member photographs

July’s Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) excites members

James Guilford , , , , ,
Comet Dawn. Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE rises above Lake Erie at 5:00 AM, the morning of July 9, 2020. Photo by James Guilford.

Members have enjoyed several opportunities for astronomical events in July: the penumbral lunar eclipse; a conjunction of Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn; and most recently the apparition of Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE.

C/2020 F3 presented special challenges for observing and imaging as it showed up very low to the horizon rising ahead of Sun — not much more than 10º before morning twilight wiped it out. July’s weather around the apparition grudgingly cooperated with relatively clear night skies tarnished with a hazy atmosphere and bright Moon to light it.

Still, how many comets do we see in one lifetime? There was considerable enthusiasm around observing this one. The comet was expected to be visible in the morning sky until July 11 after which, according to NASA, C/2020 F3 can be fished out of evening twilight until mid-August. The nucleus or “head” of the comet is reportedly unusually large. NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft suggest that the comet’s core of ice and dust is 5 km wide. This bodes well for the comet’s visibility in the weeks ahead when it becomes an early nighttime object.

Observers and photographers report the object was not visible to the unaided eye, given conditions. Binoculars, telescopes, and even modest telephoto lenses were able to fish C/2020 F3 out of our Northeastern Ohio atmospheric murk.

Navigation lights and the lighthouse off downtown Cleveland, Ohio reflecting off the calm Lake Erie waters set off the subtle beauty of Comet C/2020 F3 the morning of July 9, 2020. Photo by Frank Shoemaker.

Various locations and various times provide differing views of the sky in general and this object in particular.

Getrost_NEOwise
C/2020 F3 as viewed from West Virginia and imaged using a cell phone. The rough quality of the smartphone image, the muted colors, dark landscape reminds us of a classic oil painting of a night scene with comet. Photo by Kai Getrost.
A view of C/2020 F3 from Brunswick, Ohio. Photo by Jon Salontay.

Jon Salontay writes, “Got up Thursday and this morning (Friday) to view from my front driveway in Brunswick.  We are at 1,125 ft., higher than most of the surrounding area, but there a lot of trees. I was too late Thursday (5 a.m.) as the sky was already too bright.  This morning was a different story.  Started a 4:30 a.m.  Venus was shining brightly, so I knew it was clear.  The comet was easy to find and a nice sight in 10×50 binoculars.  Following Capella to Menkalinan and downward made spotting the comet easy.  I could make out a trace of it naked-eye, but only because I knew exactly where to look. Got some photos with my Canon Rebel T5i with a 55-250 F 5.6 zoom lens on a tripod. Used ISO 800, 4 seconds at F/5.  I’ve attached the best of them, with close cropping.”

A tightly-cropped view of C/2020 F3 from Brunswick, Ohio. Photo by Jon Salontay.
Clouds usually interfere with astrophotography but, in this case, they add to the beauty of this composition. C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) over Lake Erie the morning of July 12. Photo by Frank Shoemaker.
Comet C/2020 F3 as seen from Greece, N.Y., looking out across Lake Ontario. Photo by Chris Elder.

We will add to this gallery as submissions are received or images updated.

Eclipse, not — Conjunction, hot!

James Guilford , , , , , , ,
See the eclipse? Not sure we can either. Side-by-side images made about half an hour apart, shot and processed with identical settings.

Penumbral lunar eclipses — when the Moon passes through the thin outer shadow Earth casts into space — are not spectacular. We described the July 4 – 5, 2020 eclipse as “subtle” when we wrote about it in advance. It turned out to be not-even-subtle. Essentially nobody could tell whether an eclipse had even happened, even in photographs tortured to bring out shadow details. Announcing penumbral eclipses is tricky: if nothing is said about them before they happen, we get asked why; if we promote the eclipse and even say it may be slight, people get disappointed when they hardly see the effects or don’t see anything happen at all. Still, we got to talk about the geometry of eclipses and people looked at our beautiful Moon, and that’s something.

A gorgeous high resolution portrait of Earth’s Moon at the height of the penumbral eclipse of July 4 – 5, 2020. Can’t see the eclipse shadow? Nope. That’s okay with the photographer. Credit: Alan Studt.

CAA member and accomplished photographer Alan Studt took advantage of the brilliant Moon to make its portrait. Studt explained this photo of the Moon is a composite, made up of images recorded at the peak of the eclipse. “Never saw a shadow,” he wrote, “which was fine with me.”

