The Rising of the Cold Winter Moon

A composite image of the rising of the December 29, 2020 "Cold" Full Moon into a very clear evening twilight sky, here over the Badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. The Moon rose with the Sun still up and lighting the landscape in warm tones, contrasting with the cool blues of the snowy landscape and sky. The pink Belt of Venus glow lights the lower sky near the horizon. It is not often we get a Full Moon (it was only 4 hours before being officially Full this night) rising with the Sun still up and illuminating the landscape. This is a layered blend of 13 exposures taken at 5-minute intervals, from moonrise just before sunset, to the Moon high in a dark sky more than an hour later. The ground and sky near the horizon is a blend of the first four exposures while the upper sky is from the last two exposures to place the now bright Moon into a darker sky as it actually appeared. The Moon moves its own diameter in about 2 minutes, so picking shots taken 5 minutes apart provides a good spacing for a shot with this field of view. Shots with longer telephoto lenses would be better with Moons taken every 3 to 4 minutes. These frames were taken as past of an 800-frame time lapse with the camera on auto exposure to ensure each frame was well exposed for the ground and sky. But as the Moon brightens as it rises that inevitably overexposes the Moon's disk — the exposure sequence I used here works for the time-lapse but is not so ideal for a composite still image like this. Had I wanted this to be shot taken just for a still image composite I would have had to fix the exposure at more or less what it was at mid-sequence here, to keep the lunar disk at that brightness and detail. So be it! All were with the Rokinon 85mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100. It was about -10° C this evening.

Moonrise at Dinosaur Park Panorama

A 180° panorama of the rising Full Moon and twilight colours over the badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta on December 29, 2020. This was the "Cold Winter" Moon of 2020. The view is overlooking the Red Deer River valley. I shot this panorama from the Park's entrance gate viewpoint. The image is a 14-segment panorama with the 50mm Sigma lens at f/4.5 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 100, stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. The original is 34,000 pixels wide.

Cold Moonrise over Snowy Dinosaur Park

The Full "Cold" Moon of December 29, 2020 rising over the Badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on the Red Deer River. The last light of the setting Sun was breaking through briefly, illuminating the far river bank, as the Moon rose into the dark shadow of the Earth and pink "Belt of Venus" glow in the upper atmosphere. Despite being full, the Moon rose this night about 30 minutes before sunset, allowing this lighting. The Moon was about 4 hours before being officially Full at this time. This is a single image with the Rokinon 85mm lens on the Canon 6D MkII taken as part of an 800-frame time-lapse.

Cold Moon Rising over Dinosaur Park

The Full "Cold" Moon of December 29, 2020 rising over the Badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on the Red Deer River, here at left. The last light of the setting Sun was breaking through briefly, illuminating the far river bank, as the Moon rose into the dark shadow of the Earth and pink "Belt of Venus" glow in the upper atmosphere. Despite being full, the Moon rose this night about 30 minutes before sunset, allowing this lighting. The Moon was about 4 hours before being officially Full at this time. This is a single image with the Sigma 50mm lens on the Canon EOS Ra taken as part of a 500-frame time-lapse.

Jupiter & Saturn over Bow River Valley

The still close pairing of Jupiter and Saturn in the evening twilight over the Bow River Valley, in southern Alberta, taken from the Siksika First Nations land near Blackfoot Crossing on December 28, 2020. The night was very clear with brilliant twilight colours. The waxing Moon was providing some of the foreground illumination. This is an HDR panorama of 3 x 3 panels: 3 segments, each with 3 exposures of 2, 4, and 8 seconds, to retain the sky colours but bring out the landscape details. Merged with Adobe Camera Raw. Shot with the Sigma 50mm lens on the red-sensitive Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 100.

