by terranovabay
The Moon passed through the edge, the penumbra, of Earth’s shadow leading to a very subtle lunar eclipse on 10 February 2017. A trio of photographs show the progression, which was far more apparent to the camera than it was to the human eye. To paraphrase Jack Kerouac, the Moon, big sad face of infinity.
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: eclipse, Jack Kerouac, Lunar eclipse, Moon, penumbral lunar eclipse
by terranovabay
The Pleiades (M45) is an open star cluster in the constellation of Taurus visible to the naked eye as a small, foggy patch in the sky from which six or seven individual stars can be faintly seen of the hundreds of stars that make up the cluster. A Greek myth about seven sisters is the origin of the name. The Pleiades are visible from the backyard even in my light polluted sky from where these images were made. A wide […]
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: constellation, Florida, Indian River County, M45, Messier 45, open star cluster, Pleiades, Taurus
by terranovabay
Sam watches from the backyard as the waning crescent SuperMoon rises in the hour of darkness before dawn on Saturday, 26 November 2016.
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: dog, Moon, Sam, Supermoon
by terranovabay
The waning SuperMoon as seen from the backyard shortly after midnight on 19 November 2016.
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: Florida, Lunar, Moon, Supermoon, terminator, waning
by terranovabay
A view of the Moon as seen from the backyard on Saturday, 12 November 2016. This is a preview of the upcoming SuperMoon on Monday, 14 November 2016. On this date the full Moon will be closest to the Earth since 1948, which means the Moon will be 14% closer to the Earth than normal and a whopping 30% brighter. The next time this occurs won’t be until 2034. Looking forward to the full “super” Moon over the next couple […]
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: Earth, Moon, Supermoon
by terranovabay
As seen from Florida — it is all about perspective after all — the planet Mercury could be seen moving across the face of the Sun on 9 May 2016. Florida was lucky enough to be positioned to see the entire event, which lasted for more than seven hours. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, having the shortest “year” of all the planets in the Solar System. Other interesting info from NASA states “Mercury’s day is 176 Earth […]
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: greenhouse effect, Mercury, NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, planet, Sun, transit, Venus
by terranovabay
The planets Venus, Jupiter, and Mars move in the sky as seen from the backyard over 18 predawn photo sessions. This is called a conjunction when planets appear to be close together in the sky but it is really an illusion of our Earth-based viewpoint given the vast distances between the worlds. 20 October 2015 – The planets are about to disappear into the brightening dawn sky. I would have to get up an hour earlier to catch the planets […]
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: conjunction, Jupiter, Mars, planet, Venus
by terranovabay
Venus and the Moon come together in the predawn sky on 8 October 2015 as seen from the backyard in Indian River County, Florida.
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: conjunction, Florida, Indian River County, Moon, Venus, Vero Beach
by terranovabay
The clockwork of the cosmos rolled around to produce a “Supermoon”, a close-approach of the Moon to the Earth making it look a bit larger than normal, and a lunar eclipse. A dual event on the evening of 27 September 2015 that won’t be repeated again until 2033. The easily visible part of the eclipse started around 9:07 p.m. and by around 1:30 a.m. it was all over. The eclipse was photographed from Bob Bruce and Janice Broda’s house on […]
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: Earth, eclipse, Florida, Indian River County, Lunar eclipse, Moon, Supermoon, totality
by terranovabay
My second serious attempt to photograph the International Space Station passing in orbit over Vero Beach, Florida, was hampered by the same problems as previously encountered. Namely the residual clouds from a passing storm that limited the views of the ISS and, more problematical, the horde of bloodsucking mosquitoes that came out in force to make for a hellish experience. This time was a success in that actual structures on the ISS can be seen like the solar panels and […]
Categories: Astrophotography • Tags: Florida, Gennady Padalka, International Space Station, ISS, Mikhail Kornienko, NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scott Kelly, Vero Beach
