Heritage Flight, X-Prize Cup

A couple different Heritage Flight combinations were flown at the X-Prize Cup Air & Space Show. Here, an F-4 Phantom leads a flight, from left to right of an F-22 Raptor, an F-117 Nighthawk, the Phantom and an F-15 Fighting Eagle. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

Air Show

The X-Prize Cup at Holloman AFB was not just a space show - there was also a very nice air show with flights of planes like these two as well as static displays on the tarmac. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400 with a polarizing filter.

Ares I model

This model of the Ares I rocket with an Orion spacecraft was on display at the X-Prize Cup. It was about a 1:10 scale model and was interesting to see. The Ares I consists of a 5 segment solid rocket motor modified from the 4 segment versions used on the Space Shuttle. Above the solid rocket motor is the orange colored second stage which will place the Orion into orbit around Earth. Above the conical Orion spacecraft is the launch escape rocket which would pull the capsule and crew away from a failing rocket during the first few minutes of flight. This image was taken at 45mm focal length with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/11, ISO 200 with a polarizing filter.

Armadillo Aerospace Lunar Lander

This is a view of the Armadillo Lunar Lander prototype similar to the one we saw fly on Saturday. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/11, ISO 100.

X-Prize Lunar Lander challenge

This is the lunar lander entry from Armadillo Aerospace which attempted to win the X-Prize Lunar Lander competition at the X-Prize Cup at Holloman Air Force Base on Saturday. The competition was for the lander to rise from a launch pad to a height of 100 meters, then translate about 100 meters hover for about 90 seconds then land on a simulated lunar surface. Then, within 2.5 hours, it was to be refueled and launch from the simulated surface and return to its original launch pad, reaching 100 meters altitude and hovering for 90 seconds again before landing. In this photo, the lander has reached altitude and has tilted to the side to begin its translation. The first leg was completed successfully, but a slight mishap with only seconds left caused it to fail to win the X-Prize competition. It was exciting to watch and disappointing to see the end of the flight. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/2000 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak

The 4-meter Mayall Telescope on top of Kitt Peak is seen from the road up to the summit at around the halfway point. This image was taken at 50mm focal length with an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/11, ISO 100.

17P/Holmes in Perseus

Anyone familiar with the constellation Perseus will notice an interloper in this image taken on Wednesday night from my front yard. Even with a nearly full moon nearby, comet 17P/Holmes is an easy naked eye object as it burst in brightness by about 14 magnitudes over its recent brightness estimates of just a few days ago! In this image, Perseus is near center with Cassiopiea in the upper left corner of the image. The brightest star in Perseus - Alpha Perseus - is near the center. The comet is immediately below it making a sideways right triangle with the star just below and right of Alpha Perseus. To help find the comet in my image and in the sky, here is a Sky & Telescope website with that information. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 30 seconds at f/4, ISO 400.

Mountain sunset

During the game on Saturday, we were treated to a lovely sunset. This is the view of the Santa Catalinas north of Tucson. Finger rock is the spire in the saddle between craggy peaks on the right. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 1600.

W I L D Cats!

The Pride of Arizona marching band on the field at Arizona Stadium during the pregame festivities before last Saturday's Family Day football game. I picked this one because my son is in the photo (those who know him will be able to pick him out). This image was taken at 168mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 200.

IR domes

This shot of the Spacewatch 36 inch telescope dome with the 90 inch and 4-meter domes in the background was taken with a Hoya R72 filter and converted to B&W. The image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 5 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

sun rays

This view in the late afternoon is from about a month ago on Kitt Peak. Couldn't resist the colors, the horizon, and the light rays in this frame. This image was taken at 55mm focal lengtih with an exposure of 1/2000 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

Cloudy sunset

This view from Kitt Peak towards the southwest ridge shows a cloudy sunset with sunrays over the area south of Sells Arizona. On the southwest are seveal telescopes, visible here from the right is the radio dish of the Kitt Peak station of the VLBA, the 12-m submillimeter telescope, the MDM 94 inch telescope and a 50 inch telescope. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

2050

On our way to Mount Graham last month, we ran across this train engine in Safford. The image ws made at 49mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1250 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 200. Converted to B&W in picasa with a red filter and cropped a bit.

