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Current Moon Phase |
Venus encounters the Pleiades, April 2, 2012-10:09 p.m.: A clear but windy day with a saturated blue sky surrendered to a star filled, moonlit night with bright Venus playing among the Pleiades. What a glorious sight. An equatorially mounted Canon 60D coupled with a 70-200mm zoom lens at an EFL of 320mm, ASA 500 was used for this 15 second exposure. The drive was then disengaged and another 15 second image taken. Windy conditions, however, still caused motion in the trees. Photography by Gary A. Becker from Coopersburg, PA... |
A superior mirage, caused by warmer air overlying colder air, can elevate an object that is located below the horizon, and would normally be unobservable, to a position where it could be seen above the horizon. This type of illusion may have played a significant role in causing the Titanic disaster and preventing faster rescue of its passengers. Image from http://www.quora.com/... |
Paschal Full Moon Shine Down on Me—April 6, 2012, 20:55: The weather has been insanely clear in eastern Pennsylvania during the past several days. The combination of Venus, Jupiter, the Pleiades and Taurus bathed in Paschal moonlight on my favorite field for western astrophotography was just too much to resist. A 10-22mm Canon zoom lens was used to take this 40 second exposure at F/4.0, ASA 400. The camera was mounted on a ball and socket and attached to a German equatorial mount. The first exposure was taken with the drive engaged. The drive was then turned off and another 40 second image was captured to keep the freshly plowed field and trees sharp. The two images were then combined using Paint Shop Pro. In order to help combat light pollution which would have been easily detected in the picture, the camera’s sensor was set to a color temperature of 4000 K. Photography by Gary A. Becker from Coopersburg, PA... |
Spectral Moon: April 6, 2012, 23:58: Before bed each night, I normally step outside for a few minutes to view the heavens, just to make sure everything is in its place. Normally it’s a pretty routine event. This evening (April 6), however, I was greeted by a spectacular aureole around the moon. The aureole is a diffraction effect created by small water droplets or crystals of ice in the atmosphere. Saturn is to the upper extreme left of this picture. This image was captured with a tripod mounted Canon 60D and a 70-200mm Canon zoom lens at an EFL of 112mm. The exposure was about 1/10 second at ASA 400. Front yard photography by Gary A. Becker from Coopersburg, PA... |
Iridium 2--April 8, 2012, 21:06-07 glints brightly (-8 magnitude) above Coopersburg, PA. Gary A. Becker photography... |