Observers and Star Parties
Alberta Star Party 2021 - Group at Dobsonian
A group at a Discovery Dobsonian at the Alberta Star Party, September 3-4, 2021, in the Starland County Recreation Area on the Red Deer River.
Alberta Star Party 2021 - Group at SCT
A group at a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at the Alberta Star Party, September 3-4, 2021, in the Starland County Recreation Area on the Red Deer River.
Alberta Star Party 2021 - Observing Group in Red Light
A group of observers with telescopes at the Alberta Star Party, September 3-4, 2021, in the Starland County Recreation Area on the Red Deer River.
Alberta Star Party 2021 - Observer at SCT
An observer at a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at the Alberta Star Party, September 3-4, 2021, in the Starland County Recreation Area on the Red Deer River. The Big Dipper is at upper left. A mild aurora brightens the northern horizon.
Alberta Star Party 2021 - Refractor Pair
A pair of refractors at the Alberta Star Party, September 3-4, 2021, in the Starland County Recreation Area on the Red Deer River.
Alberta Star Party 2021 - In Twilight
A view of the Alberta Star Party grounds in the darkening twilight, September 3, 2021, in the Starland County Recreation Area on the Red Deer River.
A selfie of me setting up to photograph the 2021 Perseid meteor shower on August 12, 2021 at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, as one camera captures the scene looking east while I finish setting up another camera in the foreground. The radiant of the shower is obvious, in Perseus, at lower left in the northeast. The Milky Way stretches from northeast to southwest (top right). A dim red aurora is on the horizon to the northeast. Cygnus is overhead at centre. Jupiter is the bright object above me. The Big Dipper is at upper left low in the northwest. This is a blend of 24 exposures taken over 3 hours, with the foreground coming from one image at the start of the sequence which had a meteor in it. The other 23 images add the other meteors, so this blend compresses 3 hours of meteor activity into one frame. All were with the TTArtisan 7.5mm circular fish-eye lens at f/2 on the Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 3200 for a series of 30-second exposures, 316 in all over 3 hours, from which the 24 with meteors were extracted for stacking with Lighten blend mode. The camera was on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker to make alignment of the meteors easier in post-production, so the meteors are where they appeared in the sky relative to the background stars. This lens does not fill the frame; it is a circular fish-eye but at f/2 faster than any other fish-eye that fits on a full-frame camera, with the speed essential for picking up meteors. I was setting up another tracker to take shots with a 14mm lens.
Aurora Selfie #2 (April 16, 2021)
An aurora selfie taken during the display on April 16-17, 2021, with the Sony a7III and 15mm Laowa lens. I am operating the Canon EOS Ra which was taking still images. I used the Sony this night mostly to do 4K movies.
Aurora Selfie #1 (April 16, 2021)
An aurora selfie taken during the display on April 16-17, 2021, with the Sony a7III and 15mm Laowa lens.
Shooting the Great Conjunction with Closeup Inset (Dec 20, 2020)
A selfie shooting the "great conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn on December 20, 2020, the night before the closest approach of the two planets, seen here in the distance over the peak. The inset shows the closeup view captured by the telescope a little earlier in the evening, with the two planets and their brightest moons labelled. The planets were less than 1/8 degree apart (8 arc minutes) this night, on a perfect night at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. They were 6 arc minutes apart the next night but clouds prevailed! I am shooting the planets with a Celestron SE6 tube assembly on the Sky-Watcher EQM-35 mount and with the Canon 60Da cropped frame camera, for maximum magnification. The background selfie is a blend of two exposures, one focused for the background and sky, and one focused for me and the telescope in the foreground, both single 1.3-second exposures at f/2.8 and with the Canon 35mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 400. Another camera for shooting tracked shots is in the distance at left. The closeup inset is a blend of short 0.5-second (for the planets) and long 3-second exposures (for the moons) with the scope at f/10 for 1,500mm focal length.
