Category: Astrophotography

Space X Falcon 9 Rocket Launch

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date October 28, 2022
3 Comments on Space X Falcon 9 Rocket Launch

It was December of 2017 when I saw my first nighttime rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. I had no idea what it was and was not prepared for photos. I managed to get a few that were handheld and poorly focused, which can be seen at this LINK. Since then, I’ve been waiting for another opportunity and last night I got it. I have subscribed to Launch Alert and I knew this one was coming. Vandenberg AFB is now Vandenberg Space Force Base, it is about 500 miles west, on the California coast. This rocket is a Space X Falcon 9 that was launching 53 Starlink satellites into orbit. The timing of the launch put the rocket and the exhaust in the light of the setting sun while I was far enough east where it was dark enough to see it. I was set up with the Canon 6D and 35mm Sigma lens on a tripod.

Launch was scheduled for 6:14:10 PM Pacific daylight time. Arizona is not on daylight savings time so there is no time difference. At nearly 6:15, I was beginning to think the launch had been delayed, when there it was!

The rocket rapidly gained altitude, remember this is all about 500 miles away. The first stage booster can be seen falling away. The radar on top of Child’s Mountain is on the lower left. This launch was not as spectacular as the one I witnessed in 2017.

Now passing over the setting Moon. The rocket is probably traveling around 18,000 mph by now or getting to that speed.

Cropped view showing the separated booster.

Ajo for the Winter

I arrived in Ajo almost a week ago. I’ve been waiting to accumulate some new photos before posting an update. The area has had a good monsoon season, everything is green, and all the tanks and ponds are full of water. The bird migration is building up slowly here, so far nothing very exciting. I had a Kit Fox near the camper last night while I was out doing astro. It is good to be back in the Sonoran Desert.

A California Patch, first one I’ve seen in a long time. This species is not common here. This one was nectaring on Desert Broom.

This is only the second Pyrruloxia I’ve seen in the Ajo area. More common to the east. I found this one this morning near Darby Well.

A female Phainopepla, these birds should be happy this winter, there is a huge crop of mistletoe berries for them to eat.

Another dark nebula, this is known as the Wolf’s Cave Nebula, or LDN 1217. It is located in the constellation Cepheus.

Astrophotography Aurora Borealis

Back in Pierre and More Aurora

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date September 4, 2022
1 Comment on Back in Pierre and More Aurora

The Slim Buttes area was getting pretty crowded with the opening of archery deer season and the Labor Day weekend. I decided to move back to Pierre for a while. Last night, I was about to go to sleep but decided to check Spaceweather.com one more time to see what the aurora was doing. There was a geomagnetic storm in progress, so I loaded what equipment I needed and drove north of town. Rural Hughes county is not as dark as Harding County but it is pretty good. The only problem was the moon, it is about half phase now and was still above the horizon. By midnight it was sinking below the horizon and conditions improved a lot. This was far from the best displays of aurora borealis I’ve seen, but it has been at least a decade since I’ve seen one this good!

This was my first stop, just before the moon set. At this point, I could see pillars and rays of the aurora with my unaided eyes. It stayed low on the horizon.

After the moon set, I drove a few miles further east to get away from the lights of the Pierre area. There, I watched aurora come and go for a couple of hours. It never got much brighter but it was still worth staying out there!

Another view. Tonight could be even better if the forecasters are correct.

While I was the Slim Buttes, I spent three nights working on this with the C8. The Ghost Nebula, a very faint dark nebula near Cepheus. I knew it was going to be hard with the C8, this one requires a lot of exposure and I need more, but here it is anyway. About 6 hours of exposure.

Astrophotography Birding Photography

Astrophotography at the Slim Buttes

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date July 29, 2022

The last few nights have been clear and dark. This area has the darkest skies to be found anywhere in North America and it is pretty amazing at night with no moon. I can see the Andromeda Galaxy with no difficulty, even without binoculars. I set up the Losmandy G11 and used the 500 f4 for a dark nebula and a comet.

I will have to leave pretty soon. I have an appointment in Pierre Monday morning. It is going to be hot there!

This is comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS). It is an Oort Cloud comet with a very long orbital period, it probably took millions of years to arrive at our sun from its origin in the Oort Cloud. It is a very large comet, at about 11 miles diameter. It cannot be seen without at least a 6-inch telescope. In my image, a faint red nebula is visible to the left of the comet. Its current location is in the constellation Ophiuchus. I wanted to get more exposure, but I had to deal with some tall trees that obscured it shortly after it got dark enough for photography.

LDN 1082, a dark nebula in Cepheus. It is also known as Barnard 150. Also known as the Seahorse Nebula. This is actually upside down, I flipped it so the “seahorse” shape is more obvious. The interstellar cloud is so dense that the light of the stars behind it and all other background emissions are completely absorbed. An active star formation takes place almost invisibly inside the nebula.

Flip it again, and it looks like a person walking, maybe with a long cape. So, the Batman Nebula?

While out for a walk a few days ago, this American Kestrel started hazing me. It flew over many times, not happy with my presence. I assume there were young nearby.

More elk, a cow and young calf inspecting something. I had 8 elk pass by in just a few minutes.

A pair of Trumpeter Swans that nested at the JB Dam. Two cygnets can be seen hunkered down on the nest. There are some Painted Turtles sharing the nest with the swans.

A Spotted Towhee that posed nicely for me.

Astrophotography Birding

Back in South Dakota

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date May 16, 2022

I’ve actually been back almost two weeks now. I’ve been keeping busy chasing migrant birds. For a few days there were good numbers of migrants, I suppose it could be characterized as a fallout. The numbers of warblers were pretty amazing, but the diversity of species wasn’t that great. I’m hoping for an even better “fallout” later this week, when a cold front moves through.

