Archive for the ‘Night photos’ Category

No meteors captured. But Close.

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

I was down in southern Oregon at Lake of the Woods over the weekend camping during the meteor shower. We got up at 4am Saturday morning and headed over to the nearest meadow about 1/2 mile away. When we got there there was a couple leaning against their car watching the sky. We knew why they were there.

We got out of the car, I walked in the field a bit and looked up. The meteors were spectacular. The best way I can explain it is if you imagine your average shooting star and multiple everything about it by about 300. It’s brightness, intensity, the distance you see it travel, the length and brightness of its trail.

Although the shower was expected to peak at 4:50 or so, I think it peaked earlier. By about 4:30 we weren’t seeing many meteors. It’s okay, we had a good 10 minutes of amazement. The bummer is that I didn’t capture any meteors in any of my shots. I did however get these:

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Meteor Shower coming Saturday Sept. 1

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

For anybody out here in the “far west” get your alarm clocks and cameras ready:


Far-western states favored

On Saturday morning, September 1st, in the hour centered on about 11:37 UT, Earth should encounter the trail of dust released from Comet Kiess.

That moment (4:37 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time) favors the far-western parts of the United States, where the constellation Auriga will be about two-thirds up in the northeast sky around the time morning twilight begins. If you live in Portland, San Francisco or Los Angeles, you’ll be in perfect position to view the meteors.

More info/history here.

Lunar Eclipse photos

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

A couple of nights ago we had the second lunar eclipse of the year. I threatened the following work day to stay up until 5a.m. to see it and to photograph it but I don’t have a lens that would have captured it well from where I am. Of course I didn’t get a lot of sleep because I wanted to make sure I saw it. I’m glad I drank tons of iced tea before bed so I had to get up and pee a lot throughout the night. I regret not just putting a pinhole, Holga and 5D on the roof when I saw the eclipse at about 2:35a.m. It was so beautiful. At the time it was just a sliver. When I saw it about an hour later the whole thing was orange. A little while later it was all black with the exception of the top left portion which was bright as can be.

Having not captured these views, I’m glad that Jan Klier did. Check out his great shots.