Sunrise after Atlantis final landing

The Sun rises about an hour after Atlantis landed at KSC after its final flight of STS-135, July 21, 2011.  The runway is approximately at center in this image taken from the Causeway bridge at the north end of Titusville.  The VAB is at right.  Also visible if you know where to look are both LC-39A and LC-39B; the Saturn V center, the Ares I launch tower (just left of the VAB) and several other Kennedy Space Center facilities. This image was taken with a 24mm lens with a setting of f/8 at 1/1000 seconds, ISO 400.

Early morning walk on the beach

On my last day on Kaua'i, I dropped my daughter off at work and then stopped for a walk along the beach near Fort Elizabeth not far from Waimea. The water was pretty muddy being near the mouth of the Waimea river, but the waves and early morning light was very pretty. This image was taken at 43mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/5, ISO 100.

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.

Morning Twilight

Last Wednesday morning after a productive night of observing, the twilight grows bright as sunrise approaches. Some distant clouds are lit orange and the Earth's shadow sinks in the last moments of twilight. The Spacewatch 36 inch dome is still open (that was my next stop before heading to bed) and the Steward Observatory 90 inch Bok telescope dome and Kitt Peak 4-meter Mayall telescopes are at right. This image was taken with my 24mm lens at f/2.8 with an exposure of 1/250 seconds, ISO 400.

Sunrise approaches

This view of the north end of Kitt Peak was taken well before sunrise and handheld with my 24mm lens. The telescopes visible here (or at least their domes) are, from left to right, the Spacewatch 0.9-m telescope, the Stewrd Observatory 90 inch Bok Telescope and the Kitt Peak 4-m Mayall Telescope. This image was taken with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 1600.

Just before sunrise

I love these long telephoto shots near sun{rise,set}. This shot looks northeast from Kitt Peak not long before sunrise. The haze in the atmosphere gives wonderful depth to the image which looks across several mountain ranges of southeast Arizona. This image was taken at 190mm focal length with an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800.

Rays of sunlight.

Here's another image from my morning hike last Friday. This one was taken from the road near our 1.8-m telescope looking east, back towards Tucson. The rays of sunlight radiate from behind the clouds with most of the foreground silhouetted. The brownish haze below the sun just above the mountains is actually smoke from the fire being blown back generally towards Tucson which is not quite visible in this image in all the morning haze and smoke. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/2000 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Snow covered sunrise

There was no observing this night - last Wednesday night. As the morning twilight brightens the eastern sky, snow still covers the top of Mt. Graham with the SMT and LBT visible in this image. The image was taken with my 24mm lens with an exposure of 3.2 seconds at f/4.0, ISO 400.

Just before sunrise - B&W

I've always liked looking at sunrise or sunset photos in black and white - the diverse range of shades are quite spectacular and make up for the lack of color. This image is the same as the next one on this page, converted to B&W with a red color selection in Picasa.

Just before sunrise

This image was taken just before the crack of sunrise picture and shows the sunlight clouds above Kitt Peak. The McMath solar telescope and Spacewatch 1.8-meter dome are visible in the right third of the image. Near center on the horizon is the Santa Rita mountains featuring Mt. Hopkins where the MMT telescope is located. A pretty sunrise like this is an indication of a difficult night of observing with all these clouds about. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

The crack of Sunrise

I got very lucky with this shot. I didn't realize that sunrise was imminent when I set up the shot and as I clicked this first shot, I saw the sun first appear. This image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/800 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

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.

Orographic clouds at sunrise

It was very windy the other morning as I headed for the dorm here on Kitt Peak after a night watching the winds and clouds and stars. This orographic cloud is lit by the sun which is still just below my horizon. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/8, ISO 800.