Jupiter & Saturn in the Twilight with Closeup Inset (December 22, 2020)

The pairing of Jupiter and Saturn in the evening twilight, the day after their closest conjunction, taken here on December 22, 2020. This was from home, as a snowstorm in the previous 24 hours had made the roads too poor to travel. Brighter Jupiter is to the left of Saturn and is pulling away from Saturn here, but they were still separated by only 10 arc minutes this evening. The inset shows the view through a telescope with the Galilean moons of Jupiter visible and three of the moons of Saturn. Other points are field stars. The background image is a stack of 6 untracked exposures to smooth the motion of the clouds, but the planets come from just one of the exposures, all being 0.8-second shots with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/4 and with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 200. The closeup image is a stack of six 4-second exposures (to bring out the moons) taken about 5:45 pm local MST. All were through the Celestron SE6 Schmidt-Cassegrain at f/10 (so 1500mm focal length) on the Sky-Watcher EQM-35 mount tracking the sky but only roughly polar aligned, and through the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 800, and cropped in. The planets' low altitude blurred their images from poor seeing. Atmospheric dispersion adds to colour fringing.

Jupiter & Saturn in the Twilight (December 22, 2020)

The pairing of Jupiter and Saturn in the evening twilight, the day after their closest conjunction, taken here on December 22, 2020. This was from home, as a snowstorm in the previous 24 hours had made the roads too poor to travel. Brighter Jupiter is to the left of Saturn and is pulling away from Saturn here, but they were still separated by only 10 arc minutes this evening. This is a stack of 6 untracked exposures to smooth the motion of the clouds, but the planets come from just one of the exposures, all being 0.8-second shots with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/4 and with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 200.

Jupiter and Saturn in Conjunction at Dinosaur Park (Dec 20, 2020)

Jupiter and Saturn, on the eve of their rare "Great Conjunction," shot here on December 20, 2020 from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. The two planets are very close here, only 8 arc minutes apart, just 2 arc minutes more than at closest approach the next night (which was cloudy!). Even so, they are resolved in this image with an 85mm lens, and were easily resolvable to the naked eye. Some of the moons of Jupiter are visible, particularly Callisto and Ganymede to the left of Jupiter. This was a superb night at the Park, with perfect skies and a mild temperature of only 0° C and no wind or frost. Illumination is from the twilight but also moonlight from the waxing quarter Moon off frame to the upper left. This is a blend of tracked (for the sky, to prevent star trailing) and untracked (for the ground) exposures: 7 x 30 second exposures for the ground (to bring out foreground detail) at f/2.8 and 5 x 8-second exposures for the sky at f/4, all at ISO 400 and with the Rokinon 85mm lens and Canon EOS Ra camera. The camera was on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker. Stacking the tracked shots blurred the moving clouds and smoothed noise. Stacking the ground reduced noise. I shot this well past traditional "blue hour" when there was still colour in the sky to the camera, but the sky was dark enough to show stars, and the ground was beginning to light up with moonlight, highlighting the snow and ice patches.

Jupiter, Saturn and the Waxing Moon at Dinosaur Park

This is the grouping of the 3-day-old waxing crescent Moon with the close pairing of Jupiter and Saturn on December 16, 2020, as seen from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta on a mild winter evening with clouds parting just enough for the view. It waas nip and tuck getting any shots this night and getting a clear shot of both the Moon and the planets was tough! This is a stack of 7 tracked exposures for the sky, all 6 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 200 blended with a stack of 4 untracked exposures for the ground, all 30 seconds at f/4.5 and ISO 400, with each set stacked with Mean stack mode to reduce noise. But stacking the sky blurred the cloud motions for a nice soft effect, while leaving the Moon and planets sharp as the camera was tracking the sky for those images. The longer static exposures for the ground brought out the foreground details and colours. A dodge and burn layer helped touch up the relative brightnesses of the ground elements. The camera was the Canon EOS Ra and lens the 35mm Canon L-series, on the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i tracker.

Jupiter and Saturn in Twilight Panorama

Jupiter and Saturn nearing their December 21, 2020 Great Conjunction, with this image taken December 14, 2020 from home in southern Alberta. This is a panorama stitch of two images, each a blend of 4 untracked images for the dark ground and stacked to smooth noise, plus a stack of 4 tracked images for the sky, all with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/3.5 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 400. The camera was on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker, only roughly polar aligned as Polaris was not readily visible amid clouds to the north and in the bright sky. Diffraction spikes added in Astronomy Tools actions. Stitched in Photoshop with Photomerge. Taken well past traditional "blue hour" but when there was still a lot of colour in the sky to the camera, yet the sky was dark enough to show other stars.

