Tag: Moon

Monsoon thunderstorms and lightning over the Grand Canyon in Arizona

The North American Monsoon was going strong in late August and I decided to take a day trip up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. My goal was to photograph lightning — both during the daytime and in the twilight hours — over and in the canyon.

I wasn’t disappointed. There were only a few thunderstorms around and that makes for better chances since there are fewer intervening storms and there is a better chance of catching some of the sky.

The first two images are of fairly weak thunderstorms producing only a few flashes as they traversed the canyon from south to north.

Early afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon.
Early afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon.
Afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.
Afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.

Later in the evening there was thunderstorm activity over the Kaibab Plateau and the north rim. This image captures the small thunderstorm as well as the stars overhead and the lights of the North Rim buildings.

Evening lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.
Evening lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.

The last image was taken as the storms ended leaving only a thin layer of clouds with the stars shining brightly and the inner canyon illuminated by the light of the full moon.

Full moon light shining down into Grand Canyon.
Full moon light shining down into Grand Canyon.

A few notes of interest. While taking lightning photos using my lightning trigger, a group of four photographers showed up at the same viewpoint — all with the same lightning trigger. And later, during the twilight hours, another group of lightning photographers arrived at the same viewpoint. Turns out these were folks from News9.com (an Oklahoma City television station). It’s not clear to me how lightning over the Grand Canyon is part of the news team coverage for Oklahoma City.

Stereo Pair of Moonrise above Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona

The full moon occurred on 04 June and there was an early morning partial eclipse — but I slept through it. The two evenings prior to the full moon, however, provided an opportunity to photograph the rising moon as the sun still cast light and color on the red rocks.

Stereo pair of Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona.
Stereo pair of Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona.

Using The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE) I was able to pre-determine where to set up to photograph the moon as it traversed above the towers that make up Cathedral Rock. As the moon rose up and to the right I moved my position to the left to keep the moon in the larger gap. The unintended consequence of this movement is that I was able to get these similar — but slightly different — images about five minutes and 50 meters apart. Putting them together side-by-side makes a good stereo pair using the cross-eyed viewing method — that is, as long as you don’t object to having two moons in the 3-D image.

Moonrise over Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona.
Moonrise over Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona.

The following night I set up in a different location and was able to capture the moon as it rose from behind these cliffs with this large home in the foreground.

Moon setting over Cathedral Rock in Sedona

Even though it was full almost two days ago the waning gibbous “Supermoon” (Wikipedia; NASA) was still 98% illuminated this morning. I used “The Photographers Ephemeris” to find the perfect location — as well as a backup site — to get this sequence of images. Good thing, too, since my prime location was gated and locked!

Moon over Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona. (0554 MST 07 May 2012)
Moon over Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona (0554 MST 07 May 2012). First light is just touching the top of the rock.
Moon over Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona. (0604 MST 07 May 2012)
Moon over Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona (0604 MST 07 May 2012). The rock is now fully illuminated by the rising sun.
Moon over Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona. (0611 MST 07 May 2012)
Moon over Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona (0611 MST 07 May 2012).

The first image shows the moon above Cathedral Rock (0554 MST) in Sedona, Arizona. It then slides down and to the right appearing again in the V-shaped notch (0604 MST) and then finally in the lowest portion of the gap (0611 MST). The sky was brightening rapidly so that in the final image the moon is almost overwhelmed by the sky.

Afterwards we hiked up the trail to the saddle in Cathedral Rock — where the moon had set less than an hour earlier.

Bright objects in the night sky — Part V

I expect that this will be my last chance to photograph the Moon with Venus and Jupiter before they move away from each other. The two planets are drawing away from each other each day from their closest point on March 12 and 13.

The Moon and planet Venus as seen in the middle of the afternoon.
The Moon and planet Venus as seen in the middle of the afternoon.

Venus has been bright enough to be visible in the sky during the day IF you know where to look. That’s not easy. But today the crescent moon — which IS easy to see — was very close to Venus. So, find the Moon and find Venus. This image was taken mid afternoon on a beautiful early spring day in northern Arizona.

The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter in the twilight sky over the Kachina Wetlands...with ducks.
The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter in the twilight sky over the Kachina Wetlands…with ducks.

After sunset the triangle of Venus, Jupiter, and Mars put on quite a show over the reflective waters of the Kachina Wetlands near Flagstaff, Arizona. The ducks had just recently alighted on the waters for the evening and their trails through the water are easily visible.

The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter in the twilight sky over the Kachina Wetlands.
The Moon, Venus, and Jupiter in the twilight sky over the Kachina Wetlands.

And as the sky darkened the triplet shone even more brightly above the now quiet water.

Bright objects in the night sky — Part II

Last week the planets Venus and Jupiter shone brightly in the western sky after sunset. This week, the new crescent moon joins the planets creating a triangle of brilliant objects in the sky.

Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon shine brighly above Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.
Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon shine brighly above Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.

Using star charts and other maps we determined that if we hiked a short distance along the Templeton Trail that the planetary and moon conjunction would be nicely positioned above Cathedral Rock in Sedona. As the sky darkened the celestial objects shone brightly but the lighting on the rocks was quickly fading. This image was the best combination of bright objects but with enough light to still see the details in the beautiful red rocks.

Later, as the planets and Moon set behind Cathedral Rock more stars appeared. To get some soft light on the tree I used a flash that was set to manual mode with the lowest light output and stood off to the side and fired the flash manually.

The stars shine down on the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.
The stars shine down on the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.

In  a few weeks, Venus and Jupiter will be at their closest approach to each other. And it will be time for a another set of photographs.