Solar System - Zodiacal Light
Flaring Geosats with Labels (March 9, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. In this case, a number of the satellites are flaring to the brightness of Regulus, at first magnitude. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 2.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 5 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 24mm Sigma lens at f/2.2 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Flaring Geosats (March 9, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. In this case, a number of the satellites are flaring to the brightness of Regulus, at first magnitude. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 2.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 5 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 24mm Sigma lens at f/2.2 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Winter Sky Panorama — 360° Rectangular
A 360° panorama of the entire late winter/early spring sky from northern latitudes, with the winter Milky Way stretching across the sky, from south (at left) to north (at right). West is at centre. Orion and the northern winters stars are left of centre to the southwest. Just below the prominent Pleiades cluster at centre is Mars, then near the Pleiades in early March 2021. To the far left in the eastern sky the spring stars are rising. The Beehive star cluster stands out to the left of the Milky Way,. The Big Dipper is at upper right. Arcturus is rising at far right just above the horizon. Sirius is above the southern horizon left of centre. The faint glow of Gegenschein is at far left below Leo, opposite the Sun. I shot this from home on March 7, 2021 on a very clear night with no aurora to the north. This is from a latitude of 51° N. This is a stitch of 21 segments, in 3 tiers or rows of 7 segments each, with the Sigma 24mm Art lens at f/2 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 1600. Exposures were 30 seconds each, all untracked. The camera was moved automatically from frame to frame by placing it on the Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi motorized alt-azimuth mount, programmed with the hand controller from the old Sky-Watcher All-View mount. Stitching was with PTGui using equirectangular projection. The original is 28,000 by 8,000 pixels.
Flaring Geosats with Labels (March 7, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 3.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 7 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 20mm Sigma lens at f/2.8 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Flaring Geosats (March 7, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 3.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 7 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 20mm Sigma lens at f/2.8 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Zodiacal Light with Venus and Mars
The Zodiacal Light before dawn on September 21, 2020 with Venus bright in the Zodiacal Light at left of centre, and Mars bright at far right. Orion and the winter stars are at centre. The Big Dipper is at far left/ This is a panorama of 6 segments, each untracked for 25 seconds at f/2 with the 14mm Sigma Art lens on the Nikon D750 at ISO 1600, and stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
The Winter Stars and Zodiacal Light at Dinosaur Park
Orion and the winter stars setting on a spring evening at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, with the Zodiacal Light rising out the urban sky glow from distant Calgary. Sirius is at far left, with Orion setting behind the badlands hill, while the Pleiades is in the Zodiacal Light band at right, with Mars just below the Pleiades. High haze and aircraft contrails add the natural star glows. The ugly yellow glow of light pollution contrasts with the delicate natural glows of the Zodiacal Light and Milky Way. This is a panorama stitched from 3 segments, all with the 24mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750, for 20 seconds at f/2.2 and ISO 4000. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
Winter Sky Setting at Dinosaur Park Panorama
A wide panorama of Orion and the winter stars setting on a spring evening at Dinosaur Provincial Park, with the Zodiacal Light rising out of the twilight and distant yellow sky glow to the west at centre. Sirius is at left to the southwest, with Orion setting behind the badlands hill, while the Pleiades is in the Zodiacal Light band at centre, with Mars just below the Pleiades. Perseus, Cassiopeia, and the Andromeda Galaxy are setting at right in the northwest. High haze and aircraft contrails (one at centre) add the natural star glows. The lingering twilight adds the sky colour. This is a 240° panorama stitched from 17 segments, all with the 24mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 in portrait orientation, each segment 20 seconds at f/1.4 and ISO 3200. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. A mild Orton glow effect was added to the landscape with Luminar 3 plugin.
