Moon, Venus, Mars, Milky Way, and Mountains

I got up early to go photo the moon, Mars, Venus, and the Milky Way over the Organ Mountains.

I will probably play around with this since it is just okay, but am thinking I am limited by my equipment. 

Marc

Milky Way, take 2

I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. I am limited a bit by my camera lens in how much light I can gather without having the stars turn into trails, but I think this turned out okay. The city lights to the right (sky glow) is El Paso, the bright "star" is Venus.

I really like how the Milky Way is arching over the mountains. I have an app that helped me find the right spot to set up for this photo. Leah drove me around yesterday while I scouted out locations for this morning, and it worked!

Cheers,

Marc

Milky Way over the Organ Mountains and Rho Ophiuchi

I got up early this morning (EARLY!) to take some photos after the moon set, a bit before sunrise. I could just barely see the Milky Way, but only because I knew it was there. It was very, very faint. I think the sky glow from Las Cruces and El Paso contributed to the wash out. Overall, I am fairly pleased with how this turned out, but I need to find a better place to set up to avoid the sky glow. Time will tell if I figure that out. The good news is that the core of the Milky Way will be rising sooner and sooner (it rose at 3:20 this morning, this is from closer to 5:00). Higher in the sky is better to avoid this sky glow business...

I also wanted to get a first try at a pretty region, Rho Ophiuchi. This area is in the photo above, but since the photo above is a 10-second photo, you cannot see the nebulas. The photo below is roughly 30 minutes (stacked in 2-minute increments and mooshed together). It is a nice start, but I know I need to zoom in a bit and do a better job with my star tracker alignment for the next try.

Time for a nap!

Cheers,

Marc

Cold!!!!

We have had some cold weather to go along with our snow, but I didn't let that stop me from getting out to take some photos.

It was maybe 14*F out there. I found my composition within minutes of arrival (less than a 5 minute walk from the car, less than a 5 minute drive from the house) and only had to wait 15-20 minutes for the sun to crest over the horizon.

I snapped my photos and made a beeline for the van. It had already warmed up into the low 20's with the arrival of the sun. Looking forward to things warming up next week.

Cheers!

Marc

Snowwwww!

We had some snow last night, with COLD temperatures coming!

The pass in to Las Cruces was closed for a period of time this morning, but the sun did come out and melt off most of the snow from the roadways.

Stay warm everybody!

Marc