Yes, the 6D on a telescope! Just getting things setup for some possible comet shooting. The clouds over Hawai’i may actually be breaking up after a week of very wet weather.
Waxing Moon
Author: Andrew
An electrical engineer, amateur astronomer, and diver, living and working on the island of Hawaiʻi.
A New Camera – The Canon 6D
What to do when you get a check from selling some time-lapse footage? Go out and buy another camera, of course. Just a case of using hobby income to support the hobby. The curious coincidence of the check arrival and a very nice package deal at B&H Photo helped in the process.
The real attraction to me is the low noise performance of the full frame sensor. This is critical when shooting in the dark for nightscapes and for astrophotography. The camera is currently one of the best on the market, beating out the more expensive Canon 5D MkII and MkIII’s. I am looking forward to what this camera can do when mounted to a telescope or paired with a fast lens in the dark.
Gold Lace
Dispatch from the Summit – A Cloudy Mountian
Comet ISON is sinking rapidly into the dawn. I have been waiting for a chance to photograph it for a couple weeks now. The gear is ready to go. Any morning that I have had available has been awash with clouds. Not strictly my problem, Keck has lost quite a few nights to weather over the same time period.
Tonight looks to be no exception. We have a number of engineering tests planned for Keck 1, including the first night on sky for a system many of us have put a lot of work into, the TRICK infrared tip-tilt detector for Keck 1 AO. It does not look good.
Update: The night was a complete loss, the telescope never opened.
Keck Astronomy Talk – The Search for Other Earths
Join us for a free astronomy lecture at Waimea’s Kahilu Theater…
Andrew Howard – University of Hawai’i
Kahilu Theatre
Thursday November 21, 2013
07:00 pm – 08:00 pm
Andrew Howard, astronomer from the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, will give an illuminating talk about the hunt for exoplanets and the quest for another Earth. Since 1995, more than 3,000 exoplanets have been discovered. Many of these planets look nothing like the planets of our Solar System — strange orbits, unusual compositions, and unknown beginnings. Dr. Howard will tour this diverse landscape of exoplanets, including the recent discoveries of planets the size of Earth.
Postcard from Hawaii – Waimea Rainbow
This morning I was one of six cars traveling in a group towards Waimea. Then the rainbow appeared, nothing odd about that, rainbows are common here. This rainbow was a little more intense than usual, worth a second look. I slowed to allow the jeep in front of me to pull over, no surprise… An obvious tourist in a rental car and a pretty rainbow, he was going to pull over.
As we proceeded toward town the rainbow just got brighter. The next car pulled over, this time a local in an older vehicle. Then the next car, and the next, there is plenty of room to park along the Mamalahoa Highway south of Waimea.
I was now one of two vehicles from the original six… Why not?
I pull over to take photos of the rainbow.
Rainbows are not just common in Waimea, they are nearly an everyday occurrence. With the trade-winds blowing you can see a rainbow every morning and evening near the Waimea airport. Moonbows are also common in the blowing mist conditions that are prevalent here. It takes a truly spectacular rainbow to draw much comment.
A rainbow that has five out of six cars pull over?
Nordic Quest 2013
Sorting through thousands of photos, dozens of video clips, and assembling time-lapse from yet more thousands of frames, all to create a mere five minutes of video. It is quite the chore, but also a lot of fun. In a way I relive the voyage, each photo a cue to recall all of the little experiences that make a great trip.
Having another couple photographers along provided a great source of material, it is not all of my photos. Randy and Nancy sent me some of their best, which have been woven in to create a better video. We got lucky on the weather, while it was cloudy and rainy for much of the time, we had a glorious day for visiting the ice at the top of Glacier Bay. We were lucky with wildlife as well… Orca, grizzly, humpback whales bubble netting, mountain goats, eagles, even a set of fresh wolf prints on a beach, all of the big game.
It was fun…
Nordic Quest 2013 from Andrew Cooper on Vimeo.
Elevation Cable Wrap
Scarface
Not where I expected it, a tiny cavity in an otherwise sheer rock wall covered with sponge. It was red… A flash bright red in the dive light had my attention quickly. I could not see the fish well enough to ID it, red is uncommon enough that I set up and fired anyway, just taking a photo was hard enough in the surge.
Only after downloading the photo I realized it was a scarface blennie…
Comet? Where?
There is one question we all have to ask when a beautiful comet graces the skies…
Like any other solar system object, comets move against the sky. Even worse, when close to the Earth or Sun they can be moving so quickly against the stars that coordinates quickly become out of date. Aiming a telescope using coordinates a day old, or sometimes even only an hour old will result in a view of empty sky. A few stars perhaps, but no comet.
You need a table of coordinated calculated for regular time intervals, an ephemeris. Alternately you need a set of coordinates calculated for the exact time you will be looking.