Solar eclipse
A couple of quick pics from our cruise. Weather was perfect until totality.
Feeding frenzy
We found dozens of pipevine swallowtail butterflies in the garden this week. They are sucking up nectar in preparation for mating and laying eggs in late summer. Also taken with a Canon R6 and 200-800 zoom.
Ruby throated warrior
I took dozens of photos of two hummingbirds fighting to occupy our feeders. They moved too fast to get them both but while one was resting nearby I got a good image with a 800 mm zoom on a Canon R6.
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Venus occultation
I tired to capture videos as Venus passed behind the moon (ingress) and came out the other side an hour later (egress) but gremlins got in the way. First, the big telescope’s PC got trapped in drive update hell. I grabbed the Dwarf Mini (see previous blog post on this remarkable tiny ‘scope) and aligned
See the moon eat Venus
A somewhat rare occultation of Venus by the moon will occur at 3:53 this afternoon. It should be visible to the naked eye if you can find a wall to block out the sun. Binoculars or a small telescope would be best. Be careful not to look near or directly at the Sun. See Spaceweather
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Birds, birds, birds!
All the bird songs are getting louder and earlier as summer approaches. There are multiple phone apps that will identify birds by listening to their calls but they don’t give you a long term ideas of what species are active. I recently installed a bird identification device called Birdweather PUC that connects to your home
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Two years ago the sky went wild
May 10th, 2024 was a night I will never forget. A X-class solar flare made a direct hit on our planet and sparked aurora as far south as Cuba. Fortunately skies were mostly clear and there were early warnings from observers in southern Europe that a major event was in process. Millions of photos were
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Photographing the night sky with a tiny telescope
The newest generation of “smart” imaging telescopes are a great way to introduce beginners and youngsters to astronomy. Multiple vendors including ZWO, Unistellar, Vaonis and Dwarf Labs make fully automated, miniature imaging scopes that have no eyepiece but provide a sophisticated astrophotography imaging setup operated by your smartphone. The Dwarf Mini from DwarfLab weighs less
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Pileated berry picker
This beautiful bird camped out on a holly bush in front of my office Friday, perhaps to fill up before the storm. I grabbed a Canon DSLR with a 600mm telephoto lens I keep handy for animal events. One advantage of the Canon R8 and big telephoto is that you can really zoom in on
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A wee bit of aurora
The storm on the 20th came a bit early for North America but was a big deal in most of Europe. After many attempts to capture something I got a few photos with a hint of aurora. Stay tuned for more events in the coming days as the Sun seems to be coughing up flares
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