The ISS, Airglow, and Zodiacal Light
A pass of the International Space Station with Canadian astronaut David St. Jacques on board, on the evening of January 26, 2019. I started the sequence just before 7 pm MST. The ISS is moving from right to left, southwest to southeast. The ISS faded and reddened naturally into sunset at top left in Taurus. Just before it did that it passed through the Hyades star cluster and just missed Aldebaran. Interestingly, the ISS seemed to track along the ecliptic here, made somewhat visible by the faint arc of the Zodiacal Light reaching up from the horizon at right and stretching across the sky to the upper left. The ISS coincidentally travelled parallel to, but just below the Zodiacal Light, which follows the ecliptic. Some red streaks of airglow are also visible, and I emphasized those in the colour correction to make a more colourful sky. I did the opposite to the light polluted clouds! But their yellow remains. Pity. I shot this from home, with the oft-photographed old farm rake as a foreground element. This is a stack of 8 x 30 second exposures, but with the ISS trails masked and blended with Lighten mode onto a single 30-second exposure taken just before the first ISS image. This yields a background sky with minimum star trailing. However, the ISS is trailed over the 4 minutes it traversed the sky from southwest (right) to southeast (left). All were with the 15mm Canon full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 3200. I added small cloned ISS trail bits to fill the gaps between the exposures caused by the 1-second interval, to make a continuous trail, despite it being from 8 exposures.
The watery constellations of Aquarius (occupying the majority of the frame) and Piscis Austrinus, at bottom right, marked by the bright star Fomalhaut. Part of Capricornus is at far right. The southern circlet of Pisces is at upper left, so the frame contains bits of many of the watery constellations of the southern sky. The Y-shaped “Steering Wheel” asterism in Aquarius is at top of the frame. The Zodiacal Light brightens the sky across the top along the ecliptic, as these constellations were in the southwest evening sky setting when I took this shot. This is a stack of 2 x 2-minute exposures with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.5 and Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 1600. Taken from Quailway Cottage in southeast Arizona.
Sky Dust - Interplanetary and Interstellar
Depictions of two kinds of dust in space: At left the pyramid-shaped glow of Zodiacal Light caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust in the inner solar system from comets and meteoroids, while at right is the band of the bright Milky Way, made of stars in our galaxy. But along it lie dark lanes of interstellar dust made of carbon compounds made in the atmospheres of stars and dispersed into the Galaxy. This is from the Quailway Cottage near Portal, Arizona, on December 14, 2017, looking west to the Chiricahua Mountains of southeast Arizona. The Summer Triangle stars are setting into the west with Deneb at top, while Vega is at right. Altair is lowest at centre. The sky is a single 30-second exposure, while the ground is a mean combined stack of 8 30-second exposures to smooth noise, all at f/2.5 with the 14mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 6400. Not tracked — these were part of a 350-frame time-lapse.
Zodiacal Light over the Tetons at Dawn
The morning Zodiacal Light over the hills and peaks of the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, at dawn on August 20, 2017, the day before the solar eclipse. Venus is the bright object below, the Pleiades is at top, Orion at right amid cloud. This was taken from the Idaho side. Lights on the Tetons are likely from climbers on the peaks, there to watch the eclipse the next day. This is with the Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm lens. It is a single exposure of 25 seconds at f/2.5 and ISO 6400.
Milky Way Rising #2 - With Dark Emu
The southern Milky Way and galactic centre rising on an April night in Australia, with the Dark Emu rising and now cleared the trees with hsi head, neck and body visible. Scorpius has risen. The faint glow at left is the Zodiacal Band. While it looks like the Milky Way is casting light across the ground, the bright ground is from lights from a nearby house on briefly for a few seconds. This is a stack of 8 x 45-second exposures for the ground, mean combined to smooth noise, and one 45-second untracked exposure for the sky, all with the Rokinon 14m lens at f/2.5 and Canon 6D at ISO 3200. Taken as part of a 500-frame time-lapse sequence.
