Out of this World

Smith Mountain Lake Starscape

The summer milky way stretches across the early evening sky of September. September - Smith Mountain and Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia.

Comet NEOWISE C/2020 F3

Under a dark sky in central Virginia on the night of July 18, 2020. Comet NEOWISE was easily visible to the unaided eye. While visually looking rather ghostly the camera brought out many of the comets details including the blue ion tail. Taken with a tripod mounted Nikon Z6, ƒ/2.8 200.0 mm lens, at ISO 10000. 15 stacked 5 sec exposures.

Comet Neowise and the approaching storm

Comet Neowise in the evening skies of Central Virginia with the encroaching clouds from a distance storm lit up from the bottom by the lights of a nearby small town. The two bright stars just below the comet are Kappa and Iota Ursa Majoris.

Comet NEOWISE C/2020 F3

Just above the treetops in the morning twilight from Glen Allen Virginia

Solar Eclipse Sequence 2017

This eclipse sequence was taken on August 21, 2017 near Hartville, WY USA with my daughter May Kathryne. Where are the partial phase images after totality? Really who cares - just imagine the same partial images in reverse :) We were packed and back on the road before final contact.

Milky Way Sky

Close-up of the Milky Way in the Sagittarius Scorpius region of the sky.

Saturn

Mysterious frozen beautiful ringed - the sixth planet from the sun and the second-largest planet in the solar system. Taken with a 8-inch schmidt-cassegrain telescope.

Super Blood Wolf Moon

Super Blood Wolf Moon lunar eclipse of January 20, 2019

Perseid Meteors and One Sporadic

A beautiful meteor display is put on each summer courtesy of comet Swift–Tuttle. I observed the shower from my home in the suburbs of Richmond VA and despite the moderate light pollution thoroughly enjoyed the the show. This photography is a composite of 24 of the brightest meteors images taken during a two hour time span in the early morning hours of Aug 12, 2016. Following the direction from which meteors appear to originate shows the radiant point in the constellation Perseus for all but the one sporadic meteor (top left).

Just the right fit

The title “just the right fit” refers to how closely matched the apparent size of the Moon and Sun are. So much so that solar flares and prominences are visible near the sun's surface during the total eclipse when seen from just the right location, at just the right time on the earth's surface. A truly awesome and remarkable astronomical coincidence. 2017 total solar #eclipse Hartville Wyoming USA

Tendrils of Time

A view of the Milky Way centered along the border of the constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius. Dark tendril like dust lanes are woven among the seemingly endless number of stars round the center of our Galaxy. Hatteras Island, NC, USA

The Great Martian opposition of 2005

Mars Oppositions occur when planet Earth, on its inner orbit, passes between the Sun and planet Mars. Images taken with 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

Shoreline of the Universe

A black and white view of the night sky I recently took from atop the dune line looking out over the shoreline of the Atlantic - Hatteras Island, North Carolina USA. Featured on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140920.html This monochrome image reminds me of the 1950's sci-fi movie genre and could have been titled "It Came From Beyond the Dunes". It also brings to mind the long history of monochromatic astrophotography. One way astronomers use #monochrome photography today is by taking a series of images through RGB filters and then combine them to create a color image.

closest heavenly body

waxing gibbous moon

Till the End of Time

1:30am on a clear moonless night. A small lake in central Virginia reflects the Milky Way and countless stars in this dream-like nightscape.

Orion Spring

Orion (center left) and the other brilliant winter constellations ride low in the west after sunset, making way for the relatively demure star patterns of the spring sky. Budding trees frame this early spring star-field featuring the three belt stars of Orion, and the two red giant stars, Betelgeuse - Alpha Orionis (top center) and Aldebaran - Alpha Tauri (top right) glowing orange against the bluish night sky along with some passing high clouds. APoD for March 26, 2015

Stars Over Hatteras

The Milky Way and beach cottages on Hatteras Island - Outer Banks of North Carolina #OBX

Jupiter

Jupiter Great Red Spot and the shadow of Ganymede

Lunar Eclipse and Super Moon

From Hatteras Island, NC USA - Sept 27, 2015

Billions

The Milky Way from central Virginia

total solar eclipse of August 21 2017

Great American Eclipse of 2017

Turn Turn Turn

Circumpolar stars trails - This image represents one hour and eight minutes of earth rotation. 730 exposures stacked using StarStax. Each exposure was 5 second | ISO 1000 | F1.4 | 24mm | Nikon D810.

Field of View

View of the total solar eclipse and our roadside observing location taken on August 21st 2017 with my daughter Mary Kathryne near Hartville Wyoming

False Dawn

Ground fog and low clouds reflecting street lights give a false dawn look to the southern sky in this long exposure of the Milky Way taken during the 2015 Perseid meteor shower - Powhatan Virginia.

Blue Moon in Monochrome

Full moon plus 12 hours