Augusta, Montana Milky Way Panorama

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Montana Milky Way panorama composed of 21 images using Nikon D750 camera and 50mm 1.4 @ 2.0.

Processed in Adobe Lightroom 6.

Deep Sky Imaging

The rain and moon have been difficult for the past few weeks since the new telescope and mount have arrived.  The learning curve has also been steep.  Here is the first acquisition obtained in Shenandoah National Park over two nights, 138 minutes of imaging.

Technical card:

        Telescope:  Takahashi 85ED FSQ
        Mount:         Astrophysics Mach 1 GTO with CP4
        Imaging Camera:  Nikon D750 (unmodded)
        Mounting Rings:    95mm Prima Luce
        Guiding Camera:   Unguided
        Software:    Cartes du Ciel
                           Astrotortilla
                           Backyard Nikon
                           Deep Sky Stacker
                           Pixinsight
                           Adobe Lightroom
        Dates:      May 16, 2017 and May 18, 2017
        Frames:   23 @ 6minutes (2.3 hours)
       
        Location:  Shenandoah National Park, VA  USA
       

Backyard Bird of Prey

I just received this image of a Cooper's hawk (hard to differentiate from a sharp-shinned hawk) who has his evening dinner in his talons.  Check out the scattered feathers.  The photo was sent to me by one of my park friends (Mike T.) that I met in River Bend Park today.  He took the photo locally in his backyard.  The photo is real nature and I decided to share it with you on my site.  Thanks Mike.

River Bend Park birds of Wonder

I met several friendly people from around the globe enjoying River Bend Park today.  A smile and a genuine "hello, how are you?" goes a long way.  So many interesting people to engage. It was a great people day!

Two exciting bird encounters in River Bend Park today.  A repeat sighting of an eastern screech owl in its natural habitat of a hollowed out tree.  Must be his home as I have seen the owl on two occasions in the same tree.

 



The treat of the day was the bald eagle at the nest on the Potomac River!   At least one young eaglet could also be seen in the nest from time to time during my observing period of 2 hours.  Glad the bald eagles selected this nesting site on an inaccessible island in the middle of the river.

Moon phases are beautiful

These photos of the moon were taken during the month of February, 2017 with:

                       Nikon d750
                       Nikon TC 14E II 1.4X teleconverter
                       Nikon 300mm F4D
                       1/180 sec @ f11

The weather for the past few weeks has not been optimal for night photography due to rain and clouds.  When the clouds part, the tripod is set up.  First use of this lens was outstanding.

Backyard fox

 
Sleeping fox in the afternoon.








 Big stretch after afternoon nap.

 I'm awake.  Looking for my next meal.

I see you.  I'm out of here!

Shenandoah Panorama

During the last new moon in September, I again ventured into the Shenandoah National Park at 2 AM.  Besides the usual deer, foxes, owls, and coyotes, the evening was highlighted by my first night time black bear sighting.  He wandered off into the field and I simply froze.  Need to get some bear pepper spray.  This night time photography could get dangerous.  

For this adventure I created a panorama with 23 merged

images.  The Adobe program "Lightroom" does all the hard work. I just have to take the photos in the dark with the bears.

Nikon d750 with Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens shot at f2.8

ISO 3200

10 second exposure

The image is downsized for the web.  The original panorama was over 1 gigabyte in size.