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[scottmason]

Last year I did a recap of my observation/imaging sessions. So here it goes for 2013.
I feel like this is almost necessary for me to do, since I haven't been very active on the forum lately and I attended fewer public outings this year.
This year my learning curve slowed down quite a bit, and the only new gear acquired was a modified DSLR (more on that later).
I still have yet to mastering stacking, as Nebulosity continues to leave me baffled when it comes to processing color from RAW files.

As hectic as my life can be, I won't allow myself to distance myself from my hobbies and the communities within them!


So here it goes:

A moon halo, on Christmas night of 2012


Moonbow by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



I had an imaging session at Conway in early January, that went quite well.
I ran back and forth from the concrete pad to the heaters inside all while snapping exposures through the Meade telescope.
This went on well into the morning. By about 5am it was just me and Paulie, and I said goodbye to hit the road while running on no sleep.
I think that a cup of coffee saved my life, because I could just barely keep my eyes open on the road.
Nodding off on the highway is something I never want to happen again! Here are a few of the best images from that night.


M42, stacked


M42 In Color by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


Top deck at Conway with airplanes


Scope by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


M33, The Triangulum Galaxy. This is the most exposures I've successfully stacked, 15. I couldn't seem to bring much color out of it.


Triangulum Galaxy by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



The Moon+Jupiter Conjunction on January 14. The Moon and Jupiter in this image were not altered, but a longer exposure was taken for Jupiter's moons and added into the image.


Moon & Jupiter by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


Then in March came panstarrs, the comet that made promises and kept them!


Comet Pan-STARRS by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


Look for it closely in this one:

Moon and Comet Pan-STARRS by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


On March 17th I came out to Conway, and only came home with this image of Orion. Thick haze covered the sky.
I used data from the previous M42 image and added it to this one.

Orion Wide Field by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



A crop of Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse with Corona visible by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


An then in mid June, I went to my uncle's house in Lutsen, Minnesota. Lutsen is way up in the UP of the state on Lake Superior, an hour from the Ontario border.
I had my fingers crossed to see my first Aurora Borealis...And on the only cloudy night up there, it came. It was bright enough to shine through the clouds, though!

Caribou Lake

Auruora Borealis by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr




Aurora Borealis by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



A long iridium flare to the north


Iridium Flare and Skyglow by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



The Milky Way over my uncle's house



Home Is Where The Stars Are by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



Auruora Borealis by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


A self portrait with my imaging rig

Self Portrait in Yard by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr

And now for some fun deep sky stuff!
These are all single exposures, with my modified Nikon D3100 piggybacked to the Celestron CG-5, 50mm prime lens set to f/2.2


Red Nebulosity by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



Wide Field by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


The North America Nebula is in the upper right corner in this one


Deneb with North America Nebula by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


The star Altair with Bernard's "E"


Altair with Barnard's E by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



Wide Field by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



House With Milky Way 2 by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



Scroll for this one! Yes, I stitched the middle..Poorly.


2-panel mosaic with Altair by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



And then the Perseid meteor shower. This was from my back balcony in Chicago.


Perseid Meteor by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


A crop of that meteor


Perseid Meteor crop by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


Suzie and I took a trip to Warren Dunes Park in Michigan in early September around the time of the peak of Alpha Aurigids I believe.
I snapped this one before park closed at 9pm, right before the longest meteor I've ever seen went by.
It lasted at least 6 seconds..And I wasn't ready to capture it.



Warren Dunes State Park by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


On a visit to my mom's in central WI, I snapped an alignment star through the telescope. I forget which one this was.


Alignment Star by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


Here is a comparison of 10mm to 50mm, the latter being tracked.
The leaves of the tree appear purple, due to the modified filter of the camera giving reddish hues to almost everything.


10mm Vs 50mm by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



We also took a trip to the southwest in October in search of a nicer, better city to migrate to.
We stopped in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas during the day and drove around a bit.
I decided I needed to come back later that night and check out the dark sky. Here's a shot from inside the canyon.


Milky Way at Palo Duro Canyon, TX by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


We stayed a night in the desert between Albaquerque, NM and Santa Fe.
It was mostly cloudy, but before total darkness I got this shot of Venus to the south.
You can faintly make out the Milky Way to the left of the bright planet.


Dusk, Santa Fe by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr


And another Moon halo, from the same location.


Moon Halo Over Santa Fe by -_Scott Mason Photography-, on Flickr



Well, that's it for now.
I'm still going through vacation pictures and working on some landscape-sky panoramas from Wisconsin. I'll post those once they're ready.

Also, if anyone lives at a northern latitude or plans on traveling north, you can try out Aurora Service's phone alert system.
It sends you texts as soon as predictions on kp levels change or appear.
I signed up and get plenty of texts, but it hasn't led me to any sightings yet.
At $8/mo it's kind of pricey but worth it if you are dying to see the Northern Lights.
I decided to try it out since I was traveling to Wisconsin so much this fall.
www.aurora-service.org/aurora-alerts/


Thanks for reading!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

With my new T5i...I hope to capture some nice pics like Scott has been doing.

Good stuff man and thanks for sharing.

[Paulie pchris00]

Were the first and last pictures here- the Moon halos- taken as a short time exposure? I see a hint of color in each of the halos, something I have seen in Sun halos, but never in Moon halos. Do you remember seeing color visually? I know first one is from over a year ago, but I'm curious.

[mojocvh]

Scott this looks like it could have come from another alien planet!



pretty amazing effect

Happy new year to you and all @ CA!!

[scottmason]

Dec 30, 2013 19:19:46 GMT -6 Paulie pchris00 said:

Were the first and last pictures here- the Moon halos- taken as a short time exposure? I see a hint of color in each of the halos, something I have seen in Sun halos, but never in Moon halos. Do you remember seeing color visually? I know first one is from over a year ago, but I'm curious.

Paulie, I actually don't remember visually picking up color in either occasions with the moon halos. I definitely have seen the prism effect when cloud cover obscures a bright moon on many occasions but not specifically with halos.
They were both long exposures, about 30 seconds each if I remember correctly.

[skyluvr]

Scott,

Fantastic photos!!!

Keep up the good work.

[-=CROMAN=-]

Those are quite awesome!