A Night at Gooseberry

Sunset

Last night, there was a possibility of Aurora, so we went out to Gooseberry in order to watch the skies and photograph whatever we saw.  The sunset had some nice color at the horizon, but there was not any clouds, so we did not get one of those very colorful sunset's.  The moon was in the sky brightly shining in its first quarter view..  This guy slowly darkened, then Venus followed by Jupiter and finally Regulus appeared in the sky.  Jupiter is catching up to Venus and by the beginning of the month should be at their closest conjunction until next year.  It was a beautiful night, with intermittent clouds some breeze, pesky mosquitoes and people out just walking, going fishing or kids celebrating the end, the school going to have a campfire on the beach.  Once the clouds passed the Milky Way was able to be captured by the cameras because of the moon.  It was not as bright in the sky as usual, Cassiopeia W was just above the horizon and in one picture I have some green color, which may have been an Aurora.  We watched a couple of satellites, passing overhead one on a west to east direction and one and a north south direction.  The moon shined rightly on the water and as the evening progressed, the planet slowly sank into the northwest.  It is always great to be out and observe the wonder of the heavens that flow above us, plus capturing a bit of it in our cameras.

Looking south with the stars in the sky, clouds and a fire on the beach

Milky Way panorama

Cassiopeia above, a possible Aurora

moonlight reflection on the water

satellite passing overhead

Venus, Jupiter and Regulus slowly setting in the West

same photo as above, but captioned

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Summer Solstice

Sunset

June 21 marked the Summer solstice and at our latitude we had 15 hours and 17 minutes of daylight.  It would have been nice to be able to capture the sunrise, however, remnants of tropical storm Bill wash this out.  After Bill cleared out in the afternoon, there were fluffy clouds in the sky and we decided to go capture the sunset, and hopefully the waxing crescent moon in conjunction with Venus and Jupiter and if the sky stayed clear, we would also see Regulus.

Out at Gooseberry, there was a lot of people there to watch and photograph the sunset.  As usual, the sunset was entirely different than any other one.  There was some low clouds on the horizon..  In the clear sky, the crescent moon could be observed.  After the sunset, and twilight began and the sky God slowly darker Venus appeared, followed by Jupiter and clouds came in, but did not obscure the view.  Finally Regulus appeared in the night sky.

Civil Twilight

Waxing Crescent Moon, and Venus

Waxing Crescent Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Regulus in the Clouds

Waxing Crescent Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Regulus in the Clouds labeled

The only thing that makes me sad is the days are going to get slowly shot her and we are headed again toward winter.  Hopefully this coming winter will not have the same amount the snow is this previous winter.



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Mid June Night Sky

It was a beautiful clear night and I decided that we would go out to Gooseberry after dropping off a son at work and photograph the Milky Way, plus the opportunity to capture Venus and Jupiter and the same frame.  Arriving at Gooseberry, there were a moderate number of cars present, and a group of people would down on the beach with a bonfire.  However, with a group of people were did not interfere with our photography.

First, looking over Rhode Island Sound (Atlantic Ocean) toward the shore of Rhode Island, they were actually three bright objects in a row, Venus, Jupiter and Regulus.  Toward the end of the month, Jupiter and Venus will approach the closest conjuncture that they will have until October 2017.  Starting around June 18, you will be able to see the crescent moon below, Jupiter, Venus and Regulus.

Venus, Jupiter and Regulus, Looking toward Rhode Island Over Rhode Island Sound

Venus, Jupiter and Regulus With Text

The Milky Way is rising in the south, and as the month progresses, the Milky Way will rise higher in the sky and start moving toward the west.

Milky Way Panorama, Utilizing 24 Mm Lens

Milky Way, Utilizing 14 Mm Lens

At the end of the month.  I am planning on a workshop not only to photograph the Milky Way, but also to photograph fireflies.  Keep tuned for more information.

Besides the Milky Way, Venus, Jupiter, and Regulus the Big Dipper was shining brightly in the sky.  The only problem Gooseberry is the amount of light pollution that is present along the shore from northeast through the northwest.

Big Dipper

Jupiter and the Moon

Night sky with Jupiter and the Moon

Today January 21, 2013 in event will occur that will not be repeated until the year 2026. The event is Jupiter being the closest to the moon. I would love to photograph it then tonight, however here in southeastern Massachusetts it will be snowing, so the skies will be obscured by clouds. On the 19th, I did go out to Lake Rico and photographed the sky to show Jupiter closing in on the moon.

Night sky with Jupiter and the Moon - Labeled

Celestial Triple Conjunction

Occurring this weekend there was a spectacular event in the night sky.  There was a triple conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon, it was able to be observed, looking toward the western sky at twilight..  Although, the past few days I have not been up to par and have been home and not doing any photography, I had to get out to at least observe this event.
We arrived at the parking lot at Horseneck beach, prior to sunset and set up our cameras..  I was using a wide angle lens, a 17-35 mm, that was set on manual focusing and I had focused at an object fire in the distance to make sure everything was in focus.  I had set my lens to an f-stop of 4.5, the camera also was on manual, single shot, and I attached a remote release.  My ISO was 800, and my shutter speed varied depending on my histogram.
As the sky darkened, after sunset, the first object that appeared was a crescent moon, followed by Venus, which was below the moon, and then Jupiter appeared to the left of the moon.  Of course, as the skies darkened the celestial bodies got brighter and slowly did the stars appear.  Also, low on the western horizon, Mercury was visible.  In the photographs, the hardest part about locating Mercury was the lightness of the horizon due to the lights coming from the city of Fall River.

Labeled

Planets and Moon over Bath House

Other sky events that are coming up in March:  Mars, (in the East) which will be the brightest around March 4; Venus and Jupiter will be the closest in mid-March.  On March 12 and 13th Venus and Jupiter will only like 3° apart and will look like headlights in the sky.  An interesting side to this conjunction of Venus and Jupiter was this was the event that occurred in 2 B..C.,  known as the Star of Bethlehem.

Big Dipper and Polaris

. Prior to leaving, I took this picture of the Big Dipper and Polaris (the North Star).  The light area on the bottom are lights from New Bedford, Massachusetts