The Moon was shot with a telescope focal length of 4,400mm, at f/20, 1/80th sec., and ISO 250. It is made of 12 images (4 rows of 3 images)
stitched together in Lightroom and post-processed using Camera RAW in Photoshop.
Happily for skywatchers, the July Fourth holiday weekend presented a second opportunity for enjoyment: the conjunction of the “Full Buck Moon,” with planets Jupiter and Saturn. Clouds interfered, or possibly enhanced, photographic efforts. By eye, the trio was glorious with the dominant Moon, brilliant Jupiter, and shy Saturn gracing a sky full of moonglow.
Shot about an hour after moonrise, the Full Moon glowed brilliantly orange, lending color to the encroaching clouds. Jupiter is above Moon in this photo, Saturn is at the edge of a cloud on the left. A single DSLR exposure. Photo by James Guilford.

Alan Studt made his picture from two different shots/exposures: One shot for the clouds & one shot for the Moon. The clouds, Saturn, Jupiter and its moons (look closely at Jupiter) were all in one shot, 180mm, f/5. Just the Moon & clouds shot were 550mm, f6.3 Sky: 1/13th sec., ISO 5000. Moon: 1/125th sec., ISO 80. The images were post-processed in Lightroom & layer blended in Photoshop.

Conjunction photo combines separate exposures to show lunar features as well as moonlit clouds. Look closely, you may be able to make out the tiny dots of the Galilean Moons. Photo by Alan Studt.

Matt Franduto

Conjunction. by Matt Franduto.

Venus transits the Pleiades

James Guilford , , , ,

Once every eight years, as dictated by orbital mechanics, planet Venus crosses the Pleiades star cluster. The star cluster is one of those nearest Earth and easy to spot: to the right and running ahead of the great Orion constellation. It’s an open cluster consisting of about 1,000 gravitationally-bound stars though only a few of them are visible to the unaided eye. Longer camera exposures reveal more and more stars in the group. The before, during, and after-transit conjunction positions of Venus and the Pleiades make for a lovely sight by eye, telescope, and a favorite target for astrophotographers. Shown below are some of the images CAA members have made of the April 2020 Venus/Pleiades combinations.

Wide view of the transit: Canon EOS Rebel T5i – 250mm lens, ISO 800 F5.6, 8 seconds. by Jon Salontay
Alan Studt: Nikon D850, Sigma 600mm, f6.3, ISO 28000, 1/10th second, 110 shots, 25 darks stacked in DSS. Added a bit of glow in Photoshop.
Venus Glows! by John D. Burkett
Pre-transit Conjunction. Via 400mm telephoto lens. April 2, 2020. by James Guilford.
Venus and Three Sisters. View of the Venus transit through a telescope. “I wish I could have zoomed out!” says Photographer James Guilford.
Jon Salontay_trees_IMG_7735
Transit in the Trees. by Jon Salontay. Canon EOS Rebel T5i, 55mm lens, ISO 800, F/4, 8 seconds.
Venus visits the Pleiades. by Lonnie Dittrick
Glorious Pleiades. Canon and 70-200mm lens piggybacked telescope, 30-second images for about an hour, combined. by Dave Watkins.

Give the Moon a chance

James Guilford , , ,
Waxing Gibbous Moon, by James Guilford. April 3, 2020.

by William Murmann, CAA President

I know the Moon is considered a nuisance by many of our members.  However, it does have many things worth looking at as it waxes and wanes during the month.  Every night presents something new to see.
Tonight {April 3, 2020} for example, we have a waxing nine-day Moon that is past first quarter.  Looking along the terminator, however, you can spot 52-mile diameter crater Tycho with its steep walls and magnificent ray system that shoots halfway across the Moon.
Farther to the Moon’s north, we have 56-mile diameter crater Copernicus with a collection of four to five thousand-foot mountain peaks in its center made by rebound energy immediately after the crater was created by its impactor.
And just below the Moon’s north polar region, we have the 61-mile diameter crater Plato, the famous “Black Lake.”  Plato is filled halfway with black lava.  On its western rim there is a 9,000-foot peak called Plato Zeta.
As the Moon wanes and the terminator from the setting Sun nears the western edge of the crater, a sharp, spiky shadow can be seen shooting about 30 miles across the crater floor just as the Sun hits Plato Zeta.  By luck, I happened to observing Plato at 4 a.m. one morning and saw the shadow at the exact moment when the setting Sun hit the peak and shot the shadow across the crater floor.
If you are up for a challenge, see if you can see Plato Zeta’s spiky shadow just as it appears.