Saturn In Focus
Saturn is probably the most exciting planet on the firmament to watch. Looking through a telescope and spotting this gas giant with its ring system is something remarkable one will never forget. You can find this science-fiction-like planet for the next couple of weeks at the constellation of Virgin, just above the bright star Spica. Saturn got about 60 circling moons, but only a few can be seen with an amateur telescope. Imaging planets is best done with a CCD-camera in video modus and stacking a couple of hundred single shots from the video with software. Since I don´t have one (yet), I only take single shots, which is good for getting familiar with the equipment.
Single shot of Saturn with Meade 8″ ACF, LXD 75, 9 mm Plössl, 2 x Barlow, Pentax k-x, 10 sec., Iso 100, no crop;
Meade 8″ ACF is the telescope, LXD 75 is an equatorial mount, Plössl´s are ocular, a Barlow lens works like a tele converter with a camera. The 8″ got a focal length of 2000 mm and a f 10 aperture; if you divide the focal length through the ocular focal length you get the magnification of your set up. In this case: 2000 mm/9mm= 222 times, doubled up by the Barlow lens= 444 times; a normal pair of binoculars like a 10*50 got a magnification of 10 times!
So this image shows Saturn with a 444 times magnification compared to the naked eye. By using a Barlow lens, like with tele converters, you double up the aperture – in this case from f 10 to f 20. And the focal length with this set up? Actually, astrophotographers don´t really talk about that, they just say: I used that set up. I calculated a focal length of almost 47 000 mm/ 47 meter! with this set up, including the crop factor of my k-x, but I´m not sure about that… just enjoy the image!
“I was, I remember, I still remember when the first time I pointed the telescope at the sky and I saw Saturn with the rings. It was a beautiful image.”
(Umberto Guidoni, Italian Astronaut, born 1954)
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The Trail Of Venus
There has been some cool celestial events this year so far, and there will be some more to come. If you are not able to watch the following one, the Venus transit, you will have to wait until 2117 and 2125…;)
In this composite image, planet Venus is taking its way along the ecliptic during nautical twilight over the city of Landshut, Lower Bavaria, Germany. For stacking the single images I used the free software StarStax, while little adjustments were done in Lightroom. St. Martin Cathedral makes an appropriate foreground with its 130 m tall bell tower, the tallest one in the world made of brick stones.
There is a close up of this Venus Trail here: http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com/gallery/STARSCAPES/G0000PPKl3LbUFzQ/ . Enjoy!
” What a hell of planet Venus is. If you were to go there, you would be simultaneously oven-baked, crushed and etched to death!”
(from the book: Hubble – the mirror on the universe)
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The Moon Is Not All
If you going out on a “private assignment”, like you are traveling somewhere in case of shooting something you have in mind or while being on a time schedule, you are likely to miss something what is even more interesting or spectacular. I myself have been on the “hunt” for this years Perigee Moon for four days and only got a decent view on him once. To be honest, I´ve been to fixed on the Moon and almost overlooked the beauty that´s been all around while the Moon did not show up.
But only almost; I´ve heard that quote a couple of times: Turn around, look what is behind you! Just a reminder on what you could miss if you are fixed to just one direction. Like Dewitt Jones said: Be open to the possibilities!
There are more images on my archive/gallery site: http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com/ Enjoy!
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TWAN: The 2012 Earth & Sky Photo Contest
In celebration of my 100th post today, I´m very excited to announce that I got a Special Mention on Other Notable Photos at this years TWAN: The 2012 Earth & Sky Photo Contest. Here´s the link to their site: http://twanight.org/newTWAN/news.asp?newsID=6071 . Congrats to the winners and thanks to TWAN for making the contest possible. By the way – among others, the images were judged by no less than David Malin, the “Godfather” of astrophotography! Cheers!
Startrails over the Torre di Sfinale, an old defense tower along the Gargano Peninsula, Italy…
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My Perigee Moon
There has been some sort of hype lately on the internet about this years perigee moon. To be honest, I was infected too. The moon got its closest point to earth in its orbit on May 6th in the morning – but then we were supposed to have rain. So I took my gear on Friday and started taking images of the almost full moon, just in case for ” I have what I have”. On Saturday I went to the Munich Airport in hope to get some cool shots of the rising full moon during twilight, but its been pretty cloudy at the estimated moon rise time. Of course, I managed to shoot some other really pretty cool shots which I´ll show in another post. Did I mention that it is the best time for shooting the full moon the day before “real full moon”? Because on full moon´s day its to dark already and on the day before you get a nice “twilight background”.