Jupiter and Saturn in Twilight #2

Jupiter and Saturn nearing their December 21, 2020 Great Conjunction, with this image taken December 14, 2020 from home in southern Alberta. This is a blend of 5 untracked images for the dark ground and stacked to smooth noise, for 10 seconds each, plus a stack of 4 tracked images for the sky for 6 seconds each, all with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/3.5 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 400. The camera was on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker, only roughly polar aligned as Polaris was not readily visible amid clouds to the north and in the bright sky. Diffraction spikes added in Astronomy Tools actions. Taken well past traditional "blue hour" but when there was still a lot of colour in the sky to the camera, yet the sky was dark enough to show other stars.

Jupiter and Saturn in Twilight #1

Jupiter and Saturn nearing their December 21, 2020 Great Conjunction, with this image taken December 14, 2020 from home in southern Alberta. This is a blend of 4 untracked images for the dark ground and stacked to smooth noise, for 4 seconds each, plus a stack of 4 tracked images for the sky for 2.5 seconds each, all with the 85mm Rokinon lens at f/3.5 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 400. The camera was on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker, only roughly polar aligned as Polaris was not readily visible amid clouds to the north and in the bright sky. Diffraction spikes added in Astronomy Tools actions. Taken well past traditional "blue hour" but when there was still a lot of colour in the sky to the camera, yet the sky was dark enough to show other stars.

Jupiter and Saturn Over the Red Deer River Valley

Jupiter and Saturn nearing their December 21, 2020 Great Conjunction, with this image taken December 10, 2020 from Red Deer River valley, north of Drumheller, Alberta. This is a blend of 4 images for the dark ground, stacked to smooth noise, for 20 seconds each at f/5.6, and a single image for the sky for 5 seconds at f/2.8, all with the 35mm Canon lens and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 400. All untracked. A dodge and burn layer created by Lumenzia applied.

Jupiter, Saturn and the Milky Way

Jupiter and Saturn nearing their December 21, 2020 Great Conjunction, with this image taken December 3, 2020 from the Allen Bill flats area on the Elbow River in the Kananaskis Country southwest of Calgary, Alberta. This is a blend of 4 untracked images for the dark ground, stacked to smooth noise, for 2 minutes each at ISO 400, and two tracked images for the sky for 30 seconds at ISO 1600, all with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra. A dodge and burn layer created by Lumenzia applied. The tracker was the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i. Taken before moonrise.

Jupiter and Saturn in Twilight at Allen Bill Flats

Jupiter and Saturn nearing their December 21, 2020 Great Conjunction, with this image taken in the deep twilight on December 3, 2020 from the Allen Bill flats area on the Elbow River in the Kananaskis Country southwest of Calgary, Alberta. This is a blend of 4 untracked images for the dark ground, stacked to smooth noise, for 2 minutes each at ISO 400, and two tracked images for the sky (and untrailed stars) for 30 seconds each at ISO 400, all with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra. A dodge and burn layer created by Lumenzia applied. The tracker was the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i.

Jupiter and Saturn over Elbow River

Jupiter and Saturn nearing their Dec 21, 2020 Great Conjunction, with this image taken December 3, 2020 from the Elbow Falls area on the Elbow River in the Kananaskis Country southwest of Calgary. This is a blend of 4 untracked images for the dark ground, stacked to smooth noise, for 30 seconds each, and one untracked image for the bright sky for 15 seconds to preserve colours and highlights, all with the 24mm Sigma lens and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 200. A dodge and burn layer created by Lumenzia applied. The location was planned with The Photographer’s Ephemeris and TPE 3D apps, to ensure the planets would be visible between the mountain peaks from this site.

Mars Approach in Autumn 2020

Mars at its closest approach to Earth for another 15 years, on October 5, 2020, with autumn aspens. Taken from home with the waning Moon off camera providing the illumination. This is a stack of 8 median-combined images for the ground to smooth noise and one exposure for the sky. All 15 seconds at ISO 2500 and f/4 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and Nikon D750. SharpenAI applied to the ground; DeNoiseAI applied to the sky. Diffraction spikes on Mars added with Astronomy Tools Actions. A mild Orton Glow effect added with Luminar 4.

