Solar eclipse

It has rained for a week. Today was the first sunny day. It took a long time to get a solar filter for my camera. Amazon was out of them. Backordered filters would arrive after the solar eclipse day. B&H had filters. Everything was unclear as to safety and whether the solar filter would fit my camera lens. Gee!! I don’t remember it being so hard the last time around. Dave remembers he was here at the beach wtth another girlfriend. Colleen remembers too. I do not. Oh boy! … old age.

I got the filter needed. Tested. Mounted on the camera. Test shots. It works. Hey! it was easy?!

Practice, practice, practice.

Well, we are set. The weather report has been all over the map. I am not in the path of “totality.” Will it rain? Will it be cloudy? Will I see the sun?

Let’s see?! – pun intended. Last time around it was not totality here either. I got a nice series of shots. I am hoping…

For now it is practice, practice, practice. So far my camera, lens, and technique is good. We shall see how luck holds. I feel like there is much more hype around this eclipse than the last one. Colleen is neutral. We have a family member scheduled for surgery on that day… I am planning a location and to set up the tripod and to shoot, if the weather cooperated. Stay tuned.

Tech:

1. Solar filter for camera lens
2. Solar filter glasses for direct viewing
3. Tripod
4. Manual setting – approx. 1/160, F9, ISO 400

It all worked out this morning. If the weather is good, then we may have a follow up post with whatever eclipse is in my zone. Good luck to us all.

Work

Dark skies. They call it dark skies here in Maine. Yup. Dark. Except when the moon…

My project, task, goal – to shoot the stars. Colleen still laments she failed to get me a telescope. No! It’s better with a camera. No more new and $$$ equipment! Content? … as in, am I content? Yes!

I have played with manual settings for several nights running. The Maine skies are dark and clear as opposed to home where the clouds and rain have lashed the beach for days. Lucky! ISO 51,000, shutter 1 second, f stop 4.5. It all works except the moon is bright! So accommodations need to be made. And it’s cold out. And the animals make sounds in the woods…lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! You have no way of knowing what combination of settings will work. Multiple settings, no point and shoot, later you come in to evaluate the pics. Mostly they show dots in the sky – stars! But Hubble telescope it’s not. So, my interest is waning fast. No big nebula in the sky for me. There’s a lot more to learn. And better gear to do it. I will try the few more nights we are here before we depart. And I will forget it all when we return home to light pollution in the sky.

Sunrise Sunset

I know it when I see it.

The definition varies but the internet says – the moment the sun disc appears or disappears. Makes sense?

Meanwhile, it lasts but a moment and we try to vainly catch it, mostly by chance. On this occasion I waited atop a rise for the sun to set. It took a long time. The clouds did not fully cooperate. I got color. It was fitting coda to my dawn.

The moon rose. First quarter. It was enough to sew chaos in my star pictures. Alas, I feel like I am a day late and a dollar short. Almost, not quite, there.

Four three two

The images have to be enlarged to appreciate the effect.

Timing. Four seconds, three seconds, two seconds. Well, the reverse as displayed. Exposure. The ISO was 51,000 the max. F stop 4.5, the max. Tripod.

Not bad. The bit of foreground gives some perspective and interest. This was my second night in the bracing chill night air in Maine. I went to bed with everything overcast from an approaching tropical storm/hurricane. The clouds cleared. Colleen claimed I was “certifiable.” Ok!

Better. I wanted pinpoint stars. The “morning star” was too bright at this exposure. It wss over exposed and blurred. Otherwise things (stars) were sharp enough. Has it occurred to you that the light we are seeing came from light years away…. a long long time ago, far far away…

The exposure settings are way different than the internet suggested. But the settings work for me to get the image I sought. But, I am happy until I learn more. I have time to improve as long as the clear nights hold out this week.

Dust

It’s cosmic dust. Really!?! It’s what coalesces to form stars. It’s a mere two light years away? Spectacular! In the face of the universe and awesome, I am humbled. There is too much light pollution where I live to capture the stars at night. I gave up the attempt long ago. I dabble in an occasional shot of the moon. We have a beach cam. I sign in to get a shot of the dawn. Most mornings it is too cloudy or no clouds – boring, mission failure. Webb telescope: forecast – cloudy today.

Handheld

Well, sometimes I surprise even myself. We are in the wilds of Maine. The sky was clear and cold. It was dark as only a place can be without light pollution. Point and shoot. I did not have a tripod and was too cold to just stand around. I let the camera go automatic. The Sony could not compensate. The Nikon went wild. Who knew? I am a casual Astro-photographer which means I have no expectation and whatever comes is a gift and bonus. Press the shutter and voila! So, I ended with a 1.6 second exposure handheld. I must have a steady hand. Ha ha! It came out rather good. No complaint! One night only. The next was cloudy with rain. Sometimes it is once and only…. it looks lots better enlarged on a big screen. Gee, there are a lot of stars in the sky.

Auto

I’m no astronomer. I can hardly pick out the north star. Morning star? Well, I got some celestial bodies, stars and/or planets. I just stuck the camera up against the window. Click. For those of us too lazy to control all aspects of exposure, “Program” mode is good. Very good. Night shots are hard. There are extremes in exposure that challenge any sensor. When I shot film it was nearly impossible to get a proper night exposure. I let the Sony RX100 just go do its programed exposure. Look what I got! I did not persist. I am resigned to poor astrophotography images. Eh? Colleen?

Meanwhile, the moon came out pretty nice. Focus is hard. There are no real hard contrasting edges. The moon is very bright. I got the sensor to fool itself. The clouds and the houses made for an interesting tableau. Auto – program, it worked for me. The sensor has some magical algorithms for night shots. No, I will not be getting a telescope anytime soon.

Astronomy

A NIRCam composite image of Jupiter with three filters, F360M (red), F212N (yellow-green) and F150W2 (cyan), with alignment due to the planet’s rotation.Credit…NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt

Colleen was distraught when she ordered a telescope and it failed to arrive. She had plotted and planned for me to become an astro photographer. I had no real desire to do so. Really! I do not have the desire nor do I have the equipment. And I could never do better than the Webb telescope. I am content to admire and enjoy the efforts of others.

I like an image to be uniquely my own. Sure, there are thousands of sunrises and sunsets. But, the one I take is mine in that time and that spot. A picture of the Grand Canyon or of Niagara Falls had been done but a selfie adds a personal touch. So, no Colleen, I am content to admire the work of the Webb telescope without taking a picture that I can never match.