There was no chance of getting the full moon on Sunday, but I still had that image in my head of the perigee moon rising behind the Munich Airport. And guess what, it cleared up on Monday, I checked TPE, packed my stuff and was off again, just in time before the moon rise at 10:36 pm. Just minutes after I had hurried up my gear, I got visited by the cops, who were just curious what I´m doing here, close to the airport, at nights, dressed in black and with all that gear. They were pretty friendly – cool back-up. Minutes later, the moon rose, and the race started, running back and force, searching for the best views and angles. I´ve spent so many hours out there the last couple of days and shot a couple of hundred images, but the only one I´m showing today sums everything up, I think! For me, photography, and especially doing it at nights, got something I really can´t explain – some kind of magic. Enjoy!
“The still 98% illuminated perigee moon rises above the Munich Airport, Germany, 7th May 2012, the day after ´Super Full Moon`.”
The foreground is a in-camera HDR shot (jpg), while the Moon is a single Raw image, converted in LR 3 and stacked together in StarStax.
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My Favorite Images Of April 2012
“Astronomy Landscape Photography” has got a big hold on me; can´t believe I did not know any of the stars and planets one year ago. In April last year, I have bought a Meade 8″ telescope with a LXD 75 equatorial mount and started to watch Saturn and the Moon. In June 2011 I managed to take my first “real” star trails image while being in Italy and a couple of weeks later I shot my first “Moon Trail” of the rising crescent Moon at 4:00 am in the morning. The learing curve is steep and there are still so many different “types” of photography out there like Deep Sky Imaging. The beginning is made…Enjoy!
The crescent Moon over St.Andreas Cathedral, accompanied by the Pleiades…
Moon Trails from the same night like before…
The crescent Moon and Venus along the constellations of Gemini (left) and Auriga (right), and the Hyades (below Moon) and the Pleiades (right below of Moon)…
The crescent Moon between the “horns” of Taurus (the bright dot below left of Moon is Aldebaran, the brightest star of the constellation of Taurus); mosaic of two images…
The star Zet Tau (the “header” of the “lower” horn of the constellation of Taurus) close to the Moon; 21:44 / 21:57 pm; (~50 % crop)
The clouds add a dramatic touch to the scene, while Venus is still very bright shining…
To get the overall view…
“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”
( Anthony J.D `Angelo )
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Astronomie.info
One of my images I shot on the 23rd April is on display at http://news.astronomie.info/ai.php/90000 today; it´s proably the best and most informative source for astronomy in the German-speaking area. There is also an english version available from the same people who run astronomie.info. Tons of info from about everything on astronomy at http://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi?&lang=en . Check it out. Enjoy!
Venus above St.Andreas cathedral; the crescent Moon (right of tower) is almost soaked-in in clouds while the constellation of Auriga is visible above Venus; the constellation of Gemini is partly visible at the upper left corner; 04/23/2012
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Moon Trail
Besides shooting star trail images, I like most taking Moon trails, especially with a longer focal length and an interesting landmark. In this case it´s the late-gothic church of Pürkwang/Lower Bavaria/Germany, from the year 1462, a massive building with a 46 meter high bell tower made of bricks . I´ve been up there inside a couple of times and even one time on top from the outside while the tower has been completely scaffolded way back in 1988.
Creating a Moon trail isn´t actually that difficult; doing a bit of research via TPE, The Photographers Ephemeris, camera setting onto manual and stacking the image with software like StarStax. The only thing you can´t take control of is the weather; some high clouds have been around yesterday night and also some thick low-lying clouds at the horizon. That affected the different look of the single crescent Moon shots. In this image, I added a preset in Lightroom 3, which you can download for free from “Lightroom guru” Matt Kloskowski: http://lightroomkillertips.com/category/presets/. Way cool! Enjoy!
Composite image of eight single shots, with an interval of 4 min. each; lucky enough I got the fourth shot centered of the spire….04/23/2012
“Contrast is what makes photography interesting.”
