Northwest Astro - Northwest Astro (latest images)

Northwest Astro - Northwest Astro (latest images) http://www.nwastro.net Astrophotography from the Northwest. en-US Sun, 20 May 2012 11:08:38 -0700 Sun, 20 May 2012 11:08:38 -0700 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss ZenPhoto RSS Generator Giraffe (Oregon (2011)) Giraffe

Taken during a trip to the Oregon Zoo just outside of Portland. Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring my DSLR with me, so the shots weren't quite as good as I'd have liked.]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Oregon (2011) Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:39:58 -0700 Sagittarius @ OSP 2009 (Oregon Star Party (2009))

A wide field taken my last night I spent at OSP aimed south. Sagittarius itself is in the image, but hard to spot against the background on the left side of the main dust lane.

The horizon reared its head in this shot, but the effect of the whole frame was just too good to crop.

]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Oregon Star Party (2009) Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:36:15 -0700 Pleiades @ OSP 2009 (Oregon Star Party (2009))

This was originally planned to be part of a stack of images totalling 90 minutes of integration. There was some tracking issues (probably a bad polar alignment), which made the stack fairly worthless.

One image from the stack still turned out, so I decided to process it as best I could. The noise is still pretty strong, but I was impressed with the amount of detail captured with only 10 minutes of integration time.

]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Oregon Star Party (2009) Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:12:29 -0700 Cygnus @ OSP 2009 (Oregon Star Party (2009))

Cygnus is a pretty interesting chunk of sky because of the milky way that runs right through the constellation, and the nebulae present, including the Pelican and North American that are both visible near Deneb in the lower left corner of the frame.

The 50mm lens was just wide enough to capture the tail and wings of Cygnus, although the head had to be left out in order to fit the more interesting nebulae near the tail.

]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Oregon Star Party (2009) Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:51:28 -0700 Hot Spring Pool (Yellowstone (2010))

At the hot springs, the water here gets turned various colors due to minerals leeching into the water underground. Some look like mud, some look pretty clear, and a couple take on this clear blue color.]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Yellowstone (2010) Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:59:25 -0700 Rock (Yellowstone (2010)) Rock

Water carved out this rock face over a long period of time. The bands of color are bound to be due to different minerals in the rock or water, although why there is no bleeding of color between the bands is a bit of a mystery to me.]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Yellowstone (2010) Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:46:56 -0700 Petrified Tree (Yellowstone (2010))

One tree stands as a monument in the petrified forest, within the western area of Yellowstone.]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Yellowstone (2010) Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:36:34 -0700 Gyser (Yellowstone (2010)) Gyser

Near the hot springs there are flats with gysers and pools of water being forced up from underground. This is one of the more active gysers we saw in the area while trekking through.]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Yellowstone (2010) Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:07:43 -0700 Elk (Yellowstone (2010)) Elk

Elk had gotten used to people being around and having their pictures being taken. In general, leave them alone, as if they see you as a threat, you won't be the one to win any confrontation.]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Yellowstone (2010) Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:24:58 -0700 Buffallo (Yellowstone (2010))

The Buffallo don't seem to get too close to the roads. Whenever there is one out in the open, expect a lot of cars parked on the side of the road with people watching. The shot was not quite zoomed in enough, I didn't have anything better than the 200mm lens during the trip.]]>Date: 08/29/2011]]> Yellowstone (2010) Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:26:09 -0700