Shooting the Great Conjunction (Dec 20, 2020)
A selfie shooting the "great conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn on December 20, 2020, the night before the closest approach of the two planets, seen here in the distance over the peak. The planets were less than 1/8 degree apart (8 arc minutes) this night, on a perfect night at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. I am shooting the planets with a Celestron SE6 tube assembly on the Sky-Watcher EQM-35 mount and with the Canon 60Da cropped frame camera, for maximum magnification. This selfie is a blend of two exposures, one focused for the background and sky, and one focused for me and the telescope in the foreground, both single 1.3-second exposures at f/2.8 and with the Canon 35mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 400. Another camera for shooting tracked shots is in the distance at left.
Shooting the Great Conjunction with Close-Up View (Dec 19, 2020)
A selfie shooting the "great conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn on December 19, 2020, two nights before the closest approach of the two planets. The inset shows the image I took a few minutes earlier through the telescope at left. By the time I took this selfie the planets had dropped into the clouds again and only Jupiter was visible to the camera, and here it is out of focus in the distance at lower right, as I focused for the foreground. So the planets were low! The planets were less than 1/4 degree apart (13 arc minutes) this night, but with the clouds I was lucky to capture them at all. Only the Galiliean moons of Jupiter showed up, and fuzzy, but not any of the moons of Saturn. I am shooting the planets with a Celestron SE6 tube assembly on the Sky-Watcher EQM-35 mount and with the Canon 60Da cropped frame camera, for maximum magnification. I placed the scope at the end of my driveway so I could get a clear shot to the southwest. The inset shows the image I shot through the telescope a few minutes earlier (before I shot the selfie) when the planets were a little higher up in the clear break visible here. The closeup inset is a stack of 4 x 4-second exposures with the Canon 60Da at ISO 800, and at the f/10 prime focus of the scope, so at 1,500mm focal length. The bright glow at upper left of the main image is the waxing crescent Moon in clouds, and it is creating a refraction-effect "moondog" in the clouds at right. The main selfie image is a single 15-second exposure at f/2.8 and with the Canon 35mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 1600.
Shooting the Great Conjunction (Dec 19, 2020)
A selfie shooting the "great conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn on December 19, 2020, two nights before the closest approach of the two planets. By the time I took this selfie the planets had dropped into the clouds again and only Jupiter was visible to the camera, and here it is out of focus in the distance at lower right, as I focused for the foreground. So the planets were low! The planets were less than 1/4 degree apart (13 arc minutes) this night, but with the clouds I was lucky to capture them at all. I am shooting the planets with a Celestron SE6 tube assembly on the Sky-Watcher EQM-35 mount and with the Canon 60Da cropped frame camera, for maximum magnification. I placed the scope at the end of my driveway so I could get a clear shot to the southwest. The bright glow at upper left of the main image is the waxing crescent Moon in clouds, and it is creating a refraction-effect "moondog" in the clouds at right. The main selfie image is a single 15-second exposure at f/2.8 and with the Canon 35mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 1600.
Selfie with Orion StarSeeker HC
A selfie using the Orion StarSeeker IV 130mm with the optional hand controller.
Observing Mars on Halloween Night
A selfie observing Mars on Halloween night, October 31, 2020, with Mars two weeks past a close perihelic opposition on Oct. 13. The seeing was particularly good this night (despite the thin cloud). I am observing using the Astro-Physics 130mm EDF f/6 refractor and the Baader Großfeld binocular viewer for a comfortable two-eyed viewing experience. The “Eye of Mars,” Solis Lacus or Planum, was particularly prominent. The Full “Blue” Moon provides the illumination. This is a single exposure with the Canon 6D MkII and 35mm Canon lens.
Observing Mars on Halloween Night (with Mars Map)
A selfie observing Mars on on Halloween night, October 31, 2020 with Mars two weeks past a close perihelic opposition on Oct. 13. The seeing was particularly good this night (despite the thin cloud) and the inset shows the face of Mars visible this night and hour, using a screen capture from the Mars Atlas app. I am observing using the Astro-Physics 130mm EDF f/6 refractor and the Baader Großfeld binocular viewer for a comfortable two-eyed viewing experience. The “Eye of Mars,” Solis Lacus or Planum, was particularly prominent. The Full “Blue” Moon provides the illumination. This is a single exposure with the Canon 6D MkII and 35mm Canon lens.
