Monsoon thunderstorms continue across Northern Arizona

August 4, 2017

The North American Monsoon continues across the Southwest bringing thunderstorms almost every day to northern Arizona. Rainfall amounts across much of the state have been well above average with Flagstaff receiving 4.5″ compared to a normal of 2.6″ in the month of July,

Of course, all this storminess brings opportunities for photographing interesting skies, lightning, and sunsets.

I was heading towards the South Rim of Grand Canyon when I decided that Wupatki National Monument might be more interesting. Although there wasn’t much in the way of lightning there was a nice sunset with a thunderstorm in the distance.

Sunset at Citadel Pueblo in Wupatki National Monument.

Another day brought a great sunset with beams of light illuminating the inner canyon.

Sunset from Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park.

I found myself in Sedona a few nights later hoping for lightning at sunset. The lightning was there but clouds to the west blocked the light of the setting sun. This spectacular bolt of anvil lightning traveled horizontally for a great distance before terminating above Cathedral Rock.

Lightning over Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona.

Early afternoon cumulus development near Marshall Lake on Anderson Mesa resulted in this small cumulus cloud producing a very photogenic shadow.

And, later that afternoon, we found ourselves at Lower Lake Mary watching another cumulus cloud develop to our east and reflected in the water.

Cumulus cloud reflected in Lower Lake Mary.

I’ve been trying to capture evening thunderstorms and lightning (image) over Grand Canyon with a crescent moon illuminating the interior the canyon. Not very easy to do. I was able to get the moonlit canyon. And there was lightning but it was over 100 km away and resulted in teeny, tiny bolts in the phots. Well, I’ll just keep trying.

A crescent moon illuminated the interior of Grand Canyon. (120 second exposure, f/4, ISO 200, 16mm)

Waiting for the Moon at Lake Mary

July 4, 2017

During the late spring and early summer the waxing crescent Moon will align with the long axis of Lake Mary. The end result is that as the Moon sets it will have a long reflection on the lake. So I found myself on the east end of Lake Mary a few days ago waiting for the clouds to clear and the Moon to put on a show.

Sunset and early twilight over Lake Mary.

While waiting I shot several images of the lake using slow shutter speeds. This produces very smooth water—although it may appear somewhat unrealistic. No matter. I was having fun.

Twilight colors are reflected in Lake Mary.

Here is an 8-second exposure:

Finally, the clouds cleared and the Moon appeared with its reflection in the water.

The crescent Moon is about 6% illuminated by the direct light of the Sun; the remainder of the Moon is lit by Earthshine which is bright enough to show detail on the shadowed face of the Moon.

Definitely worth it.

Moon Rise and Cathedral Rock

June 7, 2017

The June full moon is known as the “Strawberry Moon” and will occur on June 9, 2017 this year. I enjoy photographing the moon the day (or two) before the full moon. With the moon rising before sunset, Cathedral Rock is still sunlit and provides a striking contrast with the moon.

Moon rise behind Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona.

The photograph was taken at Crescent Moon Picnic Area on the banks of Oak Creek. The full moon this month is a MiniMoon, the opposite of the so-called SuperMoon. This means that the disk of the moon is smaller than average as the moon is at apogee, or its farthest distance from the Earth. If it had been at perigee (closest distance), the disk of the moon might have been larger than the gap.

Or I could have just shot the photograph from farther away.

Objects in the Night Sky 2017 — II

April 28, 2017

The past few weeks have offered a few interesting objects in the night sky + one daytime event.

Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák has been an easily photographed comet—albeit not a very bright one—in the northern sky. The first image below was taken during the interval 2103–2153 MST 15 April 2017 and is comet-centric which shows its motion amongst the stars over that period. The second image was captured during the interval 2117–2221 MST 16 April 2017.

Earlier in the month the full Moon and planet Jupiter rose together in the sky above the stark—but colorful—landscape of Wupatki National Monument.

Moon and Jupiter rising above Wupatki National Monument.

A few days later the International Space Station (ISS) could be seen rising in the northwest then moving towards the southwest. Along the way, it passed very close to the belt of Orion, then faded away as it entered Earths shadow. The ISS track—and the stars—were reflected in the waters of Lake Mary.

Mars and Pleiades were close together in the evening sky on 21 April 2017. Here they are seen shortly after sunset with some lingering color still present on the western horizon. Mars and Pleiades can also be seen as colorful reflections in the waters of Lake Mary.

Although I have photographed the International Space Station (ISS) transiting the face of the Moon, this is the first time I’ve tried a solar transit. The ISS moved from the 5 o’clock position towards the 9 o’clock position in just under 1/2 second.

International Space Station transitting the sun.

On 27 April 2017 a crescent supermoon was visible in the western sky. What is a “crescent supermoon?” From SpaceWeather.com…

What made the crescent “super”? Anyone reading NASA press releases in recent years has heard of “supermoons” — full Moons that are extra big and bright because they occur on the perigee side of the Moon’s elliptical orbit. Last night’s sky show was the same phenomenon, writ slender. The crescent Moon of April 27th occurred at perigee, making it as much as 14% wider and 30% brighter than other crescent Moons of the year.

I had hoped for still waters so that I could get a nice reflection but strong and gusty winds continued well into the evening.

It’s been a fun month for night photography!

Objects in the Night Sky — 2017

March 31, 2017

The past week has been bountiful for photographing objects in the night sky. These objects include Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Moon, and the Zodiacal Light.

In mid-March the planet Venus was an evening object but was dropping closer to the horizon each evening. At the same time, Mercury was rising higher each day. On 18 March 2017, they were roughly side by side and presented an interesting spectacle in the evening twilight.

Venus and Mercury in the evening twilight above the Kachina Wetlands. Venus can be seen just to the right of center of the image; Mercury is left of center.

The following night I returned to Kachina Wetlands but later in the evening to capture the Zodiacal Light. The Zodiacal Light is a faint, roughly triangular, diffuse white glow seen in the night sky that appears to extend up from the vicinity of the Sun along the ecliptic or zodiac.

A week later I attempted the same photograph except using an ultra-wide angle lens (i.e., 16mm focal length) to capture the Zodiacal Light as well as the constellation Pleiades in the upper portion of the cone of light.

A few days later, the moon had reappeared in the evening sky. With just 1.4% of the disk illuminated it can be difficult to see. Making it much harder was the showery weather and abundance of clouds. But just before the moon set behind the trees it was visible in the gap below the clouds and the horizon.

A bonus was the very nice sunset colors reflected in the waters of Lake Mary while waiting for the moon to make an appearance.

One day later, I tried again. This time the skies were clear and it was possible to capture an image with the 3M’s: Mercury, Mars, and the Moon. While waiting for the sky to darken enough for the planets to become visible I was able to capture an image of the moon with sunset colors still visible.