13845008 - View point of The Observatory Of Pic Du Midi De Bigorre, Hautes Pyrenees, Midi Pyrenees, France. The 12m Ponton dans le ciel, a glass walkway high above the Pyrenees at Pic du Midi de Bigorre, a 2877m mountain in the French Pyrenees, home to an astronomical observatory and visitors centre. The observatory is acccessible from the village of La Mongie by cablecar. Tourists often visit in time for the spectacular sunset across the mountains.13837362 - The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory beneath the Milky Way. La Palma Island, Canary Islands, Spain.13836864 - An aurora borealis above the sea in Andenes. Andenes, Vesteralen Islands, Nordland, Norway.13835400 - The Milky Way and zodiacal light over the Okavango Delta. Okavango Delta, Botswana.13828335 - Serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) flying at night with milky way in background, Spain13828323 - Portrait of a Common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) at night with the moon behind13828316 - Little Owl (Athene noctua) and moon, Spain13828185 - Snail (Helix pomatia), Spain71433392 - Telephoto shot of the moon with many craters, mountains and mare in front of a black sky71433391 - Stunning constellation from the emission nebula Orion Nebula M42 in the night sky over Germany in February 202371429860 - Waning moon, gibbous13999693 - This is the gathering on the evening of April 22,2023 of the waxing crescent Moon below Venus and near the Hyades star cluster in Taurus,here set amid some silhouetted tree branches. The dim Earthshine is visible on the dark side of the Moon. High cloud added the natural glows on the Moon and Venus.13999597 - This frames the rich collection of starclouds and nebulas along the Milky Way from northern Sagittarius,at bottom,to Scutum,at top. It includes two prominent star clouds: the Small Sagittarius Starcloud,aka Messier 24,at bottom and the Scutum Starcloud at top.13999562 - My favourite target for testing telescopes,the North America Nebula,NGC 7000,in Cygnus,with its companion Pelican Nebula to the right,aka IC 5070. The bright star Deneb is at upper right. An odd little red nebula is to the right of the Pelican,of unknown identity as it is not in Deep Sky Atlas,Millenium Star Atlas,TriAtlas or SkySafari.13999548 - This is a 180° panorama of the night sky over the hoodoo formations of Bryce Canyon National Park,Utah,at Sunset Point. The panorama extends from the northeast (at left) where the autumn Milky Way is rising,to the southwest (at right) where the summer Milky Way and galactic core in Sagitarius are setting. This was October 11,2023. The most notable feature is the prominent arc of green airglow bands across the eastern sky,a natural sky phenemenon. Perseus is at left in the Milky Way. At top at left is the Andromeda Galaxy,M31. Below it is the blue Triangulum Galaxy,M33. Jupiter is the bright ob13999502 - A 220° panorama of a dimmer but colourful aurora on a Kp6 night on February 26,2023,from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre,Churchill,Manitoba,at 58° N. This is mostly looking south over the old Rocket Range,with the waxing Moon prominent at centre in Taurus near the Pleiades and above Orion.13999412 - Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in the constellation of Taurus on the night of Feb 10,2023. The comet is the cyan-coloured glow above bright orange Mars at upper left.13999365 - This is a framing of most of the constellation of Perseus,with the core region,the group of stars called the Perseus OB Association surrounding Alpha Persei,or Mirphak,at left and above centre. The large group is also called Melotte 20 or the Perseus Moving Cluster.13999360 - A framing of a wide field in Aquila,with the bright bue-white star Altair at centre,with the red star Tarazed above,and the dimmer star of the trio,Alshain,below.13999338 - This is the small but rich star cluster nicknamed the Foxhead Cluster,or officially NGC 6819,in Cygnus. Caroline Herschel,sister of William Herschel,discovered it in 1784.13999284 - This is Mars (at right) near the orange giant star Mebsuta,aka Epsilon Geminorum,on April 12,2023. Mars was 50 arc minutes from the star this night. It was closer the following two nights,about 20 and 16 arc minutes from the star. Mars was magnitude +1.1 while Mebsuta is +3.13999212 - Messier 57,the Ring Nebula,in Lyra,a superb example of a planetary nebula and one of the best known and widely observed objects in its class.13999163 - Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in the constellation of Taurus on the night of Feb 10,2023. The comet is the cyan-coloured glow above bright orange Mars.13999161 - The Full Moon of July 31,2023 rising at the end of a long line of high tension towers across the prairie near Milo,Alberta. Some smoke in the air made the rising Moon even redder than normal,making it look like an eclipsed Moon. This night the alignment of the rising point of the Full Moon coincided with the angle of the powerlines off to the southeast at 135° azimuth.13999146 - Comet Nishimura (C/2023 P1) captured at dawn on September 7,2023 with the sky brightening with morning twilight colours. The comet was set amid the stars of the Sickle asterism of Leo the Lion,just rising in the east. The comet sports a faint blue ion tail,with the comet seemingly pointed toward the sunrise point; it was moving down and closer to the Sun at this time.13999144 - This is a framing of the rich collection of nebulas,star clusters and star clouds in the region of tghe Milky Way from northern Sagittarius (bottom) to southern Scutum (at top).13999107 - Officially this was no better than a weak Kp1 level aurora this night but for a time the Lights brightened enough to show colour even to the eye including the pink nitrogen fringe at the bottom of the curtains. This is looking north from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre on the first night of the first group of the 2023 aurora season for the CNSC.13999102 - On August 24,2023 the waxing gibbous Moon occulted the bright star Antares in Scorpius. This is the scene about 30 minutes after the star reappeared from behind the moving Moon,and so here is a close conjunction. I missed capturing the actual occultation reappearance,though that would have been in a much brighter sky. And the Moon was low in my sky and amid the trees,here purposefully included to capture the scene low in the south,as Antares always is in late summer from my latitude of 51° N. .13999004 - An example of brightening auroral curtain to the northeast,on a night with activity increasing at this time,in Churchill,Manitoba from the Northern Studies Centre. This is looking northeast on February 19,2023.13998979 - The "Super Blue Moon" of August 30,2023 rising over a yet-to-be-harvested wheatfield in southern Alberta,on the night of August 30,2023. This was the second Full Moon of the month (making it a "blue Moon" by popular definition) and it was the closest Full Moon of 2023 (making it also a "super Moon" by another popular definition).13998938 - This is a framing of the bright Messier spiral galaxy M101,with a number of its nearby galaxies in Ursa Major. The odd galaxy below M101 ins NGC 5474. NGC 5473,5485 and 5486 are above M101. an edge-on at top centre is NGC 5422,while at the top edge is NGC 5443. The elongated galaxy above the blue star 86 UMa at right is 13th magnitude UGC 8337.13998902 - A panorama of the Northern Lights from home in southern Alberta,over a wheat field in the moonlight. Light is from the waning gibbous Moon at far right,with Jupiter the bright object to the left of the Moon. The Big Dipper is near centre. This was September 1,2023 on a Kp4 night.13998865 - The rising Full Moon of May 5,2023,coming up over the Red Deer River near East Coulee,Alberta. This is a panorama of the Badlands scene,with the site planned with The Photographer's Ephemeris app.13998809 - Venus (at top) and Jupiter in a close conjunction on the evening of March 2,2023,the day after their closest approach. They were one degree apart this night but were 1/2° apart the night before. I've framed the scene between some lone trees on a prairie hill near home in southern Alberta.13998792 - A 360° fish-eye panorama of the great equinox aurora of March 23,2023,with the aurora already bright as the sky darkened at twilight. The Kp values peaked at Kp7 this night.13998785 - The waning gibbous Moon in clouds above a combine harvester at work in a wheat field,on September 2,2023.13998761 - Guests from of the 2023 tour groups from Road Scholar at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre,Churchill,Manitoba,enjoying the start of an aurora show on February 25,2023.13998751 - The star clusters Messier 46 (left) and Messier 47 (right) in Puppis,in a wide-field telephoto image simulating the feld of view of binoculars. The clusters NGC 2423 (above M47) and Mel71 (top) are also in the frame. The little planetary NGC 2438 embedded in M46 just shows up as a green dot.13998750 - An aurora selfie under the arc of the Northern Lights on February 22,2023 on the trail outside the Churchill Northern Studies Centre in Churchill,Manitoba. This was a Kp5 display this night peaking between 8:30 and 9:30 pm.13998741 - A portrait of green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in Taurus beside Aldebaran and the Hyades on February 14,2023. The star cluster NGC 1647 is at upper left.13998668 - A fish-eye lens image of auroral curtains and rays converging toward the zenith overhead at centre,with the camera looking straight up from the parking lot of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre. Taken February 19,2023. The Big Dipper is at centre.13998648 - A portrait of green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in Taurus beside Aldebaran and the Hyades on February 14,2023,with Mars at upper left,and the Pleiades at upper right. This frames some of the other NGC star clusters in Taurus.13998450 - This is the waxing gibbous Moon (11.7 days old) near reddish Mars (at upper right),both set in a swirl of clouds,looking like they are in an interstellar nebula. Diffraction from ice crystals in the clouds adds the colourful corona around the Moon. This was the Moon-Mars conjunction of January 3,2023. Mars was then about a month past opposition.13998444 - An arc of a nearly semi-circular rainbow that appeared briefly right at sunset so the warm lighting made the rainbow appear more red than usual and set amid red clouds,brighter within the rainbow than outside the bow.13998396 - Mars amid the Beehive star cluster,Messier 44,in Cancer,on June 2,2023. The stars Asellus Borealis and Asesllus Australis are above and below Mars. The sky was still blue with summer twilight at my northern latitude,while light cloud covered much of the sky,adding the gradients and banding.13998394 - This is the northern hemisphere autumn Milky Way from Auriga (at bottom) to Cygnus (at top,at the zenith) rising into the northeast over the hoodoo formations of Inspiration Point,at Bryce Canyon National Park,Utah.13998390 - Messier 27,the Dumbbell Nebula,in Vulpecula,a superb example of a planetary nebula and one of the best known and widely observed objects in its class.13998380 - The morning Zodiacal Light (the subtle glow rising from the left up to top centre) with Venus as a morning star just below the Light.13998342 - This is a composite that records the sequence around mid-eclipse of the October 14,2023 annular eclipse of the Sun. At this eclipse the Moon was near apogee so its disk was not large enough to completely cover the Sun's photosphere and create a total eclipse.13998336 - The Sun setting in a smoky and cloudy sky over the just-harvested grain field,near home in southern Alberta. In fact,the harvester machines were working the field as I shot this. This was September 3,2023.13998319 - The aurora of April 23,2023,looking straight up to the zenith to capture the converging curtains in a coronal display. The Big Dipper is at top.13998267 - The aurora of March 23,2023,caught early in the evening when there was a green arc to the south as the sky darkened that exhibited a "dunes" type of structure,with horizontal banding rather than vertical rays or curtains. Above is a purple arct that has some characteristics of a STEVE arc but is likely a standard vertical curtain. At right are Venus and the crescent Moon below,above the glow of twilight. Orion is left of centre,with Sirius embedded in the dunes arc. This is looking southwest to west. The time was about 9 pm MDT.13998256 - This is a rich region in the Milky Way in northern Sagittarius. with four Messier objects: The Small Sagittarius Starcloud,aka Messier 24,is at right of centre,flanked by: the pink Messier 17,the Swan or Omega Nebula,above; and the star cluster Messier 25 at lower left. Above M25 at upper left is the star cluster NGC 6645. Below M17 is the small star cluster Messier 18. The small but rich star cluster embedded in the Starcloud is NGC 6603. The nebulosity at bottom is IC 1283,a red emission nebula; and NGC 6589/90 and NGC 6595,both blue reflection nebulas. The dark nebula on the west (right) si13900622 - The northern summer Milky Way over the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party in Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan, Canada, August 18, 2012. Taken with the Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800 and 15mm lens at f/4 for a stack (mean combined) of four 5 minute exposures, all tracked. The ground is from only one of those expoures (the gorund