South Ridge, Kitt Peak, version 2

I looked at this image again and decided I didn't like the higher contrast and taht I couldn't see into the shadows as well, so I redid it just a little. Maybe I'll tone it next.... :-)

South Ridge, Kitt Peak

I took this image last week during my observing run on Kitt Peak. From left to right are the NOAO 36 inch telescope, the small visitors center dome which houses a Meade LX200 14 or 16 inch telescope and the WIYN 3.5-meter telescope. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with my 70-300mm zoom with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. Converted to B&W in Picasa.

A photographically pretty sunset....

...but not an astronomically pretty sunset. This was from the other night. Really cool clouds mixed in with some orange sunset glow. Not a bad combination if you want to take pictures. Oh, and the dome of the Spacewatch 36 inch telescope thrown in for good measure. This image was taken at 34mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 800.

Crescent Moon in twilight

On Kitt Peak this week (as usual). Tuesday morning just before sunrise, we had a view of the crescent Moon in the morning twilight. Below and right of the Moon on the horizon are the Santa Rita Mountains with Mt. Wrightson the tallest peak and to its right, Mt. Hopkins where the Whipple Observatory and the MMT are located. This image was taken at 38mm focal length with the kit lens at f/5, 1/60 seconds at ISO 400.

Tumamoc Hill dome

This view is across the Tucson Mountains to Tumamoc Hill where this dome is backdropped against Pusch Ridge in the Catalina Mountains. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/2000 seconds at f/9, ISO 400.

Tucson Arizona

I was out hiking a couple weekends ago and found this view across the center of town. The Santa Catalina mountains provide a backdrop for the city. From the left is "A" Mountain, the downtown area and the University of Arizona is to the right of the tall downtown buildings. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/11, ISO 100.

Safe by an eyelash

Rockie second baseman Omar Quintanilla beats the tag into third base with a triple in the 2nd inning of spring training game against the D'Backs. Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds tries to put the tag on. This image was taken at 168mm focal length with an exposure of 1/160 seconds at f/10, ISO 100.

Contact!

I'm always trying to get a shot of the ball while photographing batters and I got lucky with this shot as the ball has just left the bat. This image was taken at 214mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

The Pitch

I made it out to a D'Backs spring training game on Monday with my daughter who is visiting. As usual, I took my camera and lots of pictures. Lefty pitcher Jonathan Coutlangus delivers a pitch to one of the Rockies hitters. This image was taken at 283mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Heritage Flight

The Heritage Flight was practicing out of Davis-Monthan AFB last weekend and we had a front row seat while playing softball at Freedom Park on Sunday morning. Here, an F-4, P-51, F-15 and A-10 fly over the field in formation. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/9, ISO 100.

Tumamoc Telescope

This is one of the telescopes on Tumamoc Hill. It's about a 10 inch Newtonian. I believe the UofA's astronomy club used this telescope. It was pretty dusty inside the dome....

Tumamoc Telescopes I

This is the dome of the 20 inch telescope on Tumamoc Hill. It was built here in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It was used quite extensively in the 1980s to image comet Halley.

A Metate?

This looks to me like a metate, used to grind grain and seeds. It is mixed in amongst the area that the petroglyphs are located. This could be a natural formation caused by water erosion and setting, but it is more likely man-made.

The Sun?

I suppose this petroglyph is of the Sun. It was as prominent a part of daily life when this area was primitive as it is today. There's also what appears to be 3 "H"'s defacing the rock in the foreground. This could be very recent or closer to the epoch of the 19th century graffiti in yesterdays image.

Petroglyph or just old grafitti?

One eras grafitti is the later eras petroglyph, I suppose. This grafitti from the 19th century is mixed in with some older petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs

Tucson has been inhabited for a very long time - before the water table dropped, it had two almost continuously running rivers which converge in the northwest part of town, so it was a natural place to establish a village. There are many archeological sites around the area, and many of them have rock art around them such as this. This image was taken about 6 years ago with my old Fuji Finepix 2650 P&S camera.

Tumamoc Hill pan

I took the images that made up this pan about 6 years ago with my old Fuji Finepix 2650 P&S camera from the southeast end of Tumamoc Hill, not too far from the UofA's 20 inch telescope dome. A Mountain is just right of center with the downtown area to its left and the Rincon Mountains in the distance a little farther left. This pan was put to use on a new Pima County website about their recent acquisition of Tumamoc Hill from the UofA.