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#nightsky

7 posts5 participants0 posts today
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Jeff
Had my last official aurora tour of the season last night. We got hit by a CME during the day and we weren’t sure if it would hold until night time hit in Alaska.
Luckily we were in for a treat, with huge columns and deep red and blue colors covering the sky.

It’s been an amazing season, I’ll keep posting up photos here and there but it’s time to relax with friends and family for a while.

#auroraborealis #northernlights #aurora #astrophotography #nightsky #sun #stars #naturewonder #beautifulworld
#beautifulworld
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Jeff
This was taken a few months ago when we still had snow on the spruce trees.

Normally in Fairbanks we dont get a lot of snow. The storms that dump snow along the coast and partial interior mountain ranges usually have very little left by the time they reach the interior. What it does give us is cold temps and clear skies, which is perfect for holding the little snow we do get, and having great aurora viewing.

This winter started out normal, but over the past few months we have had consistent warm temperatures and wind, which has removed all the snow from our usually laden trees.

I always am on the lookout for aurora images using terrestrial nature as a foreground, up here that is mainly trees. So when I discovered this little pocket a few meters away from my winter cabin when I moved in, I was ecstatic.

But getting a corona framed directly overhead of this pocket was another thing. Since I’m out on tours most nights, I rarely have time to do any shooting at my house. And usually when I do, I get so caught up in the moment, that by the time I realize it would be a good view from “the spruce pocket”, it’s too late. But on this night I was ready for it and wow what a show. Personally this is one of my favorite images from this winter as it is the culmination of a lot of planning and patience.

Sony a7iii 20mm, 4” 1600iso f/1.8 touched up in affinity

#aurora #northernlights #auroraborealis #alaska #astrophotography #winter #lookup #sonyalpha #stars #nightsky #winterwonderland #nature #neonlights
#neonlights
Public
Jeff
In my off season this past fall, I decided to go to Kauai and go backpacking all over the island. Coming from Alaska it was quite pleasant to wear shorts constantly and have good fresh fruit everywhere you went. While I was camping on the west side of the island I decided to pull the camera out and get some Milky Way shots. What I totally forgot about was the #comet C/2023 A3 passing by our planet.

The hooting and hollering that I made when I first looked at the image could be heard for miles.

The upper part of the cloud is lit up from the moon rising behind the island creating a very pleasing image.
I am shooting this on a #sony A7iii with a 20mm f1.8 lens. 30” exposure, iso 1250

#milkyway #astrophotography #comet #sonyalpha #kauai #hawaii #beaches #nightsky #ocean #nature #hiking #camping
#camping
Public
Jeff
Some incredibly vibrant views from my driveway. While on the previous post we were talking about the greens and purples of the Aurora, in that last photo there is a huge curtain of red above the green arc.

Both these are caused by atmospheric oxygen, but the reds are from oxygen that is higher in the atmosphere. When these gases get hit by the charged particles from the solar wind, they vibrate to expel the positive charge and return to a neutral state. Depending on the amount density of the gasses (lower in the atmosphere has more, higher less) the vibration has a different wavelength that our eyes perceive as light. So reds are happening about 200km in the air with the greens happening about 100km up.
The reds can be somewhat difficult to see with your naked eye but in instances like the second photo they are very vivid to the earthly observer.

#aurora #auroraborealis #nature #nightsky #alaska #northernlights #gooutside #earthsbeauty #lookup #astrophotography #winterwonderland
#WinterWonderland
Public
Spaceways

19/03/2025 - Cold night on the hill. We took the scope with us on our evening walk. The sky was clear but slightly hazy. Tonight's photo is of the flaming star nebula. Whilst waiting (photo took about 2hrs) the aurora popped by to say hello. Quick snap with my camera (bit wobbly as I didn't have my tripod), it didn't last long but it was nice.

Photo of the red flaming star nebula in the night sky. So many stars.
Quick snap of aurora (bit wobbly as no tripod) Nice greens and reds to it tonight. It didn't last long.
#EveningWalk#NightSky#Astrodon
Public
Spaceways

18/03/2025 - We had another visit to the Pacman Nebula tonight. This time no moon and clear sky. Really happy with the photo. Nebula looks so nice and the amount of stars round it, wow! The night sky really is a big place just full of lovely stuff. We tried a new dark spot on the hill this evening, not as far as my ankle is still a problem. Turned out a pretty good place for the scope.

1 hour photo of the Pacman nebula in a night sky full of stars. It's reddish and shaped a bit like Pacman. I'm really happy with the photo as the sky doesn't get that dark so close to the city. Little wind tonight but it was chilly.
#EveningWalk#NightSky#Astrodon
Public
Restless Lip Syndrome

I had a lot of folks show me the photos they took of the moon on their phones from last night. Phones are getting better each year, but my Sony A7r V shows there still isn't a replacement yet for an SLR/DSLR, a good lens, and a little bit of knowledge. Exposure bracketing made this one of the best moon photos I have ever taken.

The moon during a lunar eclipse.
#maui#Hawaii#Sony
Public
Enrique Boeneker

I like this galaxy very much. However, I don't know if I like it because of its "grand design" or because it reminds me of The Time Tunnel. Yes, that ancient TV show in which Tony and Douglas were inevitably lost in time. (Never understood how the guys in charge could retrieve a massive mammut from the past, but not the pair of time travelers together). Anyway, this is M51, The Time Tunnel.

In my post, I said the photograph was only of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. But that's not true. This galaxy obviously is tearing apart another galaxy, its neighbor: NGC 5195, or M51b for short. The name of M51, the bully, seems appropriate; it is indeed a cosmic maelstrom. I must mention that there are a lot of "cosmic maelstroms" in our universe, so M51 taking all the credit does not seem fair to me. I've added information of the red wavelength known as H-alpha. In this particular wavelength, ionized hydrogen emits a lot of light. Emission nebulae are made mainly of ionized hydrogen, so you can see in this picture many of these kinds of nebulae sparkling with a reddish color, the spiral arms of this majestic thing. How far this thing is, you may ask. Who knows, it might be 15 million l-y or 30 million l-y away, according to the available literature. I take bets. You can find more galaxies, if your are patient enough...
#astronomy#astrophotography#galaxy
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