Observing Mars at Closest Approach with Map (Oct 6, 2020)
A selfie of me observing Mars at its closest approach on Oct 6, 2020. The seeing was quite good despite the clouds, and with the most interesting side of Mars (arguably!) facing Earth at the time of observation. Syrtis Major and Sabaeus Sinus were prominent. Moonlight provides the illumination. This is a single exposure with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and Nikon D750.
Observing Mars at Closest Approach (Oct 6, 2020)
A selfie of me observing Mars at its closest approach on Oct 6, 2020. The seeing was quite good despite the clouds, and with the most interesting side of Mars (arguably!) facing Earth at the time of observation. Syrtis Major and Sabaeus Sinus were prominent. Moonlight provides the illumination. This is a single exposure with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and Nikon D750.
Observing Mars (Sept 27, 2020)
A selfie observing Mars with the two Dobsonian telesscopes: the 8-inch Sky-Watcher Flextube and the unique 12.5-inch MAG1 Portaball, to compare views. This was September 27, 2020. A diffuse aurora is at left to the northeast. Illumination is from the waxing gibbous Moon off camera to the right. A single exposure with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm Art lens.
Selfie Observing Mars (Sept 11, 2020)
A selfie observing Mars at about 2 am on the night of Sept 11/12, 2020. I’m using the Sky-Watcher 8-inch Flextube Dobsonian and 6mm Delos eyepiece on my back deck. The seeing was pretty good this night with good definition of the Mare Sirenum and Mare Cimmerium regions. This is a single 30-second exposure at f/3.5 and ISO 3200 with the Canon 6D MkII and 35mm Canon lens, focused for the foreground. Moonlight provides some of the illumination as well as my red flashlight off camera.
A trio of beginner refractor telescopes in moonlight: The Explore Scientific FirstLight 80mm, the Meade StarPro 90mm, and the Orion VersaGo E 90mm, as examples of the decent starter scopes on alt-azimuth mounts, and with 80mm to 90mm apertures. They are all looking at Jupiter. Taken for book illustrations, Sept 3, 2020 in the moonlight, blending in a shot with red light also lighting the scopes
Beginner Refractor Trio in Moonlight
A trio of beginner refractor telescopes in moonlight: The Explore Scientific FirstLight 80mm, the Meade StarPro 90mm, and the Orion VersaGo E 90mm, as examples of the decent starter scopes on alt-azimuth mounts, and with 80mm to 90mm apertures. Taken for book illustrations, August 28, 2020 from home under the light of a waxing gibbous Moon.
Beginner Refractor Trio at Sunset
A trio of beginner refractor telescopes in moonlight: The Explore Scientific FirstLight 80mm, the Meade StarPro 90mm, and the Orion VersaGo E 90mm, as examples of the decent starter scopes on alt-azimuth mounts, and with 80mm to 90mm apertures. Taken for book illustrations, August 28, 2020 from home at sunset on a partly cloudy evening.
Telescope Trio in Moonlight v2
A trio of telescope types in moonlight: The Celestron NexStar 6SE Schmidt-Cassegrain, the Sky-Watcher 8-inch Flextube Dobsonian, and the SharpStar 76mm EDPH on the Sky-Watcher HEQ5 mount, as examples of the three main optical systems: catadioptric, reflector and refractor; and three main mounting systems: fork, Dobsonian and German equatorial. Also showing telescopes for visual use (on the left) and the refractor for photographic use, with camera. Also showing computerized GoTo with the Celestron and HEQ5 mount vs basic manual with the Dobsonian. Taken for book illustrations, August 27, 2020 from home under the light of a waxing gibbous Moon.