Post by scottmason on Dec 29, 2013 16:51:40 GMT -6
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!
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!