The Rising Moon at Equinox

Moonrise near the September equinox, in this case on the evening of September 21, 2021, which was the evening before the day of equinox this year, which occurred in the afternoon of Sept. 22. The Moon was a day past Full as the Harvest Moon. But the position of the Moon below the ecliptic this year meant it rose closer to due east this night, the night after Full. The Moon of course is usually not Full at an equinox. But when it is, as it almost was this year, it rises close to due east and sets close to due west, as the Sun does, because the Full Moon lies opposite the Sun. The Moon actually rose a little north of due east this night. The star at left is Capella. This is a 7-exposure blend, in auto-bracketed sequence from a short 1/10 second image for essentially just the Moon's disk, to 6 seconds for the sky and foreground. All were with the 24-105mm RF lens at f/5.6 and 105mm, and the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 400. The images were blended not with HDR but with luminosity masks created with the ADP Pro (aka Lumiflow) extension panel for Photoshop, which does an auto-blend for up to 7 images. I added a mild Orton glow effect with Luminar AI.

Harvest Moonrise at Dinosaur Park

A telescopic close-up of the full Harvest Moon rising over the Badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park on September 20, 2021. This is a single 0.8-second exposure taken as part of a time-lapse sequence, shot through a 76mm f/4.4 refractor telescope for an effective focal length of 335mm using the Canon R6 at ISO 100. Luminosity masks created with TKActions v8 applied to enhance the contrast of the foreground. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar AI.

Harvest Moonrise over the Badlands

The Harvest Full Moon rising over the Badlands landscape of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on September 20, 2021. This is a single 1.6-second exposure for the sky and ground, blended with a shorter exposure for the Moon's disk to present the view more as the eye saw it. Taken with the Canon EOS Ra and 24-105mm RF zoom at 80mm. Dodging and burning with TKActions and a mild Orton glow added with Luminar AI.

Smoky Sunset over the Bow Valley

Blue hour twilight with a waxing crescent Moon, over the Bow Valley, Banff, Alberta, on an evening with the air filled with smoke from B.C. forest fires to the west, muting the colours and clarity. This is from the Hoodoos Viewpoint trail on Tunnel Mountain Drive, looking back toward Banff. The lights of the Banff Springs Hotel are in the distance at left. The Bow River winds below. Tunnel Mountain is at centre with Sulphur Mountain to the left and at far left a portion of Mt. Rundle. Cascade Mountain is at far right. This is a panorama from 7 segments with the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens.

Smoky Moon over the Bow Valley

Blue hour twilight with a waxing crescent Moon, over the Bow Valley, Banff, Alberta, on an evening with the air filled with smoke from B.C. forest fires to the west, muting the colours and clarity. This is from the Hoodoos Viewpoint trail on Tunnel Mountain Drive, looking back toward Banff. The lights of the Banff Springs Hotel are in the distance at left. The Bow River winds below. Tunnel Mountain is at centre with Sulphur Mountain to the left. The Hoodoos are at the bottom of the frame. This is a single image with the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens at 20mm.

Smoky Sunset Panorama over the Bow Valley

A 180° panorama taken in blue hour twilight with a waxing crescent Moon, over the Bow Valley, Banff, Alberta. This evening the air was filled with smoke from B.C. forest fires to the west, muting the colours and clarity. This is from the Hoodoos Viewpoint trail on Tunnel Mountain Drive, looking back toward Banff. The lights of the Banff Springs Hotel are in the distance at left. The Bow River winds below. Tunnel Mountain is at centre with Sulphur Mountain to the left and at far left is Mt. Rundle. Cascade Mountain is at far right. This is a panorama from 6 segments with the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens at 22mm.

The Rising Strawberry Moon of June 2021 with Clouds

The Full Moon of June 24, 2021, colloquially called the "Strawberry Moon," rising over the wind-rippled water of McGregor Lake in southern Alberta. The Moon is casting a prominent "glitter path" across the water, with clouds moving in above. This is an exposure blend of two images: a long one for the sky and water, and a short one for the disk of the Moon, to prevent it from being an overexposed white disk. The eye can take in this type of scene but the cameras of today, as good as they are, still cannot record the full dynamic range in brightness of such a scene in one exposure. This was with the Canon EOS Ra and 24-105mm RF zoom lens at 105mm.

The Rising Strawberry Moon of June 2021

The Full Moon of June 24, 2021, colloquially called the "Strawberry Moon," rising over the wind-rippled water of McGregor Lake in southern Alberta. The Moon is casting a prominent "glitter path" across the water. This is an exposure blend of two images: a long one for the sky and water, and a short one for the disk of the Moon, to prevent it from being an overexposed white disk. The eye can take in this type of scene but the cameras of today, as good as they are, still cannot record the full dynamic range in brightness of such a scene in one exposure. This was with the Canon EOS Ra and 200mm L lens.

