Altair: the 12th brightest star in the sky

Altair in the evening sky. At 1 billion years old, this is the 12th
Brightest star in the evening sky.

A star lights up the southern sky. Photo taken mid-August 2019.

Satellite Photobombs the Stars

A long exposure photo of the stars is interrupted by a passing satellite
as seen by the horizontal line at the top of the photo. There are thousands
of satellites in orbiting Earth and you can see one just about any night
that you sit back and stare at the dark sky. The key is to let your eyes
adjust to the darkness which can take upwards of 20 minutes.

The August Full Moon

Saturn and Moon Conjunction

Saturn came extremely close to nearly lining up with the moon. This
is referred to as a "conjunction" and happens periodically with the Moon as
well as other planets in the solar system. This image showed
the camera attempting to focus on both objects at once, creating a bizarre
 and unique image.

The moon captured on August 9th, 2019 from Pleasant Hill, Ca.

Streaking Lights Above the East Bay

Ten minute exposure of random stars taken from my backyard using iPhone, NightCap camera app,
and Celestron 127 SLT. Interestingly, note how much the earth has rotated (hence the "streaking" lights)
in only 10 minutes. Image taken August 2019.

Saturn in the August Sky

One of the final pictures from Cassini of the entire planet of Saturn. This picture
was taken weeks before its final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in 2017, ending
its 13 year journey studying the Saturnian system (20 year+ total mission). 

Saturn in the 2019 Summer sky. Although Saturn is small in this backyard image, look at the black gap
areas between the rings and the planet. Wild to think these gaps are where Cassini dived numerous
times as it studied the planet for more than a decade. Cassini took its final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere 
in the Grand Finale in 2017. This image taken from Pleasant Hill, CA.

Star Fields

A Star is Born

...Well, not really. Its been up there for likely millions of years. However, this is the first time I photographed it from my front yard! I actually have no idea which star this. Picture quality is not fantastic as I'm trying to understand the features and appropriate use cases of the NightCap Iphone app that I just downloaded over the weekend.

Camera Settings for Good Astrophotography Shots

To capture the highest quality of images, adjust your camera settings depending on the objects you're trying to take pictures of. Here some popular sky-gazing objects and the recommended camera settings.  

Moon taken July 2019

Moon

Now for the hard part. Remember that your eyes are able to adjust to changes in light and space easily, but digital cameras have a harder time unless you tell them exactly what they’re seeing. That said, the moon looks much brighter to your camera than it looks to you: so, generally, you’ll want to start by exposing your photo as if it were a bright and sunny day. For photos with little to no foreground imagery (just a shot of the moon):

1. Start with an aperture of f/8,

1. an ISO of 100-200,

1. and a shutter speed of 1/125.

1. An aperture of f/5.6,

1. a shutter speed of about 15 seconds,

1. and an ISO of 100-400. Start at 100 and work your way up as needed to minimize noise.

If your photo looks blurry, adjust your shutter speed. If it looks underexposed (not enough light), go down a stop in aperture from f/8 to f/5.6 or so.

Manual mode will also be your friend for close-ups of celestial bodies, as you’ll need to make very slight adjustments to get everything just right.

Stars and Skylines 

If you’re after a star-centric photo with little to no landscape (or if you want your landscape to be dark), start with the following settings:

Shutter speed in particular is crucial for star shots, as the earth is always moving. For photos without a foreground landscape element, you’ll only be able to get away with about a 20 second shutter speed before your stars start blurring.

August 2019 - Crescent Moon and Beginning of Perseid Meteor Shower

Shots from Bend, Oregon Roadtrip

Jupiter's Moons

Jupiter's four largest moons (Io, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa) 

photographed on July 10, 2019. Jupiter has 79 identified moons. 

This photograph taken while Jupiter was 365 million miles from Earth. 

Just Passing By

50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing - July 2019

Intensely defined terminator, the boundary of light and dark

1 day before the July full Moon

Actual landing site of Apollo 11 in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969
Photo taken July 20, 2019 in Pleasant Hill, CA by Ryan Mettee
50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing