Easter Sunset

Here's how Sunday's Easter sunset looked from my back yard.

Not bad. Yeah, I'm a few days late, but as they say, better late than never.

Lunar Eclipse

This morning was the third in a series of recent lunar eclipses visible from North America. The first was April 15, 2014 and the second October 8, 2014. I missed the first two completely. I was on travel for the first attending a sea turtle symposium in New Orleans where it was rainy and cloudy. I was home for the second one, but it was uncharacteristically cloudy in Tucson, so no eclipse.

Yesterday afternoon and evening I was pretty worried about this one as the skies were cloudy. It made for a nice sunset, but would they blot out the eclipse? Thankfully, no.

Canon T31, 250mm lens (cropped), 1.6 sec., f/4 ISO 3200

There were clouds, but not enough to eclipse the eclipse.

During a total lunar eclipse the moon moves into Earth's shadow. This particular eclipse was just barely total and it didn't look completely total, with there being a bright area visible the whole time.

Canon T31, 250mm lens (cropped), 2 sec., f/4 ISO 3200

Still, it was a nice show. If you missed it, there's one more total lunar eclipse in this series. It will be on September 27, 2015.

Awesome Sunset

Tonight's sunset was epic. I don't think words will do it justice, so I wont even try.

It Doesn't Get Better Than This

Yeah, Wednesday's sunset wasn't half bad.

Hurricane Sunset

Hurricane Odile is making its way up Baja California but its clouds have extended northward to cover all of Southern Arizona. We are expecting possibly heavy rains in Tucson later this week, but tonight the storm delivered an off-the-carts amazing sunset.

 The sky was beautiful in every direction, so I had to shoot a panorama.

To the south the sky behind the pink-orange clouds was an amazing shade of blue. Alas, these iPhone shots don't do it justice.

Recent Sky Shots

I took some fun shots of lightning Friday night, but that's not been the only thing in the sky to catch my attention lately. I've been photographing the cloud shadows, the Milky Way and for the last several mornings the waning gibbous moon.

Friday September 12

Saturday September 13

Sunday September 14

Saturday's sunset was remarkable not for its vivid colors. Instead there was a big thunderstorm near the western horizon. The resulting cloud shadows were cast clear across the sky. Check it out:

That's the view looking east with the darker cloud shadows in the twilight sky.

There's an increasing chance of stormy weather for the next few days, but now that the moon is out of the evening sky, and with the skies clear the Milky Way shines nicely. Not as nice as it was in Hawai'i though. From my vantage point NW of Tucson it is nicely placed in the early evening with the constellation of Sagittarius well away from the light pollution of the city.

The focus is a bit soft on this one, but here's the view I have from my back yard and the Milky Way extending up over Sombrero Peak. Not too bad. 

Monsoon Sunsets

There is so much to love about Arizona's monsoon sunsets. We've had some good ones lately and quite often the view is just as great in the east as it is in the west.

Last Saturday night was a great example.

In the west was this cumulonimbus cloud that looks to me like a cartoon face seen in profile.

While that view was nice, the view to the east was even better with a nearly full moon rising above the remnants of storm clouds.

 Tonight was another great example of a sunset that was wonderful everywhere you looked.

To our northeast was this cumulonimbus that was catching the glow of sunset while dumping welcomed rains on the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Looking to the west a few minutes later and we were given a nice show of crepuscular rays that extended all the way to the east (making them anticrepuscular rays).

A wonderful sight!

Sunset and Space Station

Here is this evening's sunset as seen from my back yard:

Tragically, I caught it after its maximum brilliance, but still, it isn't too bad.

Just like last night, there was a nice passage of the International Space Station in our skies. This one was a little earlier and had a bit more moonlight. Both factors made the sky brighter than last night.

Here are two 30-second long exposures stacked together. That's the bright, over exposed moon at right with the star Regulus above, left of it. The space station was moving up from the bottom (southwest) of the frame toward the top. That's Mars near the very top of the frame, left of center.

Here's a single 30-second exposure of the ISS passing into the northeast part of the sky. The brightest star in the frame is Arcturus.

A Shameless Plug and A Sunset

Hey, it's June. That means that the July issue of Sky & Telescope magazine is now out. I've got an article in the issue on light pollution and how cities look from space at night. Here's what the cover looks like (with an oval to highlight my article):

I've been reading S&T since I was around 14, so it is a nice feeling to have an article of my own show up in print. If you get the chance to read it, feel free to let me know what you think. I've blogged here before on the view of cities from space and these posts are the most popular ones on my blog.

Changing the subject, we had a beautiful sunset this evening to kick off the new month. The high level cirrus clouds we shining with a lovely orange glow, making a vivid contrast against the blue sky. 

In spite of it being crazy hot in Tucson right now, the was a nice beginning to the month.

Sunrise. Sunset.

Earlier this week we had an amazing run of absolutely beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I wasn't able to capture them all, but I did manage to get a few shots which I thought I would share here.

Sunset December 16, 2013

Sunrise December 17, 2013

Another shot of the December 17 sunrise

Sunrise December 18, 2013

Another shot of the December 18 sunrise

The photos don't really do justice to what Nature had to show off this week.

A Sunset and a Balloon

We had a nice sunset last evening, wouldn't you agree?

Later on the clouds did something very rare in the desert, they gave us a November rain. By morning they had cleared enough for there to be some hot air balloon activity. There was one that made a somewhat close passage to the house.

I am trying to remember if I have ever had any photos from Tucson of a hot air balloon and clouds in the same shot.

It certainly seemed as if they were enjoying the ride.

Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function?

Until tonight I've been to crazy busy to even check out the nice conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury that is taking place in our evening skies. Have you seen it?

This evening's view from near Tucson, AZ began with a nice sunset. Wouldn't you agree?

Thankfully the cirrus clouds did not interfere with the view. Can you spot the three planets in the shot below?

It's a bit tough, so here's the same shot, but with the planets labeled.

 And another shot, this time taken with a zoom lens:

Any pairing or grouping of planets like this is called a conjunction (hence the title of this post). It might be surprising to think that we have the two inner planets (Venus and Mercury) grouped with one of the outer planets (Jupiter).

When we look at this conjunction of planets, are we essentially looking inward and outward at the same time?

Yes, we are.

Here's a screen shot grabbed from my iPad running Sky Safari Pro:

As you can see, from our vantage point on Earth Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter are all in the same general direction. You can almost draw a line from Earth to Mercury, Venus and Jupiter and that's the geometry that gives us our conjunction. For more details on the conjunction and how the view changes from night to night, check out this info from Sky&Telescope magazine.

And if you are looking for some Schoolhouse Rock, you'll find it here.

Desert Sunset

Fading sunlight this evening cast a red-orange glow on the Catalina mountains this evening. They were capped with a fresh layer of snow, making the sight even better.

Can you spot Mt. Lemmon Observatory?

A few minutes later the show had shifted to the west:

Another day in the desert comes to an end.