is masked out in the other layers).13900604 - A selfie of me observing with the Celestron 15x70 SkyMaster binoculars, in the light of the rising waxing Moon, from home August 20, 2019.13900597 - A pair of campers watch the sunset with the 4-day-old waxing Moon in the twilight sky above, at Red Rock Coulee in southeast Alberta.13900556 - Circumpolar star trails over a grand old barn in southern Alberta, on a fine spring night, May 23, 2018. Illumination is from the waxing gibbous Moon to the south. This is looking north to Polaris at top right. A thunderstorm is on the northern horizon with a lightning bolt as a bonus.13900476 - The 13.7-day-old Moon (a day before Full) with the south polar region tipped toward us in a favourable libration for viewing the southern regions and features. This was April 6, 2020. The large crater, Bailly, is on the southern limb, better seen here than at most similar phases, due to the favourable southern libration.13900455 - The 4-day-old waxing crescent Moon on April 8, 2019 in a single exposure when the Moon was still in the bright blue twilight. Even so, the faint Earthshine is just becoming visible.13900450 - Laser-guided tours of the night sky were popular, as expert astronomers pointed out the highlights of the summer sky.13900446 - A framing of northern Aquila and the Milky Way near Altair, the bright blue-white star at left. Above is yellowish Tarazed, below is dimmer Alshain. To the right of Tarazed are the dark nebulas Barnard 142 and 143, aka Barnard's E.13900440 - A selfie of me observing in the moonlight with the 80mm apo refractor. For use as a book illustration.13900423 - The late winter evening Zodiacal Light, as shot at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, February 28, 2017. The Light is the glow from sunlight reflecting off cometary dust particles in the inner solar system. It is not an effect of twilight. It is best visible in the evening from northern latitudes in late winter and spring.13900420 - The Northern Lights over the waterfalls known as the Ramparts on the Cameron River east of Yellowknife, NWT, on September 8, 2019. The aspen trees are turning yellow on this September evening. This is looking northeast toward Perseus and Andromeda. M31 is at top centre.13900415 - The summer Milky Way and Summer Triangle stars rising in the east at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta on May 14, 2018.13900394 - Orion and the stars of the winter sky trailing as they set behind and through Turret Arch, in Arches National Park, Utah. I shot this April 6, 2015 after twilight but before the waning Moon rose, so the sky was dark. Illumination is from stars and the sky – no artificial light provided, and the Moon was not up.13900339 - The Orion Nebula, M42 and M43, with surrounding associated nebula and star clusters, such as the Running Man Nebula above (NGC 1975) and blue star cluster above it, NGC 1981.13900337 - NGC 7000, the North America Nebula, with the Pelican Nebula, IC 5067, at right, in Cygnus, taken from home November 21, 2016 as part of testing of the Explore Scientific FCD100 102mm apo refractor. This is a stack of 5 x 6-minute exposures at f/7 with the ES field flattener, and at ISO 1600 with the filter-modified Canon 5D MkII. Star diffraction spikes added with AstronomyTools actions.13900317 - A faint aurora glowing over the harvest in progress this night, with trucks and combines lighting the field at left, and the Harvest Moon itself - actually three days after Full Moon - lighting the scene at right. The combination of lighting from manmade and natural sources makes for an interesting illumination on the grain bins. The Big Dipper is left of centre, pointing down to Arcturus at far left, and Perseus is at right. The Pleiades are just rising over the far right bins.13900301 - A 150° panorama of the auroral arc across the northern sky, shot from home in Alberta on April 27, 2022. The camera picked up the blue colour at the top of the curtains at left in the northwest from high-altitude sunlight illuminating the tops of the curtains. Otherwise, oxygen reds and greens dominate this fairly quiet display. Coincidentally, the arc of the aurora nicely follows the arc of the Milky Way across the north, then at its lowest for the year in the spring sky.13900300 - Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 27, 2020 from the Columbia Icefields (Jasper National Park, Alberta) from the Toe of the Glacier parking lot, looking north over Sunwapta Lake, formed by the summer