Steve Finley at the plate

I was surprised to see Steve Finley with the Colorado Rockies. He was one of the stars of the World Series winning 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks and I always enjoyed watching him play center field. I hear he made the opening day roster too, so now he will have played for every National League Western division team! This image was taken during the first of his two at bats in the first inning - Colorado batted around and scored 6 runs in the first inning, but the D'Backs managed to come back and win the game 13-9. This image was taken at 238mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Fielding practice

Orlando Hudson throws a ball to the shortstop while practicing turning double plays on the infield before the game. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Pregrame autographs

Before the game, some players stopped along the entryway from their clubhouse to sign autographs for fans - mostly young kids. That's a sure way to make a fan for life. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Life around the batting cage

I finally made it out to a spring training game at Tucson Electric Park. The Diamondbacks played the Colorado Rockies. We got to the park about 2 hours early and waited until they opened the gates an hour and a half before game time. The D'Backs were on the field taking battting and fielding practice. The pre-game ritual includes batters taking turns in the batting cage. Here, Chad Tracy enters the batting cage for a turn (around 5 pitches or so) while Scott Hairston (who turned out to be one of the stars of the game with 3 home runs) leaves the cage. Also around the cage a a few other players waiting their turn in the cage and left of the cage, a coach is hitting balls to some infielders taking fielding practice. It's fun to hang around the park and watch, as several fans are doing behind the cage. Beyond the outfield fence, clumps of young kids playing hooky from school hope for a home run ball to land close enough for them to get the ball before one of the other kids. This image was taken at 168mm focal length with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Flowerbed

I'm a sucker for a pretty flowerbed. In this case the sun was spotlighting a section of it. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/320 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

Sunset at WIYN

The WIYN telescope building with the wispy clouds of sunset behind it. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/160 seconds at f/8, ISO 800.

Telescope, storm & sunset

Storm clouds threaten in the sky opposite the setting sun in this view. The 84 inch telescope on Kitt Peak is in the dome and was the largest telescope on Kitt Peak for a time after it was built in the early 1960s. This view is from next to the Kitt Peak 36 inch telescope just east of the WIYN. This exposure was made at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/8, ISO 800.

Baboquivari - B&W version

Compare this B&W version of the image of Baboquivari from a few days ago. I cropped this one for printing it to 8.5x11 and converted it to B&W in the GIMP.

The North end of Kitt Peak

Just outside the WIYN telescope is one of the best views of the north end of Kitt Peak where I spend most of my time. The4 domes, from left are: The Spacewatch 36 inch, the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok Telescope, the 4-m Mayall Telescope and the 1.8-m Spacewatch telescope. I work in the two Spacewatch domes. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800.

Mirror accuators rats nets.

Steve shows a few of his visitors the rats nest of mirror accuators that are used to keep the 3.5-m mirror perfectly aligned and in perfect shape as the telescope points to different places around the sky. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/30 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800.

Who's upside down?

My friend Frank complained that everyone in the WIYN secondary was upside down, so here's an image rotated 180 degrees. Now he'll only complain that everyone is backwards.....

Reflecting on a large telescope

My friends can be seen reflected in the huge secondary mirror at the top of the WIYN telescope. This mirror reflects light that has bounced off the 3.5-m primary mirror back down into the instrumentation area at the bottom of the telescope. My friends were standing on the opposite side of the telescope while I was taking pictures of the secondary and saw them all there. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/100 seconds at f/6.3, ISO 800.

Baboquivari

This is the view south from one of the wind vents on the side of the WIYN telescope dome. Sunset was approaching so the lighting was excellent. Baboquivari is the thumb-like peak at center. It is said to be the center of the Universe by the Tohono O'Odham Nation and home to their creator, I’itoli. Baboquivari is about 7,730 feet tall and is the high point in the Quinlan Mountains which also contain Kitt Peak. This image was taken with Dave's 12-24 Sigma lens at 12mm focal length with an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/8, ISO 800 (yeah, lots of 8's...).

The WIYN Telescope and a friend

I got to get a close view of the 3.5-m WIYN telescope on Kitt Peak tonight after dinner along with some friends. Our guide was Steve Howell, an Astronomer friend who was preparing to observe the Pluto occultation tonight with the WIYN telescope. This is Steve standing in front of the telescope for scale. My friend Dave Harvey let me borrow a couple of his wide angle lenses, as my 18-55mm kit lens was just not quite wide enough as usual. This image was taken at 15mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/8, ISO 800.