I'm Free!

This mouse was happy to get out of the trap (lucky for him, it was a live trap, seen at right), but probably not so happy that he was no longer inside the warm VATT building. This guy was one of about 37 mice that were caught in about 9 days. This image was taken at 49mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800, with on camera flash.

Towards Tucson

This is the view towards Tucson from the top of the VATT building on Mount Graham. The setting sun lights up the right side of the frame and the VATT dome is on the left. On the horizon just right of the VATT dome are the Rincon Mountains. Just right of the tall pine tree near center are the Santa Catalinas. In the middle, foreground, just left of the tall pine are the Gallieros, I believe. In the distance between the Rincons and Catalinas over redington Pass is Kitt Peak. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/13, ISO 400.

Tom Crow

This crow (really a Common Raven) makes a close pass over my location as he enjoys the warm afternoon air around Kitt Peak. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

The Birds

I count 17 crows (actually, Common Ravens) flying around the dome of the 4-m Mayall telescope in this image. They were out in large numbers yestereday afternoon, presumably enjoying the thermals. I think I must have seen at least 25 or 30 crows at one time or another as they flew around the mountain top. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

Storm in the east

This image was part of a timelapse with images at 45 second intervals from before sunset through the middle of the night. I was hoping for some lightning activity and while not a lot, I did get a few bolts and some lit up clouds. This image was taken at 38mm focal length with an exposure of 3.2 seconds at f/5, ISO 400. The southern part of Tucson is at the left in this view from Kitt Peak.

Ewen Whitaker

At the Pima Air and Space Museum, Ewen Whitaker talks about his work studying the Moon with Gerard Kuiper. He not only participated in the Ranger program and later the Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter programs, but he was the one who identified the crater that the Surveyor III spacecraft had landed in so that the Apollo 12 crew could land next to it and visit it in November 1969. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/100 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 800.

Super Guppy at sunset

Last Thursday October 4th was the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik back in 1957. I was a speaker at an event that night at the Pima Air & Space Museum in which I talked about Apollo. Before the talks got started, I took this picture of the Sun setting behind the Super Guppy aircraft that is on display at the museum. This airplane had a large cargo area to hold large items like Lunar Modules or rocket stages and could transport them from the factory to the launch center. At the left edge of the image on the horizon is Kitt Peak. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1600 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

VATT control room

My friend Dave looks over one of the consoles in the VATT control room. The room is on the 2nd floor above the main living area and adjacent to some work areas. Every area of the building had some sort of equipment related to running the telescope, whether it was computers that run the drive motors or compressors feeding air into the many systems. The VATT control room is one of the more comfortable control rooms I've seen at a telescope. Our control rooms at both Spacewatch telescopes, for example, do not have any carpeting (we are concerned about the static discharges that may come from that as much of our equipment that runs the telescope is in or adjacent to the control rooms, for example). This image was taken with an 8mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/13 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 800.

LBT support structure

I had been thinking I'd posted all my favorite pictures from my Mt. Graham observing run, but I went back through them tonight and found one or two of the LBT telescope itself. This is the back of the telescope support structure of the LBT. The round red structure on the left is the mirror cell for one of the two 8.4-meter diameter mirrors and is about 30 feet across! The inside of the dome is probably 60 feet tall and about 80 or 100 feet wide (maybe more!). What a gargantuan structure it is. And it all moves with the precision of a watch. This image was taken with an 8mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/30 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 800.

The Pride of Arizona

The Pride of Arizona Marching Band takes the field at half time to perform their show. This image was taken at 35mm focal length with an exposure of 1/160 seconds at f/4.5, ISO 800.

One man to beat

Wildcat Nick Grigsby has one man to beat (he did) in the first quarter of last Saturday night's football game between the UofA Wildcats and Washington State Cougers. The Wildcats went on to win, 48-20. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/4, ISO 800.