meltwater of Athabasca Glacier. So this is a portrait of ice in the sky and icy water on Earth.13900298 - A 360° ground to zenith panorama of the Mt. Edith Cavell area from the Trail of the Glacier pathway, at the footbridge crossing Cavell Creek. I shot this at twilight, just after sunset. It is a stitch, with PTGui software, of 8 segments at 45° spacings with the 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens and Canon 6D. Each was 0.4 seconds at ISO 100 and f/4. (I should have stopped down some more!)13900291 - The northern summer Milky Way setting over the mountains of Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, with warm golden lighting supplied by the rising waning Moon (behind the camera) illuminating the landscape and sky in a “moonstrike” effect. Taken on September 21, 2019, in frames taken as part of a time-lapse. Faint bands of red airglow tint the sky, though the blue sky colour is from the moonlight. This is taken during the lunar “golden hour.”13900260 - The well-publicized - if not overly publicized! - supermoon (a perigee Full Moon) of November 14, 2016, seen here about 3 degrees above the horizon, rising out of low clouds. The yellow colour is natural, and illuminated the field with a golden glow. However, this is a stack of 4 exposures, from long to short, to create an “HDR” style stack as the longest exposure needed for the clouds blew out the bright Moon. A short exposure was needed for the Moon itself. I took 4 exposures at about 2 stop increments from 1.5 seconds to 1/15 second and blended them not with HDR software but with luminosity13900254 - The southern Milky Way from Canis Major to Carina, including Puppis and Vela and the large Gum Nebula complex, an interstellar bubble blown by stellar winds. Sirius at at right and Canopus at lower left. The open cluster NGC 251t6 is at far left. M41 cluster is left of Sirius.13900250 - This is a 300° panorama of the Northern Lights over Yellowknife, NWT on the night of Sept 6-7, 2019, during a sub-storm outbreak at 12:45 a.m. when the sky went wild with aurora. There were curtains and rays everywhere. The display soon subsided into a general wash over the sky.13900217 - A composite image of the May 9, 2016 transit of Mercury across the Sun, with Mercury at a perfect “inferior conjunction” between the Sun and Earth. Transits happen only rarely, about 13 per century. The next is November 11, 2019. Then in 2032.13900212 - Here’s a variation on creating a time-sequence composite of the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse.13900204 - A vertical panorama of a 22° solar halo in the sky over the Natural Bridge and waterfall on the Kicking Horse River in Yoho National Park, BC, June 6, 2016. The day was quite hot but this shows that you can get haloes even on a hot summer day, as the ice crystal clouds causing the halo are high up and cold!13900167 - A composite of the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse showing third contact – the end of totality – with sunlight beginning to reappear and the array of pink prominences along the limb of the Sun. Seconds later the emerging Sun and diamond ring overwhelmed the large prominence.13900152 - This is Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) over the badlands and formations of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on the night of July 14-15, 2020, at about 12:30 am local time with it nearly due north and as low as it got for the night at this latitude of 51° N. A green and magenta aurora colours the northern sky also blue with perpetual summer twilight. Capella is at far right.13900144 - The Big Dipper reflected in the still waters of the lake at Police Outpost Provincial Park, in southern Alberta, on September 26, 2016, with an aurora to the north at right. Only in autumn can one shoot the Dipper reflected in the water in the evening sky, as it is then riding low along the northern horizon. This is from a latitude of 49° N where the Dipper is circumpolar. It is also called the Plough in Great Britain.13900127 - The summer Milky Way to the southwest over Victoria Glacier and Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta on a moonless night, August 29, 2016. The bright star at top is Altair, with the stars of Aquila being the main constellation here, with the Scutum starcloud just over the glacier and the stars of Ophiuchus to the right. The Serpens-Ophiuchus Double Cluster is prominent here just to the right of the Milky Way.13900110 - A curtain of aurora sweeps over the houseboats moored on Yellowknife Bay in Yellowknife, NWT, on September 11, 2018.13900107 - Total Solar Eclipse, from a site 130 km south of Tobrouk, Libya; March 29, 2006. 