Panorama of the Winter Sky in March
A horizon-to-zenith panorama of the winter consellations on a March evening as they set into the southwest. Orion is at bottom centre, with his Belt pointing down to Canis Major and up to Taurus. Gemini and Auriga are at top, in this case near the zenith overhead. The bright star clusters, M44, the Beehive, (at left) and M45, the Pleiades, (at right) flank the Milky Way. M45 is embedded in the Zodiacal Light. The star clusters M35 in Gemini and M41 in Canis Major are also visible as diffuse spots, as are several other star clusters. A couple of satellite trails are visible. Taken from home Match 19, 2017, for use as a book illustration. This is a panorama of 5 panels, each with the 20mm Sigma Art lens at f/2, and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, for 25 seconds each. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
Panorama of the Winter Sky in March-B&W Naked Eye View
A horizon-to-zenith panorama of the winter consellations on a March evening as they set into the southwest. Orion is at bottom centre, with his Belt pointing down to Canis Major and up to Taurus. Gemini and Auriga are at top, in this case near the zenith overhead. The bright star clusters, M44, the Beehive, (at left) and M45, the Pleiades, (at right) flank the Milky Way. M45 is embedded in the Zodiacal Light. The star clusters M35 in Gemini and M41 in Canis Major are also visible as diffuse spots, as are several other star clusters. A couple of satellite trails are visible. Taken from home Match 19, 2017, for use as a book illustration. This is a panorama of 5 panels, each with the 20mm Sigma Art lens at f/2, and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, for 25 seconds each. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
Panorama of the Winter Sky in March (with Labels)
A horizon-to-zenith panorama of the winter consellations on a March evening as they set into the southwest. Orion is at bottom centre, with his Belt pointing down to Canis Major and up to Taurus. Gemini and Auriga are at top, in this case near the zenith overhead. The bright star clusters, M44, the Beehive, (at left) and M45, the Pleiades, (at right) flank the Milky Way. M45 is embedded in the Zodiacal Light. The star clusters M35 in Gemini and M41 in Canis Major are also visible as diffuse spots, as are several other star clusters. A couple of satellite trails are visible. Taken from home Match 19, 2017, for use as a book illustration. This is a panorama of 5 panels, each with the 20mm Sigma Art lens at f/2, and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, for 25 seconds each. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
Orion and the Winter Milky Way over the grand old barn near home. Sirius and Canis Major are at left, Aldebaran and Taurus, with the Pleiades at upper right. A glow of Zodiacal Light shines to the west at right. Taken March 18, 2017 on a very clear night but with a gale force wind blowing from a Chinook wind, and with the warm day the fields were muddy and soft. As were the side roads. This is a stack of 8 x 30 second exposures for the ground (mean combined to smooth noise) and a single 30-second exposure for the sky. All at f/2.5 with the new Rokinon 14mm SP lens. And with the Canon 6D at ISO 3200.
Evening Zodiacal Light at Dinosaur Park
The late winter evening Zodiacal Light, as shot at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, February 28, 2017. The Light is the glow from sunlight reflecting off cometary dust particles in the inner solar system. It is not an effect of twilight. It is best visible in the evening from northern latitudes in late winter and spring. Venus is just setting above the badlands landscape. The Andromeda Galaxy is at right, the Pleiades at left. The Milky Way runs across the frame at top. This is a stack of 7 x 30-second exposures for the ground, mean combined for lower noise, plus one 30-second exposure for the sky, all at f/2 with the 20mm Sigma Art lens, and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400.
Evening Zodiacal Light at Dinosaur Park (with Labels)
The late winter evening Zodiacal Light, as shot at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, February 28, 2017. The Light is the glow from sunlight reflecting off cometary dust particles in the inner solar system. It is not an effect of twilight. It is best visible in the evening from northern latitudes in late winter and spring. Venus is just setting above the badlands landscape. The Andromeda Galaxy is at right, the Pleiades at left. The Milky Way runs across the frame at top. This is a stack of 7 x 30-second exposures for the ground, mean combined for lower noise, plus one 30-second exposure for the sky, all at f/2 with the 20mm Sigma Art lens, and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400.
A single-frame panorama with the 15mm ultrawide fish-eye lens of the autumn sky and constellations from horizon to zenith. The sky extends from Cetus at bottom up to Cassiopeia and Cepheus at top in the Milky Way. The Pleiades is at left, the Andromeda Galaxy above centre. Capella and Auriga are at upper left. The evening Zodiacal Light brightens the sky at lower right, plus haze is moving in and reflecting light pollution to the west. Taken from home in southern Alberta on Jan 3, 2016, with the 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens at f/3.2 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800 for a stack of 5 x 3-minute exposures, Median combined to eliminate satellite trails. The ground is from one exposure to minimize blurring from the camera tracking.
