Photographer Under the Northern Lights (Feb 26, 2023)

A photographer from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre shooting the aurora on an active night of Northern Lights, February 26, 2023. This is a single 4-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 1600. Moonlight provides the illumination.

Volunteers Under the Northern Lights (Feb 26,2023)

Volunteers from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre enjoy the aurora on an active night of Northern Lights, February 26, 2023. This is a single 4-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 1600. Moonlight provides the illumination.

Aurora Photographers #2 (Feb 26, 2023)

Aurora photographers at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, February 26, 2023, under a magenta curtain of Northern Lights. This is a single 4-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 1600.

Aurora Photographers #1 (Feb 26, 2023)

Aurora photographers at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, February 26, 2023, under a magenta curtain of Northern Lights. This is a single 4-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 1600.

Aurora Portrait #4 (Feb 22, 2023)

An aurora selfie under the arc of the Northern Lights on February 22, 2023 on the trail outside the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba. This was a Kp5 display this night peaking between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. This is a single 8-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 800. A mild Orton Glow added with Luminar Neo.

Aurora Portrait #3 (Feb 22, 2023)

An aurora selfie under the arc of the Northern Lights on February 22, 2023 on the trail outside the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba. This was a Kp5 display this night peaking between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. This is a single 8-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 800. A mild Orton Glow added with Luminar Neo.

Aurora Portrait #2 (Feb 22, 2023)

An aurora selfie under the arc of the Northern Lights on February 22, 2023 on the Rocket Range Road outside the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba. This is looking northeast. This was a Kp5 display this night peaking between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. This is a single 13-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 1250. A mild Orton Glow added with Luminar Neo.

Aurora Portrait #1 (Feb 22, 2023)

An aurora selfie under the arc of the Northern Lights on February 22, 2023 on the Rocket Range Road outside the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba. This is looking southeast. This was a Kp5 display this night peaking between 8:30 and 9:30 pm. This is a single 13-second exposure with the Venus Optics 15mm lens at f/2 and Canon R6 at ISO 1250. A mild Orton Glow added with Luminar Neo.

Aurora Selfie with Multi-Coloured Arcs (Feb 19, 2023)

An aurora selfie from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre with faint but colourful multiple curtains to the northeast at this time. This was on February 19, 2023. This is a single 15-second exposure with the TTArtisan 11mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon R6 at ISO 3200.

Aurora Selfie with Foreground Light (Feb 19, 2023)

An aurora selfie from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre with faint but colourful arcs to the northeast at this time. This was on February 19, 2023. The light is from a small flashlight. This is a single 13-second exposure with the TTArtisan 11mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon R6 at ISO 3200.

Auroral Arc over CNSC (Feb 19, 2023)

An example of brightening auroral curtain to the northeast, on a night with activity increasing at this time, in Churchill, Manitoba from the Northern Studies Centre. This is looking northeast on February 19, 2023. This is a single 13-second exposure with the TTArtisan 11mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon R6 at ISO 3200.

Observing Mars in the Moonlight (Jan 4, 2023)

A selfie of me observing Mars, the bright reddish star at top, from home on January 4, 2023, with Mars then still bright a month after opposition. The waxing gibbous Moon is the bright object at left. The Pleiades are above Mars; the Hyades and Aldebaran are below Mars. Orion and Sirius are rising in the background below. The telescope is the Starfield Optics Gear115 on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount. This could be useful for illustrating an article on cold weather observing! Though it was a pleasant -5° C this night and no wind. This is a focus blend of two exposures, one focused on me, and one on the sky, both 4 seconds at f/4 with the TTArtisan 21mm lens on the Canon R5 at ISO 1600.

Observing Mars on a Winter Night (December 9, 2022)

A selfie of me observing Mars, the bright object at top, in Taurus, on a mild winter night from home on December 9, 2022. Mars was then two days past opposition and at its brightest. The waning gibbous Moon is the bright glow at left, lighting the sky blue and the snowy landscape below with sparkling moonlight. Orion is rising behind me, while Gemini is at far left. I am observing with the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor, an almost vintage telescope now, purchased in 1993 and still one of the best made of its type. It is on the Astro-Physics Mach1 mount. This is a blend of two exposures with the TTArtisan 21mm lens at f/2.8, one focused on me, and one focused on the stars, both with the Canon R6 at ISO 800 for 3.2 seconds. Diffraction spikes on Mars added for artistic effect with AstronomyTools actions.

Mars Occultation Selfie (Dec 7, 2022)

My usual trophy shot of me having bagged the game of the December 7, 2022 Mars occultation by the Full Moon, here grossly overexposed and in thin cloud at top. I shot this just after Mars disappeared behind the Moon for about an hour. The night was fairly mild, about -10° C, and windless. The night before it had been a windy -25° C! This is a single exposure with the Canon R6 and TTArtisan 21mm lens. I was shooting the occultation with the big refractor, the Astro-Physics 130mm on the AP Mach1 mount, and looking at it with the little refractor, the Sharpstar 61mm on the alt-azimuth mount. The light on my hand is from the electric gloves I had on!

Observing the November 2022 Total Eclipse of the Moon

A self-portrait of me observing the total eclipse of the Moon on November 8, 2022, on a very cold (-25° C) morning at 4 am. Above the red Moon are the stars of Taurus including the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. This is a single 15-second exposure with the Canon R6 at ISO 3200 and 21mm TTArtisan lens at f/2.8. The camera gear in frame was the Star Adventurer tracker and the Canon R5 and RF15-35mm lens I used to take tracked images of the winter sky scene with the Milky Way.

Stargazing Under the Milky Way

A vertical panorama of the summer Milky Way over the observing field at the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party, held in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada, at a latitude 49° N. The Park is a Dark Sky Preserve. This was August 26, 2022 on a perfect night of stargazing under very clear skies. The Milky Way extends from Sagittarius near the horizon, to Cygnus nearly overhead at this time, so a vertical sweep of 90°. I've left the satellite trails in for this scene. This is a panorama of 6 segments taken up the Milky Way with the camera on a tracker to prevent star trailing, blended with a set of 5 untracked exposures taken just prior with the tracker motor off for the ground, to prevent the foreground blurring. The ground segments were each 30 seconds at f/2 and ISO 3200, while the sky segments were each 1 minute at f/2.8 and ISO 1600, all with the Canon Ra and RF28-70mm lens, on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker. Each sky segment was a stack of two exposures. Stitched in PTGui, but blended in Photoshop. The original is 6500 x 10300 pixels.

Aurora Over CNSC with Observer (Feb 26, 2022)

What started out the night as a dim aurora brightened later and here appears over the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, in Churchill, Manitoba on February 26, 2022. This aurora was at Kp2 level (very low) at best. This is a single frame with the TTArtisan 11mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 for 10 seconds with the Canon Ra at ISO 1250.

Selfie with Lunar Eclipse (Nov. 19, 2021)

A selfie of the successful eclipse hunter having bagged his game, on the morning of November 19, 2021, having chased into clear skies to get the 97% partial lunar eclipse of Nov. 18/19, 2021 from Alberta. I drove 90 minutes north from home to near the town of Rowley, Alberta, to escape the clouds looming on the southern horizon. I shot this at 2:40 am MST with the Moon emerging from the umbral shadow, so quite bright and overexposed here below the Pleiades in Taurus, and to the west of the Milky Way. I had two cameras on trackers set up to shoot wide-field shots of the eclipsed Moon. This is a single 25-second exposure at f/2.5 with the Rokinon SP 14mm lens on the Canon 6D at ISO 3200. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the subject.

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.