Clouds, Mars, and storms from Kitt Peak

This view of a storm cloud south of Kitt Peak was made in mid-twilight.  Just around sunset, the clouds were the site of bright lightning but it had stopped generating lightning by the time the rain stopped on Kitt Peak.  This image was taken with my Canon 70D with a Sigma 17-70mm lens at 19mm focal length with an exposure of 15 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800.

This is the view of Tucson from Kitt Peak with a busy thunder storm south of town.   This image was taken with my Canon 70D and a Sigma 17-70mm lens at 19mm focal length.  The exposure was 20 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800.

The sky never really cleared on this night, so the Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope stayed closed.  Here, the telescope is lit by the Moon with Mars visible on the right side of the frame.  This image was taken with my Canon 70D and Sigma 17-70mm lens at 17mm focal length and an exposure of  20 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 800.

Mars rising over the Dragoons

Mars rises over the Dragoon Mountains from our ranch  in the foothills west of the Dragoons.  Mars is just right of center and there's a nice rainstorm in the twilight skies off to the right.  This is a 5 image HDR combine using a 2 stop exposure sequence using my 17-70mm Sigma lens on my Canon 70D.

Mars is easier to see in this image taken a bit later than the one above, again an HDR combine using a 2 stop exposure sequence with my 17-70mm Sigma lens on my Canon 70D.

Jupiter and Mars in conjunction

Jupiter and Mars are in conjunction tonight at less than half a degree apart.  This first image was taken with my Canon 6D on my 8 inch Celestron EdgeHD telescope with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at ISO 400.  You can make out some cloud details on Jupiter and perhaps just a hint of surface features on Mars (ok, well, mostly it is just red - it's pretty far away from Earth at the moment).

This second image was exposed longer in order to see the 4 Galilean satellites of Jupiter which are roughly in a line above and right of Jupiter.  This image was taken with my Canon 6D on my 8 inch Celestron EdgeHD telescope with an exposure of 1/4 seconds at ISO 400.

ISS over Kitt Peak

These first 2 images are 30 second exposures at f/2.8, ISO 400, taken back to back.  The first shows the ISS trailing over the planet Mars while the 2nd it is above the star Arcturus.  The Moon is in the upper right corner.  The building is the Spacewatch 1.8-m dome.  All the images in this post are taken with my Canon 70D and a 10mm f/2.8 fisheye lens and identical exposures.

Turning the camera to the right, the ISS is now setting into the northeastern sky over Tucson which is lighting up the clouds a bit between the building and the rock.

The ISS is still visible as a dimming trail in the clouds above Tucson in the lower right edge of this image.  The domes visible from upper right and then across the bottom of the frame are the 1.8-m Spacewatch telescope, the 4-meter Mayall Telescope (the largest on Kitt Peak), the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok Telescope, the Spacewatch 36 inch telescope and the rolloff roof of the Super LOTUS telescope.  The Moon is just barely in the frame at top left and you can also find the Big Dipper near top center and the planet Saturn above the Super-LOTUS dome at the left edge of the frame.

Phoenix Lander Mural

Here are some of my sweetiests students on a field trip to the Mars Phoenix Lander building last month. This mural is painted on the side of the Mission Operations Center where the mission was run. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/7.1, ISO 100.

Mockup with trenches

Here is another view of the Phoenix Lander mockup showing the practice trenches which mimic the ones actually dug on Mars. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/2.5, ISO 800.

Phoenix Lander Engineering mockup

I went to the Phoenix Mission Operations Center last week with my wife and some of her students. Here is the engineering mockup that is used to practice procedures on before sending commands up to the lander on Mars. They've even got rocks and trenches in all the right places. This image was taken at 50mm focal length (with the "nifty fifty" lens) with an exposure of 1/100 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 800.

Watching the first images from Phoenix

Just 2 hours after landing, we got to see the very first pictures downloaded from the Phoenix Lander on Mars. Here, Alfred McEwen, leader of the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, examines one of the first images. This image was taken at 50mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 800.

Awaiting word from Mars

This is the atrium at the Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson where I work. In this image an anxious crowd awaits word from the Phoenix Lander as it descended through the Martian atmosphere on its way to a successful landing yesterday. If you haven't seen the first pictures from this new place on Mars, check out the Phoenix Lander home page. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/30 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.

Meteor & Mars

An Aurigid Meteor flashes through the constellation the shower takes its name from. The planet Mars is at right just above center with the Hyades cluster that marks the head of Taurus the Bull at upper right. The meteor was moving from bottom to top and shows a distinctive green appearance at the start of the trail. The general orange glow of the sky is due to the city lights that dominate my northeastern sky. I was able to see 22 Aurigids last night with a peak rate of 5 in one 5 minute period about 20 minutes before the predicted time of the peak. This image was taken with my 24mm lens with an exposure of 30 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 400.

Phoenix Spacecraft mockup

There was an open house on Saturday at the Phoenix Building where most of those working on the Phoenix Lander that will head to Mars later this year can be found. This is a full scale mockup of the lander on display there. I often like to say that I am not a rocket scientist, but some of my friends are. I know quite a few of those who are working on this spacecraft and hopefully you'll see the results of their hard work next year when it lands on Mars. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/25 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 800.