We are now in the season for capturing the nearly-full Moon as it rises behind Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona. The best time to capture this is a day (or two) before the actual full Moon so that late afternoon sunlight still illuminates Cathedral Rock. As always, The Photographers Ephemeris greatly aides in determining the best location to capture this event.
The nearly-full Moon rises behind Cathedral Rock and Oak Creek near Sedona, Arizona.
The timing on this Moonrise was late enough that the Sun would already be partially obscured by mountains and ridges to the west. So one photograph was made when the light on Cathedral Rock was most dramatic and about ten minutes later the Moon photograph was taken as it rose above Cathedral Rock. The two photographs were then combined to create this composite image.
A short time earlier there were several people on the rocks in the creek including a portrait photographer. Thankfully they got their shots and left before it was time for us to take our photographs.
Bonus: a few days earlier I shot this image of the waxing gibbous Moon using a 500mm telephoto.
The beginning of a strong substorm of actiivity. Some of the best and brightest colors occurred at this time.
It has been called the Great Aurora Storm of 2024 and it occurred on May 10–13 with the peak occurring on May 10–11. It was seen across high, middle, and even low latitudes and it was the strongest geomagnetic storm in decades. From the NASA science site:
May 2024 has already proven to be a particularly stormy month for our Sun. During the first full week of May, a barrage of large solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched clouds of charged particles and magnetic fields toward Earth, creating the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades — and possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years.
At its most intense the event was classified as a G5-class geomagnetic storm (Kp = 9).
Time-lapse video of the aurora substorm. Images at 30-second intervals.
Was not trying for a panorama–but these three shots about 1-2 minutes apart still sort of work.The aurora begin to move higher in the sky towards the zenith.Higher still and almost reaching the zenith.Aurora at the zenith.
We were in Colorado at the time visiting family and I only carried a Sony RX10, a camera with a 24–200mm zoom at constant f/2.8 aperture. It’s a good camera but doing long exposures at high ISO at night is not its strong point. Well, you’ve probably heard the saying: “the best camera is the one you have with you.”
Looking to the south as the aurora reached and passed the zenith. The rapid motion in the aurora was fantastic.Looking north as the substorm began to subside and the aurora retreated to the north.
So I used what I had with me. The results were mixed. Some of the images are noisy at high ISO settings. Some of the long-exposure images show tripod shake resulting in streaky stars. And so on.
There have been some amazing photographs published on social media sites–including a shot that I have been trying to get for the past few years of increasing auroral activity.
Ah, well. We still haven’t hit the solar max which is expected between late 2024 and early 2026 so there will be other opportunities.
So here are some photographs taken from our location in northeast Colorado.
A few weeks ago I posted some photographs of the 2nd stage of a Falcon 9 performing a de-orbit burn as it moved over the southwestern states. I recently had another chance to view a de-orbit burn and, as suggested in the previous post, used it as an opportunity to try some different things.
De-orbit burn of the Falcon 9 second stage as it moves over the southwestern United. States. Note the red glow as water vapor from the expelled exhaust briefly deionizes the ionosphere.
I wanted to use a telephoto lens this time and chose the Nikon 80–200mm f/4 zoom lens. This lens has manual focus and, more importantly, has a hard stop at infinity focus. This makes it very easy to focus in the dark.
30-second exposure using the 200mm lens showing both the bright burn and the expelled gases.A 2-second exposure using the 200mm lens showing the expelled gases.An 8-second exposure using the telephoto showing the red glow of the ionosphere.
My choice for a second camera was originally going to be shooting video. But the launch was delayed and the reentry was not going to happen during twilight. The video might have been difficult in those conditions. Instead, I decided to use my ultra-wide 12mm lens and mounted it on my older Nikon D700 camera.
Everything worked out well including the expected time of the burn. I was surprised when the burn ended and it became difficult to keep track of the rocket. Suddenly, it lit up a second time overhead and slightly behind me. This lasted only a few tens of seconds. And, once again, I was unable to pivot the telephoto lens around. But the ultra-wide angle lens managed to capture it.
The image of the de-orbit burn is great but watching it as it occurred was really spectacular.
There are two de-orbit burns scheduled in a few days but these will occur during daylight hours. I wonder if I will be able to see the burn?
I have posted several images here of the launch of SpaceX/Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These are easy to see during morning and evening twilight hours. They are less easy to see at night and quite difficult (but not impossible) to see during the day.
SpaceX/Falcon 9 de-orbit burn on the second stage booster as it flies over the southwest United States. The start of the burn can be seen in the upper portion of the image where it increases quickly in brightness.
Until recently, I had never seen nor photographed a de-orbit burn on the second stage in preparation for atmospheric reentry. A few photographs have shown up from time to time—the most recent from a launch just a few weeks ago. It turns out that yesterday’s launch (12 April) was very similar: launch from Florida in the early evening, deploy Starlink satellites while over the Pacific Ocean, and then initiate a de-orbit burn as it crosses the west coast and moves across the southwest.
With this information I made a guess at what time the Falcon 9 second stage would move over Arizona and start the burn. I was only off by a few minutes so it was a good guess.
I shot with a wide-angle lens to ensure that my field of view was wide enough to capture the event (it was, until it moved overhead). We could see a small point of light that was both the cluster of 23 Starlink satellites and the second stage booster. Suddenly, it brightened significantly signaling the start of the burn. It was very bright as it moved overhead. At this point, I was not able to photograph it anymore. And that’s too bad because that’s when it got really interesting. For about 20–30 seconds it was like a puff of glowing gas moving across the sky. Really amazing! It ended quickly as the booster moved into Earth’s shadow and the light show was over.
I will probably do things differently if I get another chance. Maybe shoot video? Telephoto lens? Shorter exposures? All or none of the above?
There was yet another twilight launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Flight Base on Saturday evening. These launches can be magnificent to watch as the expanding gases from the rocket exhaust are illuminated by the sun–already well below the horizon. It lights up bright at first then slowly dims as the exhaust thins and spreads across the sky and the sun drops lower. The clouds can be colorful much like noctilucent clouds (“night shining clouds”).
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Flight Base. The image was shot from within the San Francisco Volcanic Fields.SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Flight Base.Noctilucent clouds from the rocket exhaust linger into twilight.
And here are two time-lapse sequences of the rocket and the noctilucent clouds.
Time lapse of the SpaceX Falcon 9 accelerating across the western sky.
Time lapse of the expanding noctilucent cloud in the western sky.
The cadence of launches is increasing and we will see many more of these in the weeks and months. Hopefully, some of them will be during twilight.
Bonus: while watching we saw a fireball cross the sky from low in the east, moving overhead, then finally ending in the west. It was so bright that you almost felt that you could reach out and grab it. Wow!
