Snow on Kitt Peak

It was a winter wonderland on Tuesday - we got about 1.5 inches of snow on Kitt Peak. After shoveling a path, I took this photo with my 10mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 100.

4-m Mayall Telescope

The 4-m Mayall Telescope on Kitt Peak is prepared for a night of observing asteroids. This image was taken with my 10mm fisheye lens as we set up for the start of the night.  The exposure was 8 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400.

4-Meter telescope in moonlight

The 4-meter Mayall Telescope atop Kitt Peak is bathed in moonlight as we use it to observe Near-Earth Asteroids observed with the WISE spacecraft.  This shot is taken with a 10mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 120 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400.

Space Station, clouds and domes

The International Space Station appears over Kitt Peak on November 3.  The ISS was traveling upward and passed into the Earths shadow, fading out at the end of this exposure.  Also in the frame is the Spacewatch 36 inch telescope at center and the Bok 90 inch and Kitt Peak 4-meter telescopes to its right.  The Moon provides lighting for the domes, the landscape and the clouds, making the scene appear almost like daylight.  This image was taken with my Canon 20D with a 10mm fisheye at f/2.8, ISO 400, 60 second exposure.

Dutch Air Force Flyover for Tom Gehrels

The Dutch Air Force kicked off the memorial for Tom Gehrels yesterday (Sept. 16) at LPL by flying over the UofA campus to honor his service in the Dutch resistance during WWII.  Here, the crowd watches the F-16 jets as they overhead (visible in the upper left).

Atlantis 6 hours after landing

How often do you get to see a space shuttle up close just 6 hours after landing?  Well, after this view - never.  Photography from the KSC tour bus was difficult due to reflections from the bus windows.  They would not stop to let us out for a better view, but this wasn't bad.  This image was taken at 160mm focal length with an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

Atlantis rolling back to the OPF

Atlantis is being rolled back from the runway to the Orbital Processing facility for is post-flight processing. This image was taken about five and a half hours after touchdown as it approached the area around the OPF and VAB, fresh from its 13 day mission to the ISS.  This image was cropped from a 300mm shot taken at 1/500 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400 while riding the tour bus heading out to the LC-39 gantry viewing site.

Sunrise after Atlantis final landing

The Sun rises about an hour after Atlantis landed at KSC after its final flight of STS-135, July 21, 2011.  The runway is approximately at center in this image taken from the Causeway bridge at the north end of Titusville.  The VAB is at right.  Also visible if you know where to look are both LC-39A and LC-39B; the Saturn V center, the Ares I launch tower (just left of the VAB) and several other Kennedy Space Center facilities. This image was taken with a 24mm lens with a setting of f/8 at 1/1000 seconds, ISO 400.