astrophotography SIG speak at the recent meeting of the Texas Astronomical Society. For more infomation about the SIG including highlights of their work and links to member sites, check out their blog at apsig.blogspot.com.

Coincidentally, I received an email yesterday highlighting the latest project of an astrophotographer whose work I enjoy:

Deep Sky Celebration by Ken Crawford

Spaceweather.com: 2009 Quadrantid meteor gallery

Spaceweather.com: 2009 Quadrantid meteor gallery

Although I missed seeing the Quadrantids due to clouds, plenty of others managed to catch sight of a few.  Some sites apparently reported up to 150 meteors per hour. 

A Quiet Sun

A Quiet Sun, originally uploaded by neatonjr.

IYA2009 shot for January 3rd. The Sun, shot with Nikon D40, 55-200mm VR lens at 200mm, through Baader solar film filter. Deep in the depths of the solar minimum, no sun spots in sight. For information on when sunspots are visible, be sure and check out SpaceWeather.com.

Moon, Venus and Photographers

Moon, Venus and Photographers, originally uploaded by neatonjr.

Here's my post for 2nd day of the IYA2009.

Back in December 1956, when my Mother was 5 months pregnant with me, she and my Dad climbed the levee on the south side of the Trinity River below downtown Dallas and took a shot of the city skyline. Having recently had all my Dad's slides digitally scanned, we ran across that shot and decided to recreate it. We went down to the same spot with a family friend to shoot the skyline at sunset and after dark. You can see one of the skyline shots here.

While my Dad and Steve took a break from shooting downtown, I turned my camera on the two of them with the Moon and Venus in the sky behind us.

New Year Moon

New Year Moon, originally uploaded by neatonjr.

This was a "first light" shot using my Nikon D40, new T-Ring and remote shutter control with my Meade LXD55 SN10. I had a devil of a time getting focus right - focusing the D-SLR at prime focus is a bit more difficult than the old Minolta SRT201 was - but I learned a lot and it was a beautiful night to be out under the sky.

Mercury at Twilight

Mercury at Twilight, originally uploaded by neatonjr.

One of my first targets for this year, Mercury hanging low in the western sky not long before sunset. Not as exciting as the view from the front-row seat spacecraft Messenger has, but still a beautify site. I only wish I'd gotten a good shot of Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and the Moon a day or two earlier.

Plans for IYA2009 Projects

Thinking about how to do my part to help celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, a couple of ways come immediately to mind:

• Networking with other amateur astronomers. I've been meaning to join the Texas Astronomical Society (TAS) for years... it's about time. I've also enjoyed observing with folks like Dwight and Paul before and look forward to doing so again this year.
  
• Through my photography. Yes, it'll be fun but, more importantly, my hope is that everyone who sees my work - whether here, on Flickr, or anywhere else - will appreciate the sky in a new way or learn something new about astronomy.
• Through star parties. Linda and I have participated in one every year or two for Mesquite schools. Hopefully, there will be more opportunities this year - whether for MISD or other organizations (TAS, etc.). Seeing people's reaction the first time they see Saturn or a crater on the moon is incredibly rewarding!
• Sharing here. As I run across news articles, other people's photos and anything else about astronomy on the web that strikes me as interesting, I'll reference them in posts or add them to Recommended Links.

In addition to these - and in some cases, in conjunction with them - there are some personal projects I have in mind.

• Photographing a solar analemma. What is an analemma? Learn about it here. This would be a huge project so not sure whether I've got the time and energy, but I do have some ideas on a way to pull it off.
• Capturing a suburban view of meteor shower. Although I've never had any success watching a meteor shower from our backyard, I've seen a few nice ones out near the lake. This year, I hope to capture images of one (or more) shower. I'd also like to contribute to information gathering efforts to document meteor showers.
• Capture image of a young crescent moon. This is a key event in the Islamic calendar but is also of interest to me both for the challenge and as a unique photography subject.

More to come...