Harvest Moonrise over Country Road

The Harvest Moon (the Full Moon of October 1, 2020) rising almost due east at the end of a country road in southern Alberta, near home. The horizon was smoky or dusty, so the Moon was very red as it rose, and looking almost like a totally eclipsed Moon. This is a blend of 6 exposures, all 1/2-second with the A&M 80mm f/6 apo refractor (for 480mm focal length) and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 400, taken as part of a 460-frame time-lapse sequence, with shots every 2 seconds. For this composite I choose 6 images at 2-minute intervals, so the Moon rose its own diameter between frames. The ground comes from the first image in the sequence when the lighting was brightest. The Moon rose at 7:35 pm this night, about 30 minutes after sunset. A mild Orton glow effect added to the ground with Luminar 4.

Winter Stars Rising at Dawn in August

The stars of the northern winter sky rising at dawn on the morning of August 14, 2020, from home in southern Alberta. The waning crescent Moon is overexposed here, shining above bright Venus , then in southern Gemini as a bright “morning star” in the east. Mars is also bright and reddish, to the south at upper right. Orion is rising over the ripening wheatfield at centre. Above Orion is Taurus with the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. The bright star to the left and above the Moon is Capella in Auriga. Castor and Pollux are rising at far left. This is a stack of 4 images for the ground to smooth noise and 1 image for the sky, all with the 14mm Sigma Art lens at f/2.5 and Nikon D750 at ISO 800 for 25 seconds each. I added a mild Orton Glow effect with Luminar Flex.

Comet NEOWISE at Columbia Icefields (July 27, 2020)

Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 27, 2020 from the Columbia Icefields (Jasper National Park, Alberta) from the Toe of the Glacier parking lot, looking north over Sunwapta Lake, formed by the summer meltwater of Athabasca Glacier. So this is a portrait of ice in the sky and icy water on Earth. This was my parting shot of the comet, as it was fading rapidly at this time receding from Earth, though it was still naked eye. Plus the waxing Moon was going to be lighting the sky much more in the following week. So this was the night! While it was pale to the eye, the long expposure of the camera did pick up the blue ion and white dust tails very well. The ion tail extends about 15° and the dust tail at least 10°. The tails are certainly more prominent than in 99% of any comets we see any given year! So this was still a nice comet! Red and green bands of airglow, some faint magenta aurora on the horizon, and some lingering blue perpetual twilight at his northern latitude all tint the sky. The Big Dipper stars are at top. Arcturus is at far left. The orange star at bottom is Tania Australis, here made a little larger by it shining through some thin haze. This is an exposure blend of a stack of 4 x 4-minute untracked exposures for the ground, with 4 x 2-minute tracked and stacked exposures for the sky. Stacking the images smooths noise. Tracking the sky prevents star trailing in the long exposures required to reveal the faintest stars and the subtle comet tails. The camera was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. For the ground shots I simply turned the tracker motor off. All with the 24mm Sigma Art lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600 for the ground and ISO 3200 for the sky. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the ground; Topaz DeNoise AI applied to the sky. In camera LENR employed on all shots on this warm night. The foreground is lit in part by lights from the Icefields Centre buildings off camera to the right.

Milky Way over Mount Andromeda at Moonset

The Milky Way and galactic core area over Mount Andromeda (centre), Mount Athabasca (left) and the Athabasca Glacier (right) at the Columbia Icefields, on a very clear night July 27, 2020. I shot this as the waxing quarter Moon was still up but behind Snow Dome at far right, and about to set. Warm low-angle moonlight illuminates the peaks at left with “bronze hour” lunar alpen glow, and brightens the sky at right, plus adds the blue tint to the sky. But in the clear mountain air, the Milky Way and its starclouds still show up very well. The constellations of Aquila and Scutum are at centre. This is an exposure blend of 4 x 1.5-minutes, untracked at f/2 at ISO 1600 for the ground, followed immediately by 3 x 1.5-minutes at f/2.8 and ISO 3200 for the sky, with the sky exposures tracked on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. All with the 20mm Sigma Art lens and Canon EOS Ra, with the lens adapted to the camera with a Metabones adapter.