(Conrad Hall, American Artist, 1926-2003)
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The Hop Fields Of The Hallertau
The Hallertau is the largest hop-planting area in the world, which covers a continuous area of about 2400 square km and is located in the beautiful Lower Bavaria. That´s where I grew up and still lived until a couple of weeks. When I started shooting digital on a regular basis in 2010, I only shoot them occasionally, not consciously. But with time I realized what a fantastic silhouette these empty hop fields with their poles and wires give. A fore-or background which correspond perfect with the different mood of lights, especially at dusk and then later at nights. My father had spent often some hot summer nights out in the hop fields while watering the hop plants, preventing them from perishing. These days, it´s me spending the nights out in the hop fields, taking “starscapes” or star trail images, and not only when it´s warm.
I shot several thousand images of the hop fields the last two years and more than eight hundred have made it to my licensing site – http://wernerpriller.photoshelter.com/gallery/HOP-FIELDS/G00009UXYuvBzzRU/ – , which I have updated for the last couple of weeks now. The message of this story? Get off of your comfort zone, go out and shoot whatever is out there, get experience, and look out for what is not visible to everyone. Enjoy!
It starts with a slide show, but by clicking on one of thumbnails below, you can view them in a higher resolution…
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Angels Landing – Zion National Park, Febr. 1993
This post also could be named: Doing stupid things while you are young! During my 6 1/2 months trip with a friend all around North America, we had visited all the famous and iconic places in the Southwest during winter time. We started Sept. 1992 in New York and got back there in March 1993, after 40 000 km of driving with our trusty Ford van.
Angels Landing is a well-known area in Zion NP, but at the time we arrived there, we had no idea what was awaiting us. The track that is leading there is called the “Switchbacks” and I thought: is that all? But after making the turn, we got the view towards “the real” Angels Landing and we where paralyzed. No way of climbing up there, that´s why the rangers of the visitors center told us not to go there. We gasped. We had no proper clothing, no safety ropes, no nothing. I even was wearing used winter shoes which where a present from someone we had met a couple of days before, because my former boots were gone already. My friend said: I´m not going up there – no way! I looked at him and said: Since I´m here, I´ll.
As I was on my way up, my heart was pumping like wild and sometimes I stopped, waiting a couple of minutes, only to go further and further. There have been “hand-rail-chains” to hold on, but not on the whole track, just parts of it. But that´s not enough – I also was taking some shots; setting up the camera with self-timer, crawling back and posing for the shot – how stupid must anyone be to do so?! The National Park Service – Hiking Zone says: ” Angels Landing.Strenuous.Long dropoffs and narrow trails.Not for anyone fearful of heights.Ends at summit high above Zion Canyon Floor. Last 0.5 mile follows a steep narrow ridge.Chains have been added for safety.” Chains yes, but only partly – hell; on a track which was covered with snow, very narrow, with sheer cliffs up/down to ~1400 feet (~400 m).
Going up is one thing, but coming down (in a whole) is another. At some spots I was crawling backwards, my hands tight on the chain. Sometimes I´ve heard rocks falling down in a roar, I paused, closed my eyes and thought if this is for real. I had no idea how I managed to make it back to where my friend was waiting; after 2 hours of pure adrenalin. He welcomed me with the words: “Only a true mountaineer could have done that!” Hell, I was only stupid enough to do it, I replied! While typing this story, I get shivers all over my spine – not wanting to know: ” What if…”
“Don´t do this at home” is all I can say in the end! After the rangers had found out I had been up there, they haven´t been to amused either. The next day we have heard other hikers asking the rangers for going up to Angels Landing, but they told them: it´s too dangerous! Hearing that, I told them about yesterday…..
The images were all taken with a Pentax ME Super camera and film; images are scanned from paper and with minor adjustments in Lightroom. So the quality is not that good, but for documentary they are worth its weight! Enjoy!
The last 0.5 mile…notice the chain in the lower right corner!
Posing without chains…
Not even the half way made…
Don´t slip and slide…
View down to the valley floor…
Finally, on top…(imagine slipping under the chain while standing up); there is no chain between the pole I´m holding on and the one behind me to the left!
The original brochure, 1993
Map from the brochure…
“Hiking Zion”…
“I shut my eyes in order to see.”
(Paul Gauguin, French Artist, 1848-1903)
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