The Blue Angels

Ok, couldn't resist one last shot of the Blue Angels. Here they are in a tight diamond formation, advertising the weekends airshow to the city of Tucson. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/2000 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

Blue Angel 5

Ok, so perhaps you thought we were done for the time being with planes. Well, I thought so too until we were treated to a mini airshow over the UofA campus yesterday when the Navy's Blue Angels flew their FA-18s into town for this weekends airshow at Davis Monthan (I can't go, since I'm observing for the next week....). Blue Angel 5 makes a high-G turn overhead in this image. Most of my other pictures of the team only show the bottoms of their jets, so this is probably the only one I'll post, though the shot of a formation of 4 of them is tempting.... Murphy was working against me yesterday as I was with some friends near the Student Union when the team first appeared with a huge roar overhead. We watched for a few minutes before I rushed back to my office to get my camera during which they made multiple excellent close and low passes. Once I had the camera out, they only flew by in the distance until I was ready to head back inside.... Luckily I was treated to a couple low passes finally. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1250 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

Fighting Eagle

Compare this image to the earlier shot of the F-15 from the Heritage Flight - he came in slower and didn't need to use his air brake. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

Viper inbound for landing

Against the backdrop of the Rincon Mountains, this F-16 Fighting Falcon, also called a "Viper" because of its distinctive appearance from the front, approaches the runway at D-M. You can see its exhaust plume against the mountains as well. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/9, ISO 400.

Raptor on final

The F-22 Raptor lines up for landing, gear down and locked. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

Speed Brake!

This F-15 Eagle came in so fast that he had to pop out his speed brake as he lined up for landing. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/11, ISO 400. This one is similar to one of Richards shots. Not too surprising considering we were standing close together, snapping away at the time.... Maybe we ought to combine our shots for some stereo. :-)

413334 on final

The 2nd Mustang in the flight approaches the runway for its landing. This one is un-named. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/10, ISO 400.

Six Shooter on final

Six Shooter on final, gear down and locked. The Catalina Mountains make a pretty backdrop as the plane approaches the runway. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/11, ISO 400.

Raptor Flyby

This F-22 Raptor turns to fly over the runway during its high speed pass before landing. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/10, ISO 400.

Six Shooter

The nose art on this P-51 Mustang tells us its name is "Six Shooter". After flying formation with another P-51, an F-15 and an F-22, the flight broke off and made individual high speed passes over the runway before looping around and landing. This image was made at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Heritage flight

This formation includes two P-51 Mustangs flying with an F-15 Fighting Eagle and a F-22 Raptor. That spans about 60 years of fighter technology. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/10, ISO 200.

Phantom inbound for landing

This QF-4 Phantom of Vietnam vintage is on final into Davis Monthan AFB after participating in the Heritage Flight practice last Saturday. The plane's markings put it from Holloman AFB in New Mexico. it is flying in front of Mt. Bigelow in the Catalina Mountains in this view from west of the base. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/10, ISO 200.

Anticrepuscular Rays and Rising eclipsed Moon

The eclipsed Moon rises over the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson Arizona. The Moon had left the Umbra about 15 minutes before appearing above the mountains and a slight assymetry can be seen in the shade of the Moon which is still in the Penumbra of Earths shadow. The deepest part of the Earths shadow is also visible above the mountains and anticrepuscular rays alternate orange and blue in the sky overhead. This view is from "A Mountain" (also known as Sentinel Peak) west of town. Downtown Tucson is at the left edge of the frame with the UofA Campus directly behind the downtown buildings. The dry Santa Cruz riverbed meanders along in the foreground. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/3 seconds at f/8, ISO 100.

Rising Moon in eclipse

While further east, folks were treated to a total lunar eclipse, here in Arizona, we watched moonrise just after totality had ended and the Moon was still in the penumbra. This composite image shows the rising moon with the city of Tucson in the foreground and the Rincon Mountains immediately in front of the Moon. I used two images both taken at 149mm focal length, one with an expsoure of 1/2 seconds at f/8, ISO 100 to capture the foreground city and a 2nd at 1/25 seconds at f/7.1, ISO 100 to capture the Moon. Some image manipulation in the GIMP to paste the Moon into the other image, and voilat!

Morning Haze

The Santa Ritas from Kitt Peak on another morning just after sunrise. The morning haze made for a spectacular light show. This image was taken at 100mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 100.

Sunrise clouds

From my last observing run, this was taken just after sunrise. The mountains in the distance are the Santa Ritas where the Whipple Observatory is on Mt. Hopkins (the right of the two prominant peaks - the left and tallest is Mt. Wrightson). The MMT is on the top of Mt. Hopkins and several other telescopes are on a flank to the south (right). This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/8, ISO 800.