0.8 second exposure with Canon 20D camera and 10-22mm lens at 12mm focal length and f/5 aperture. Exposure set auotmatically. Part of a time-lapse sequence with frames firing every 1s.13900092 - An overhead pass of the International Space Station in a bright moonlit sky on the night of May 31/ June 1, 2015, with the gibbous Moon in to the south, below. The view is looking south, with the ISS travelling from right (west) to left (east) over several minutes. This was the second pass of a 4-pass night, May 31/June 1, starting at 12:44 am MDT this morning.13900084 - The region of the summer Milky Way in northern Cygnus containing a rich collection of bright nebulas: the North America Nebula at centre and the Gamma Cygni complex at right, plus the dark nebulas Le Gentil 3, the Funnel Cloud Nebula at upper left, the Northern Coal Sack at centre, and the finger-like B168 at lower left. The bright star at centre is Deneb. M39 is at lower left.13900083 - A 360° panorama of the spring sky over the Badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on March 29, 2019, with the winter Milky Way and constellations setting at centre, and the spring constellations filling the sky at left and right. At centre is also the tapering pyramid-shaped glow of the Zodiacal Light, which continues to the left across the sky as the Zodiacal Band and brightening at far right above the horizon as the Gegenschein. Urban sky glows from Brooks and Calgary mar the horizon with white and yellow glows. Mars is just below the Pleiades at centre in the Zodiacal Light.13900077 - The unusual STEVE auroral arc over my house in southern Alberta, on May 6, 2018, on a partly cloudy night. A dim and inactive main aurora was to the north, but the Steve arc crossed the sky from east to west.13900052 - The arc of Northern Lights starting a show in the deep twilight over Prelude Lake on the Ingraham Trail near Yellowknife, NWT. This was September 9, 2019. Light from the waxing gibbous Moon behind the camera also illumimates the scene. The autumn colours make for a good contrast with the sky colours. This was from the lookout point above the lake and main parking area and boat launch.13900025 - The rising autumn stars and constellations over and reflected in the lake at Police Outpost Provincial Park, in southern Alberta, on September 26, 2016. The stars of Auriga and Taurus are rising, including the Pleiades at upper right. Capella is the bright star above right centre; Aldebaran is below right in the sky. Both are reflected in the still water, along with the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. A mild aurora is at left.13899973 - Bright planets Mars (reddish at left) and Jupiter (right, over Bow Glacier) over Bow Lake, in Banff, Alberta, and reflecting in the water in glitter paths on the lake.13899971 - An arc of Northern Lights appears in the evening twilight over Prelude Lake near Yellowknife, NWT, on September 9, 2019. The Big Dipper is at left. Capella is at right.13899970 - The small constellation of Sagitta the Arrow, in the Milky Way. The small globular cluster, Messier 71, is between Gamma Sagittae and Delta Sagittae. Below M71 is the very sparse star cluster Harvard 20. The emission nebula Sharpless 2-84 is supposedly at centre but does not show up here except perhaps as a dim blue area of reflection nebulosity, though there is some faint red emission nebulosity at lower right.13899927 - This is the rich nebulosity in Cygnus captured in colour but with a blend of unfiltered and filtered images for an Ha-RGB mix to bring out the faint nebulosity.13899925 - The Full Moon of July 11, 2014, dubbed a "supermoon" as it ocurred within a day of perigee, rising over the sandstone concretions of Red Rock Coulee Natural Area in southern Alberta. The Moon sits just above the pink Belt of Venus and the dark blue shadow of the Earth rising in the east.13899887 - A selfie of me pointing at Mars at Grasslands National Park, August 6, 2018.13899797 - Circumpolar star trails and aurora over the Red Deer River, Alberta from the Orkney Viewpoint north of Drumheller on May 5, 2018.13899782 - The centre of the Galaxy area in Sagittarius and Scorpius rising in the east, from Australia, on March 30/31, 2014. All of Scorpius is visible as well as Norma, Ara, Lupus and Sagittarius. Scutum is just rising above the gum trees.next page