Here’s one I don’t get to see very often, a Black-throated Green Warbler.

Several orioles are coming to oranges in my parent’s backyard. I spent one afternoon photographing them.

Red-headed Woodpeckers just showed up a few days ago. I got lucky with this one.

Just a Chipping Sparrow, but I really like this photo with its smooth background.

Last night I went outside to see the lunar eclipse. I couldn’t resist, I had to set up the 500 f4 and take some images. According to Spaceweather.com, this lunar eclipse is darker and redder than most due to the eruption of the Tonga volcano back in January.

Common Yellowthroat up close with the 500 f4.

Astrophotography Insects Photography

On the Road Again

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 30, 2022

I left Granite Gap this morning. I have been spending the nights photographing some galaxies and hiking and birding during the day. The weather has been far too windy most of the time and it makes astrophotography hard. I put all that gear away and now I am focusing on birds. I’m at Bosque del Apache NWR near Socorro, New Mexico. After spending the last 7 months in the Sonoran Desert, it is sure nice to see lots of water again! The refuge is full of birds, lots of shorebirds, ibis, herons, ducks, warblers and others. I didn’t do much birding today but tomorrow will be a full day.

One of the galaxies I’ve been working on is M63, the Sunflower Galaxy. I haven’t tried this one for several years. Despite losing a lot of my subs to wind, I managed to get 102 good 90 second subs for stacking. This galaxy is found near the Big Dipper.

M100, a galaxy in the Virgo galaxy cluster. The smaller galaxy in the upper right is NGC 4312.

I used the MP-65 super macro lens and a MR14-EX II ring flash for these ants. The lens does not autofocus, one has to achieve focus by moving the lens back and forth. The lens must be just a couple of inches from the subject being photographed. A ring flash is pretty much necessary. So, I was on the ground following the movements of the ants trying to do just that. Out of 65 shots I got 4 pretty good ones. I don’t use this lens very much, but it does get good results on very small things.

Astrophotography Herps

Back at Granite Gap

I left Ajo last week and drove to Granite Gap, just across the border in New Mexico. I planned to stay here awhile and do some astro and that has been working out OK. Otherwise, I think it is drier here than the Ajo area. There is not much vegetation that is green. There is a herd of cattle on this BLM land and I’ve been watching them eat prickly pear cactus. There is no grass for them to eat.

I’ve been adding more time to NGC 4725. I’ve lost track of the hours of exposure, but it must be around 6 or 7 by now. I think it is worth it. As always, right click on an image and open in a new tab or window for a larger image.

The larger, eliptical galaxy is M60. Eliptics by themselves are not very interesting but something else happened here. The small galaxy is NGC 4647 and what appears to be a star from our galaxy in the lower right portion is not. It is a Type 1a supernova in NGC 4647. I don’t have a before/after photo but a look at Stellarium confirms this. I read about this on Spaceweather.com and decided to try for it. Both galaxies are about 60 million light years distant in the Virgo galaxy cluster. Type 1a supernova involve a white dwarf in a binary star setting.

NGC 4753, also known as the Dust Devil Galaxy, is a lenticular galaxy in Virgo. It is known for the dust lanes that surround the nucleus. I wanted to see if I could capture those dust lanes. This is a very small galaxy and long way out there; the C8 continues to amaze me with its capabilities. The Losmandy G11 mount and the LaCerta MGen III autoguider gets a lot of credit too.

I’ve added more time to M104 too. The inner dust lanes are starting to show up.

Before I left Ajo, I went on one more night walk up Child’s Mountain Road. There, I found my 3rd Rosy Boa. It is quite fascinating to think about all the years I looked for this species and never found any and now, since last fall, I’m up to three.

There was also a Sonoran Lyre Snake. This is the only location I’ve found this species.

Astrophotography

My First Quasar, Even Before the First Quasar

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 13, 2022
2 Comments on My First Quasar, Even Before the First Quasar

Last month, I posted about the first quasar that I had ever knowingly photographed. My story was that while waiting for the galaxy NCG 4151 to rise high enough to capture two quasars, I spent a couple of hours photographing M97, the Owl Nebula. Well, today I was reading some posts on Cloudy Nights forums and found that there is an easy quasar by M97. I went back to my photos and sure enough, there it was. I have probably photographed lots of quasars and didn’t even know it. Now I have three different identified quasars.

And there it is, 8.5 billion light years, I am photographing light that left the quasar before our solar system even existed.

Astrophotography Birding Photography

A Supernova and Other Things

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date April 2, 2022

The weather continues to be nice. Birding hasn’t been too exciting except for a pair of Forster’s Terns that appeared on the ponds one day. These are the first terns of any species I’ve ever seen on the Ajo sewage ponds. Astrophotography has been hit and miss with clouds and wind.

This is NGC 3367, a galaxy that is so small in view that I wouldn’t typically bother with it. It is way out there, 120 million light years away. What makes it interesting to me now is the Type II supernova that occurred recently. Well, I should rephrase that, it occurred a long time ago and we are just seeing it now.

And there it is. I captured a supernova in the Fireworks Galaxy some years back but wanted to try this one too. This is the sixth supernova reported from NGC 3367 in the last 30 years.

One of the two Forster’s Terns at the ponds. First terns I’ve ever seen here.

Yesterday I was at Highway Tank and was pleased to find this male Belted Kingfisher. There are no fish in the tank but it was catching large aquatic insects, some looked like dragonfly nymphs.

Astrophotography Bats Birding

Birds, Bats and Galaxies

Post author By Doug Backlund
Post date March 26, 2022

It is that time of year again, where there is so much to do I can’t decide what to do next. One result is I don’t get much sleep. I finally caught up on sleep last night.