Mosaic of the Northern Autumn Constellations
A horizon to past-the-zenith mosaic and panorama of the northern autumn sky and the related Greek mythological constellations: from the watery constellations of Aquarius, Pisces, and Cetus at the bottom near the horizon, up to Pegasus and Aries in mid-frame, on up to Andromeda and Pegasus at upper left, and Cassiopeia and Cepheus at top of frame in the Milky Way overhead. The Andromeda Galaxy is just above centre. Most of these constellations are related in Greek mythology, with Andromeda being the daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, who was rescued from the jaws of Cetus the Sea Monster by Perseus, who rode on Pegasus in some accounts. Zodiacal Light brightens the sky at bottom right in Aquarius, and angles across the frame to the left. I shot this from home on a very clear night January 2, 2016 with the Zodiacal Light plainly visible to the naked eye. This is a mosaic of 5 panels, each a stack of 5 x 2 minute exposures, plus each panel having another stack of 2 x 2 minute exposures blended in, and taken through the Kenko Softon filter to add the fuzzy star glows to make the constellations stand out. All were shot with the 24mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 5DMkII at ISO 1600. All tracked on the AP Mach One mount. All stacking and stitching in Photoshop CC 2015. Final image size is 8500 x 5500 pixels and 3.6 gigabytes for the layered master.
Mosaic of the Northern Autumn Constellations (with Labels)
A horizon to past-the-zenith mosaic and panorama of the northern autumn sky and the related Greek mythological constellations: from the watery constellations of Aquarius, Pisces, and Cetus at the bottom near the horizon, up to Pegasus and Aries in mid-frame, on up to Andromeda and Perseus at upper left, and Cassiopeia and Cepheus at top of frame in the Milky Way overhead. The Andromeda Galaxy is just above centre. Most of these constellations are related in Greek mythology, with Andromeda being the daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, who was rescued from the jaws of Cetus the Sea Monster by Perseus, who rode on Pegasus in some accounts. Zodiacal Light brightens the sky at bottom right in Aquarius, and angles across the frame to the left. I shot this from home on a very clear night January 2, 2016 with the Zodiacal Light plainly visible to the naked eye. This is a mosaic of 5 panels, each a stack of 5 x 2 minute exposures, plus each panel having another stack of 2 x 2 minute exposures blended in, and taken through the Kenko Softon filter to add the fuzzy star glows to make the constellations stand out. All were shot with the 24mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 5DMkII at ISO 1600. All tracked on the AP Mach One mount. All stacking and stitching in Photoshop CC 2015. Final image size is 8500 x 5500 pixels and 3.6 gigabytes for the layered master.
Iridium Flare and Zodiacal Light
An Iridium flare, albeit partly obscured by cloud, in a wide-angle shot of the southern sky on an early evening on a December night from southeast Arizona. The Zodiacal Light is prominent across the sky from the southwest to high i the south, despite the thin cloud. Fomalhaut is the bright star right of lower centre, and Diphda the star above the Iridium flare. I shot this December 10 from the Quailway Cottage near Portal, Arizona. This is a stack of 3 2.5-minute tracked exposures to smooth noise plus one more exposure for the Iridium flare itself and that added the ground. All with the 15mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D at ISO 1600.
Zodiacal Light at Dawn with Planet Lineup
The dawn Zodiacal Light in autumn/early winter from Arizona, with a line of the Moon and planets defining the ecliptic across the eastern sky, tipped up at a high angle here, and showing how the Zodiacal Light lies along the ecliptic. The Zodiacal Light appears as the diffuse tower of light in the dawn sky and is caused by sunlight reflecting off cometary dust particles in the inner solar system. From bottom to top the worlds are: the waning crescent Moon (overexposed), Venus (bright), Mars (faint), then Jupiter (above centre). The star Regulus in Leo is at very top, and Spica in Virgo is just off the ecliptic line to the right of Mars and Venus. Bands of red airglow appear at left with some green airglow at right. This is a stack of 4 x 2.5-minute tracked exposures for the sky, and 2 x 2.5-minute exposures for the ground, but untracked to maintain sharpness. All at f/3.5 with the 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens, and Canon 6D at ISO 1000. The camera was on the iOptron Sky-Tracker. Taken from the field at Quailway Cottage near Portal, Arizona looking east to New Mexico.