Comet over the Columbia Icefields at Moonset

Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 27, 2020, at right, over the Columbia Icefields with the Moon still lighting the peaks in a warm “bronze hour” light for a lunar alpenglow. The Moon is behind Snowdome Peak at centre and is also still lighting the sky a deep blue. The Milky Way is at left over Mount Andromeda. Arcturus is the bright star at top centre. This was more or less my parting shot of the comet, as it was fading rapidly at this time receding from Earth, though it was still naked eye. Plus the waxing Moon was going to be lighting the sky much more in the following week. So this was the night! Shooting a week earlier when the comet was brighter and larger would have been nice, but clouds would have got in the way. This was shot during a run of unusually clear nights at the Icefields, the first good clear nights according to the locals. I shot this during the brief “bronze hour” interval immediately after the Moon had disappeared behind Snowdome but was still lighting the peaks. So to be clear — the peaks are lit by the setting Moon, not by the Sun. This is not a composite of day and night shots; it is a well-timed and planned panorama shot as quickly as possible over a few minutes before the lighting changed. Lingering twilight lights the horizon down the Sunwapta Valley at right. The famous Athabasca Glacier is just left of centre; Snowdome Glacier is right of centre, with the glacial Sunwapta Lake in the foreground. Mount Athabasca is at far left with its glacier. This is a 17-segment (!) panorama with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.5 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600, for 20 seconds each, untracked. The overlap was more than is normally needed but the segments stitched perfectly with Adobe Camera Raw, which is not always the case with such scenes. LENR employed on all segments when shooting on this warm night. Dodging and burning applied to accentuate highlights and shadows. Topaz Sharpen AI applied. The original is over 27,000 pixels wide.

Planets and Milky Way Over Saskatchewan River Crossing

Jupiter (brightest), Saturn (to the left), and the Milky Way over the Saskatchewan River and the area of Howse Pass, on July 26, 2020. Mount Cephren is at left; the scene is framed to include Cephren. The nebulas and star clouds of the galactic centre area at right show up well on this very clear night. The bright Small Sagittarius Starcloud, aka M24, is most obvious, flanked by the star clusters M23 and M25 to the side, and the nebulas M17 and M16 above, and M8 and M20 below. The fuzzy globular cluster M22 is to the left of the large Lagoon Nebula, M8. Green airglow tints the sky. This is an exposure blend of a stack of 4 x 2-minute untracked exposures for the ground at ISO 1600 (exposed long to bring out ground details), with 2 x 1-minute tracked and stacked exposures at ISO 3200 for the sky. Shot from the Howse Pass Viewpoint area off the Icefields Parkway at Saskatchewan River Crossing. The camera was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. For the ground shots I simply turned the tracker motor off. All with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra, a filter-modified camera. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the ground; Topaz DeNoise AI applied to the sky. In camera LENR employed on all shots on this warm night. An Orton soft glow effect added to the sky with Luminar Flex plug-in.

Comet NEOWISE and Ursa Major Over Mount Wilson (July 26, 2020)

Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 26, 2020 from Saskatchewan River Crossing in Banff National Park, Alberta. The comet is just about to set behind Mount Wilson, the iconic peak in the area. A meteor appears at top in the image framed to include the Big Dipper and the constellation of Ursa Major. While the comet was fading, its blue ion and white dust tails still show up well. It was from near here that scientist and explorer James Hector, member of the 1858-59 Palliser Expediton, observed Comet Donati on September 10, 1858 as they made their way up the valleys of the Bow, Mistaya, Howse and Saskatchewan Rivers, as part of a British scientific expedition to map the area and much of southern Alberta. This is an exposure blend of a stack of 4 x 2-minute untracked exposures for the ground at ISO 800 (exposed long to bring out ground details), with 3 x 30-second tracked and stacked exposures at ISO 1600 for the sky. I shot short exposures for the sky to catch the comet before it set. The meteor was on one frame of the sky stack layered and blended in separately. The camera was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. For the ground shots I simply turned the tracker motor off. All with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the ground. In camera LENR employed on all shots on this warm night. Shot from the parking lot of the Howse Pass Viewpoint area off the Icefields Parkway.