July 18, 2024
By now, I'm sure that you've noticed my astrophotography hiatus that began after the eclipse in April. Truthfully, I've been busy in the more professional areas of my life and haven't had any time to dedicate to an astrophotography project, even if it is yet another HDR moon image. Since late May, I have been living in West Lafayette, Indiana, since I was selected to participate in Purdue University's Physics . . .
April 8, 2024
This will be my first of two posts regarding the North American Total Solar Eclipse of April 8th, 2024. This post will focus on totality, since that's what most folks are interested in - understandably so! This weekend, I will post a very throrough "Beginner's Guide to Solar Eclipses," which will cover the science/math/physics behind them, the planning required to see them, how to photograph them, and will also include . . .
March 15, 2024
Preparations for the total solar eclipse are dangerously close to becoming finalized. During my spring break period, I had a decent amount of time to test and troubleshoot my eclipse setup. Of course, this image was taken with an identical setup to the one I used for last month's "snow moon," but when I applied a solar filter to my Orion 80mm refractor, I noticed a strange internal reflection. It was also impossible to get the the sun into a sharp focus whatsoever, so, I had a difficult decision to make . . .
February 24, 2024
As the total solar eclipse draws ever-closer, I'm starting to extensively test my equipment. One of the issues I've previously encountered was bad-framing due to my camera sensors. You may notice that my moon picture from last November was much more zoomed in. While taking that picture, freezing during a frigid North Carolina autumn evening, I discovered I could only fit half of the moon within my frame at a time. Back then, I was hopeful that I would use that setup for totality in April 2024, but framing only half of the eclipse is quite subpar in my eyes. There was, however, a solution . . .
January 14, 2024
The sun is at the height of its 11-year cycle, making for prime opportunities to photograph its changing surface features. During a recent solar astrophotography session, I managed to capture this evaporating filament towards the center of the sun. This proved to be a great way to test my gear prior to the coming eclipse in April. Also visible are some dancing prominences on the outer edge of the solar disk. Aside from that, the appearance of an inverted H-alpha image is always appealing to me due to their dynamics, and the . . .