Photography

Roll Cloud Event of 06/09/08: Image captured at 8:22am CDT

Following another very active night of strong to severe convection, a beautifully-defined roll cloud passed over northeast Kansas on the morning of Monday, 06/09/08. This roll cloud followed some thick, low-hanging stratus that had lingered behind the active overnight convection. As the stratus deck retreated to the east, this roll cloud became visible, stretching from the northern horizon all the way to the southern horizon just west of our location. As this roll cloud moved east, it briefly became particularly well-defined around 8:20am CDT as shown above before slowly losing the crisp, clear edges.

Several minutes later, I captured several more photographs from a better vantage point.

Roll Cloud Event of 06/09/08: Image captured at 8:27am CDT

Roll Cloud Event of 06/09/08: Image captured at 8:27am CDT. Additional signs of instability evidenced by the faint wave clouds in the upper left portion of the frame.

I then stitched together five frames using Canon’s PhotoStitch 3.1 software that came with the Canon 30D. This was my first attempt at using this software to compose a panoramic image from several still frames, so you’ll have to excuse the imperfections.

Roll Cloud Event of 06/09/08: Composite image of 6 photographs taken at 8:27am CDT. Click for much larger image.

For more images, check out the full entry in the gallery: Roll Cloud Event of 06/09/08.

Composite Image of four photographs taken between 8:51pm and 9:51pm CST. Click on image for larger view

In sorting through a huge virtual stack of digital photographs that needed organization, I realized I never posted any of my photographs of the total lunar eclipse of February 20th, 2008. Some of these photographs have been featured on other sites, thus the watermark.

The next total lunar eclipse visible from here in the US won’t come around until December of 2010. The only wild card was the weather. Clouds are already streaming into southern Kansas in advance of a coming storm, but fortunately they held off until the second half of the eclipse. The entire first half, including the beginning of totality was still clearly visible from Kansas.

These photographs were captured during the first stages of the eclipse prior to clouds moving in right around totality. Shots taken either with a Canon 30D 70-300mm @300mm, f/5.6 exposures varying from 1/1000s to 1s or handheld through 26mm eyepiece of my Meade DS-2114LNT reflector telescope.

The first image was taken at 8:51pm, CST. Click all images for a higher resolution view.

8:51pm CST. Canon 30D, 300mm f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO-200. Click on image for larger view

9:08pm CST. Canon 30D, 300mm f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO-200. Click on image for larger view

9:26pm CST. Canon 30D, 260mm f/5.6, 1/400s, ISO-200. Click on image for larger view

9:27pm CST. Clouds now becoming visible. Canon 30D, 1/2s, ISO-200. Click on image for larger view

9:51pm CST. Clouds streaming in from the south. Canon 30D 1s, ISO-200. Click on image for larger view

This morning’s total lunar eclipse was a spectacular one, as viewed from northeast Kansas. The reddish-copper hues were much more vibrant than during the partial eclipse of 03/03/07.

While I was not able to document the full range of the eclipse from start to finish (it lasted several hours), I was able to grab a few shots during totality. First, an image of the full moon as seen the evening before (08/27/07) around 8:45pm CDT (click image for a larger view):

The moon entered totality around 9:52 UTC (4:52 am local time). The first images I captured were around 10:35 (5:35am CDT) and the best images during totality were shot around 5:44am (click for a larger view):

5:46am:

By5:55am CDT even the western sky was just beginning to brighten as sunrise was looming at my back and the moon threatened to quickly be eclipsed by a neighbor’s roofline (click for a larger view):

By 6am, we were ready to pull the camera in and venture out for our morning 4-mile run. I opted to leave the ipod at home this time and enjoy the serenity of the morning with the eclipsed moon guiding us out as we ventured westward for the start of our run. It actually provided surprisingly little light and was fading fast as it approached the foggy, hazy horizon, quickly losing contrast in the brightening sky.

It was a beautiful sight as the first rays of twilight began to brighten the eastern sky. Sunlight quickly seeped past the Earth, once again finding the moon. The moon quickly began returning it to its familiar bright yellow shades as it emerged from beneath the Earth’s shroud. The top of the moon was first to brighten and the rest quickly followed. As the moon set, it began to look much more like its familiar self, although it did not fully emerge from the eclipse until after it had dropped beneath the horizon in our location (just before 7am).

As was the case with the last eclipse photo shoot, I’m still not satisfied with my ability to manually focus the 300mm IS USM to infinity in low light (auto focus is no good in darnkess). I have since upgraded to a much better tripod (Bogen/Manfrotto Wilderness 3221) which was used this morning, although I haven’t put the cable release to work yet and probably should have. As you can see by the full moon photo, the lens is perfectly capable of a much clearer shot of even an eclipsed moon, but my ability to work the lens into the proper range has been elusive. Fortunately I only need to wait a few months for my next chance.