Glitter Path of the Strawberry Moon

The Full Moon of June 24, 2021, colloquially called the "Strawberry Moon," rising over the wind-rippled water of McGregor Lake in southern Alberta. The Moon is casting a prominent "glitter path" across the water. This is an exposure blend of two images: a long one for the sky and water, and a short one for the disk of the Moon, to prevent it from being an overexposed white disk. The eye can take in this type of scene but the cameras of today, as good as they are, still cannot record the full dynamic range in brightness of such a scene in one exposure. This was with the Canon EOS Ra, and 200mm L lens and 1.4x Extender for 280mm focal length.

The Rising Strawberry Moon on the Horizon

The Full Moon of June 24, 2021, colloquially called the "Strawberry Moon," just rising over the distant hill at McGregor Lake in southern Alberta. The disk of the Moon is flattened by atmospheric refraction and tinted golden from atmospheric absorption, as is the case for all rising and setting Moons, and Suns. This is an exposure blend of two images: a long one for the sky and water, and a shorter one for the disk of the Moon, to prevent it from being overexposed. This was with the Canon EOS Ra and 200mm L lens and 1.4x Extender for 280mm focal length.

Noctilucent Clouds Wide-Angle Panorama (June 16, 2021)

A wide 90° panorama of the massive "grand display" of noctilucent clouds at dusk on June 16, 2021 from "One Tree Hill" (my name for it!) near home in southern Alberta. This display was bright and extensive at dusk on June 16, and re-appeared over much of the northeastern sky at dawn on June 17. The waxing Moon in Leo is at far left, Capella is right of centre, and Cassiopeia is at upper right. This is a panorama of 5 segments with the 24mm Canon lens and Canon R6, stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.

The Moon, Mars and Winter Stars at Dinosaur Park

The waxing crescent Moon near the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini, with Mars below, as the last of the winter stars set into the western twilight on a May night. This was May 16, 2021 from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. Capella in Auriga is at right. Procyon in Canis Minor is at left. This is a stack of 7 images (all 8 seconds) for the ground to smooth noise, blended with one long 13s exposure for the sky, plus one short 0.3s exposure for the Moon, to prevent its disk from overexposing too much, especially with the haze present this night. All with the Canon R6, untracked, and adapted Sigma 24mm lens at f/2.8.

The Perigean Full Moon of April 26, 2021

The close Full Moon, dubbed the Pink Supermoon, of April 26, 2021, with it high in a dark sky and about 2 hours after the moment of actual Full Moon but this was about 10 hours before the Moon reached a close perigee. I've processed this to enhance the contrast and colour differences in the lunar seas, the mare. This is a single image, 1/250 second at ISO 100 with the Canon 6D MkII through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for f/12 and 1560mm focal length. Topaz Sharpen AI applied very mildly, as it added artifacts if set too high or on Auto.

The Rising Pink Supermoon of April 26, 2021

The close Full Moon, dubbed the Pink Supermoon, of April 26, 2021, with it rising above my prairie horizon to the southeast this night. The Sun was still up and illuminating the foreground. This is a focus blend of two images — one focused for the distant landscape and one focused for the Moon, each 1/25 second at ISO 100 with the Canon 6D MkII through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for f/12 and 1560mm focal length.

Rising of the Full Snow Moon 2021

The rising Full Moon of February 27, 2021, the "Snow Moon" of the year. The Moon was technically fullest earlier in the day, some 16 hours before I shot this, and so was slightly past full when it rose for me this evening in southern Alberta. This is a composite stack of 9 short exposures for the Moon, blended with a single longer exposure for the ground and sky taken at the start of the moonrise sequence. But using the same exposure for the moons as I used for the sky would have resulted in vastly overexposed moons. As it was, I adjusted the exposures for the Moon from 0.6 seconds for the first (lowest) Moon to 1/30 second for the last (highest) Moon, to keep the moons properly exposed through the sequence, as it brightened as it rose. But it remained very yellow throughout due to atmospheric absorption of the blue wavelengths. The background exposure for the ground and sky was 2.5 seconds. The sky was much darker than the Moon, because it rose nearly 45 minutes after sunset this night, so the sky had darkened quite a bit by moonrise. All shots were through a SharpStar 76mm EDPH apo refractor with the matching SharpStar 0.8x field flattener/reducer, for an effective focal length of 335mm at f/4.4. The camera was the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 100. I shot images every 5 seconds, for possible use in a time-lapse. But having images spaced that closely together in time made it possible to select images with the Moon's disk just nicely separated to be touching. While the Moon moves its own diameter every 2 minutes due to Earth's rotation, the effect of atmospheric refraction will make it appear to rise at a different rate when it is closer to the horizon than when it is higher. Having lots of frames to pick from made it possible to pick just the right ones for the correct spacing. As it was, the time between the frames used for this composite was about 2 minutes.

