Earth shadow - the wide view

Here's a wider angle view of the Earths shadow and anticrepuscular rays seen in the previous image. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/160 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

A mountainous shadow

I was treated to a better than average shadow the other night while getting ready to observe on Kitt Peak. Here is an image that shows our shadow along with some anti-crepuscular rays. The shadow looks a lot like a mountain in this photo particularly when you compare it with the Rincon Mountains that lay east of Tucson and are partly within the shadow. The shadow crosses the southern part of Tucson and the Rincons at this time of year as it moves southward with the northward setting sun from night to night as we approach the equinox. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/5.6, 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.

Anticrepuscular rays & the LBT

Anticrepuscular rays are visible in the skies over Mount Graham in this image. The rays almost converge on the LBT. The SMT is left of the LBT and the VATT dome is visible on the right edge with the quarter phase moon just to its left. This image was taken with an 8mm fisheye lens with an exposure of 1/40 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Comet McNaught over Tumamoc Hill

The brightest comet in 30 years is still quite a challenge to see since it is only about 10 degrees from the Sun. With the right equipment, it can be seen in the daytime. While my camera was able to capture this image (somewhat stretched to make the comet more visible), at the same time with unaided eyes, I was unable to spot the comet. This image was taken at 214mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400 and was cropped to about 1/3 to 1/2 of the frame. The comet is just left of center about 1/3 of the way from the top of the image. This image was taken about 20 minutes after sunset from the UofA campus. Tumamoc Hill is a flat-topped hill in the Tucson Mountains west of town which has radio towers as well as a couple small telescopes - you can see the largest dome of a 20 inch telescope silhouetted on the left.

Humphrey's Peak in moonlight

My friend Richard and I (See his Earth, Sky & Beyond photoblog - you can find the link in the links at right) are traveling to the Grand Canyon on a photo expedition this week. We stopped near Sunset Crater to get pictures of the Moonlit landscape. Here is a shot of Humphrey's Peak just north of Flagstaff Arizona. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an expsoure of 30 seconds at f/4, ISO 400.

Anti-crepuscular rays

I wasn't planning on being on Kitt Peak at sunset tonight, but backups took a lot longer. I took this image looking away from the Sun about 6 minutes after sunset. The Earth's shadow is visible at the bottom over the top of Tucson with anti-crepuscular rays above the shadow. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.