The calendar is already marked: Total Lunar Eclipse of February 21, 2008. For much more information, including many graphics friendly to even casual observers, check out the NASA Eclipse Page.

Even more spectacular than next year’s lunar eclipse will be the Total Solar Eclipse of 2017. It will be perfectly visible from Northeast Kansas… just ten years from this month. Check out the detailed path and other information regarding the eclipse of 2017 on a great new resource: NASA’s Google Earth Eclipse Mapping Page.

See more images from this event in the Notes In The Margin Gallery (here’s a direct link to the Lunar Eclipse of 08/28/07). For still more images - and many much more spectacular than those shown above, check out the invaluable SpaceWeather.com galleries for the Eclipse of 08/28/07.

…as photographed from Northeast Kansas on the evening of March 3, 2007.

Totality was not observed from our vantage point, as the moon slid through the center of the Earth’s shadow before it rose above the horizon in Northeast Kansas. But we were afforded a cool, clear, crisp evening to observe the later 1/3 or so of the event. All shots were taken with the Canon 30D with the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM out to 300mm with varied exposures. The photos are not as crisp as I’d like and I believe this is for two reasons: a poor tripod and imperfect focusing.

The first shot was taken at 6:35pm (a cropped version now appears as the header image). The last eclipse shot was taken at 6:49pm CST. As always, click the image for a larger view.

6:35pm CST / Canon 30D, 70-300mm IS USM, 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/3 sec

6:38pm CST / Canon 30D, 70-300mm IS USM, 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/4 sec

6:40pm CST / Canon 30D, 70-300mm IS USM, 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/5 sec

6:43pm CST / Canon 30D, 70-300mm IS USM, 300mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/13 sec

6:48pm CST / Canon 30D, 70-300mm IS USM, 300mm, f/11, ISO 200, 1/15 sec

6:49pm CST / Canon 30D, 70-300mm IS USM, 300mm, f/11, ISO 200, 1/15 sec

I feel tonight’s shots fall into the “acceptable” category. They are not as crisp as I had hoped for and I’ll place some of the blame on my inability to lock the focus on this lens to ¥. If someone knows how to lock the focus of this lens to infinity (is it possible?), please let me know via email or a comment on this post.

The crispest image of the night (click to enlarge) was captured following the eclipse…exactly one hour following the last eclipse shot above, at 7:48pm CDT following the eclipse:

Canon 30D w/ 70-300mm IS USM, 300mm, f/16, ISO 100, 1/125 sec exposure

Technorati Tags: 2007 Lunar Eclipse, Lunar Eclipse Photos, Photography, Astronomy

As we count down the final days of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) viewing from the Northern Hemisphere, I was able to snap off a few more shots over the past two days.

With a significant winter storm approaching Kansas, I don’t expect any more good viewing windows to open up between now and early next week. But I have to say I’ve been very pleased with the view this comet has provided me. While I was able to observe comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 01) back in 1997 (see a great image gallery here), I never had the opportunity to photograph it or study is closely (and as easily via the internet). But Comet McNaught was just the ticket and afforded me a great break from the usual routine for about a half hour each evening this week. Tonight was likely the last night I’ll have to view McNaught as a winter storm approaches Kansas tonight. The next clear evening will likely be early next week. By then it’ll likely be too late for good viewing from up here in the northern hemisphere.

But Comet McNaught is not done yet (from SpaceWeather):

In the days ahead, Comet McNaught will pass the sun (temporarily disappearing in the glare) and emerge in good position for southern hemisphere viewing later this month. Meanwhile, solar heating will continue to puff up the comet, causing it to brighten even more. It could become one of the brightest comets in centuries, visible even in daylit skies.

Comet McNaught tonight (click to enlarge):

And a couple shots from last night (01/10/2007):

Comet McNaught has been documented incredibly well. Read all about the discovery and historical highlights of Comet McNaught. Check out this great time lapse video from wvlightning.com. See more photographs in the McNaught Gallery from SpaceWeather.com and the gallery from space.com.

Up Next: Now that the comet viewing window is apparently closed, attention can now focus on the significant winter storm taking aim on the central plains. The cold front pushed through Northeast Kansas tonight (great pre-frontal warming today with highs in the mid-60s throughout Kansas!) dropping temps about 30 degrees in 4 hours. Some ice tomorrow, more sleet/ice Saturday night, possibly followed by a few inches of fluffy snow Sunday AM??

See related:

• 01/09/2007: McNaught 2.0
• 01/08/2007: Not for Naught: Chasing a Comet