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.

Comparison of the Full Moon at Apogee and Perigee

This is a comparison pair of the Full Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth for the year) at left, and at perigee (closest to Earth) at right, with the perigean Moon being a so-called "Supermoon". This apogee Moon was shot on Halloween, October 31, 2020 and was the smallest, most distant Full Moon of 2020. It was also a “Blue Moon,” as any Full Moon on the 31st of a month has to be, meaning it was the second Full Moon of the calendar month. The perigee Moon was the "Pink" Moon of 2021. With the apogee Moon, the Moon was actually full about 12 hours earlier, so there is a slight phase on its disk, with a terminator visible on the Moon’s eastern limb at right. With the perigee Moon, the Moon was officially full just 2 hours prior to this image, so that disk is very fully illuminated. In this pair the perigee Moon is about 15% larger than the apogee Moon. This shows an example of the lunar disk size at its extremes. Most Full Moons appear midway in size between these two examples. The two Moons also show the effect of libration where, in this case, more of the southern limb is tipped toward us on the perigee Moon, and more of the northern limb toward us on the apogee Moon. Being Full Moons, the bright rays emanating from “recent” impacts, particularly from large craters such as Tycho (bottom) and Copernicus (left), are prominent on each disk. Both are single exposures with the same equipment — the Astro-Physics 130mm EDF refractor with the 2x AP Barlow lens (for a focal length of 1560mm) and Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 100. I developed both images for increased contrast and colour saturation to bring out the subtle colour differences in the mare areas. Slight haze on the Oct. 31 night mutes the contrast slightly.

Comparison of the Full Moon at Apogee and Perigee (with Labels)

This is a comparison pair of the Full Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth for the year) at left, and at perigee (closest to Earth) at right, with the perigean Moon being a so-called "Supermoon". This apogee Moon was shot on Halloween, October 31, 2020 and was the smallest, most distant Full Moon of 2020. It was also a “Blue Moon,” as any Full Moon on the 31st of a month has to be, meaning it was the second Full Moon of the calendar month. The perigee Moon was the "Pink" Moon of 2021. With the apogee Moon, the Moon was actually full about 12 hours earlier, so there is a slight phase on its disk, with a terminator visible on the Moon’s eastern limb at right. With the perigee Moon, the Moon was officially full just 2 hours prior to this image, so that disk is very fully illuminated. In this pair the perigee Moon is about 15% larger than the apogee Moon. This shows an example of the lunar disk size at its extremes. Most Full Moons appear midway in size between these two examples. The two Moons also show the effect of libration where, in this case, more of the southern limb is tipped toward us on the perigee Moon, and more of the northern limb toward us on the apogee Moon. Being Full Moons, the bright rays emanating from “recent” impacts, particularly from large craters such as Tycho (bottom) and Copernicus (left), are prominent on each disk. Both are single exposures with the same equipment — the Astro-Physics 130mm EDF refractor with the 2x AP Barlow lens (for a focal length of 1560mm) and Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 100. I developed both images for increased contrast and colour saturation to bring out the subtle colour differences in the mare areas. Slight haze on the Oct. 31 night mutes the contrast slightly.

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.

Harvest Moonrise Composite (Sept 30, 2020)

The rising of the nearly Full Moon, the Harvest Moon of 2020, on September 30, from a site near home in Alberta, looking just south of due east this night. Refraction distorts the disk and atmospheric absorption reddens the disk toward the horizon. This is a multiple exposure composite of 6 images with the Canon 6D MkII through the 80mm A&M apo refractor at f/6 without field flattener. Taken as part of a time-lapse sequence with images every 2 seconds. The frames for this blend were taken 2 minutes apart, so selected from every 60 frames out of the sequence. All were at 1/8 second at ISO 100. Images stacked in Photoshop and blended with Lighten mode. The ground comes from the first image.

Alpenglow at the Icefields

The last rays of the setting Sun catch the peaks around the Columbia Icefields in Jasper National Park, Alberta, on July 27, 2020. The waxing quarter Moon shines over Mount Andromeda and sunlight illuminates the glacier on Mount Athabasca at left. The famous Athabasca Glacier itself is at centre. Snow Dome Glacier is at right. The meltwater lake in the middle distance is Sunwapta Lake. This is a panorama cropped in from the original 10 segments, each with the 35mm lens and Canon EOS Ra camera, all at ISO 100 and 1/25 sec at f/8. Stitched in Adobe Camera Raw. Shot from the moraine at the start of the access road across the forefield.