Tag: Upper Lake Mary

Objects in the Night Sky–March 2025

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We have had several opportunities in March for good-to-excellent night sky viewing and astrophotography sessions. High on my list was capturing NGC 1499 (“California Nebula”). It resides in the western sky during March and is located near Pleiades but is actually in the constellation Perseus.

The nearly vertical zodiacal light shares the western sky with the winter Milky Way and are faintly reflected in the waters of Upper Lake Mary near Flagstaff, Arizona.
The nearly vertical zodiacal light shares the western sky with the winter Milky Way and are faintly reflected in the waters of Upper Lake Mary near Flagstaff, Arizona.

One drawback to observing it in the spring is that there can be interference from zodiacal light. From Wikipedia,

The zodiacal light is a faint glow of diffuse sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust. It appears in a particularly dark night sky to extend from the Sun’s direction in a roughly triangular shape along the zodiac…

…Since zodiacal light is very faint, it is often outshone and rendered invisible by moonlight or light pollution.

I made several attempts at NGC 1499. The first attempt was about as expected as I didn’t actually know where to point the camera so I used a short telephoto focal length (80mm) with a wide field of view (25.3° x 17.0°). Luckily, I pointed it correctly but unluckily I bumped the focus ring and everything had a soft focus. Okay, not a success but not too bad for a first attempt.

First attempt at NGC 1499 (19 March 2025).
First attempt at NGC 1499 (19 March 2025).
Third attempt at NGC 1499 (24 March 2025).
Third attempt at NGC 1499 (24 March 2025).

On my second attempt I used a longer focal length (180mm) which meant a smaller field of view (11.4° x 13.7°). I had very good focus and other camera settings but managed to actually point it at the wrong object. Instead, I photographed NGC 1579 (“Northern Trifid Nebula”). Oops! But the result was still a success–even if not the object I was seeking.

The third try worked out well. I reverted back to a shorter focal length (85mm) and wider field of view (23.9° x 16.0°) because that might give me a pleasing image with the nebula and neighboring stars. This worked out well except for the previously mentioned zodiacal light. The light was present in the field of view so it was necessary to crop the image to remove the bright band.

I actually prefer the first image as it has better color and less lens flare than the second image.

Finally, I shot images of the zodiacal light using an ultra-wide fisheye lens to capture both the foreground of Upper Lake Mary and the stars and planets up through the zenith. NGC 1499 and NGC 1579 are located to the right of Pleiades but are too small to be visible in this wide view.

The nearly vertical zodiacal light shares the western sky with the winter Milky Way. Annotated to show Pleiades, Jupiter, and Mars. NGC 1499 and NGC 1579 are located to the right of Pleiades.
The nearly vertical zodiacal light shares the western sky with the winter Milky Way. Annotated to show Pleiades, Jupiter, and Mars. NGC 1499 and NGC 1579 are located to the right of Pleiades.

I have recently started using Siril for my astrophotography processing and have been generally pleased with the results.

March was a Snowy Month

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As noted elsewhere on these pages this winter has been very dry and warm. That changed in March as a series of storms moved across the southwest. By the time it was over we had accumulated 2.47″ of SWE (snow water equivalent) and 35.6″ of snow. It was greatly appreciated because we are now heading into our dry and windy season (“wildfire season”) and anything that helps to moisten the landscape is appreciated.

Here is a collection of photographs taken during this extended period of snow.

08 March 2025

Clouds cap the San Francisco Peaks just before sunrise (08 March 2025).
Clouds cap the San Francisco Peaks just before sunrise (08 March 2025).
Cross country skiing at Fort Tuthill Park in Flagstaff (08 March 2025).
Cross country skiing at Fort Tuthill Park in Flagstaff (08 March 2025).
Grasses poke through the snow at Fort Tuthill Park (08 March 2025).
Grasses poke through the snow at Fort Tuthill Park (08 March 2025).

14 March 2025

Low clouds race across the Mormon Lake area (14 March 2025).
Low clouds race across the Mormon Lake area (14 March 2025).
Snow covers the tables and benches at a picnic area at Upper Lake Mary near Flagstaff, Arizona (14 March 2025).
Snow covers the tables and benches at a picnic area at Upper Lake Mary near Flagstaff, Arizona (14 March 2025).

15 March 2025

The clouds departed but winds increased resulting in plumes of blowing snow over the San Francisco Peaks (15 March 2025).
The clouds departed but winds increased resulting in plumes of blowing snow over the San Francisco Peaks (15 March 2025).

Then it got warm and everything melted. But the forecast indicates that snow is likely this week so time to get some more photographs.

Milky Way with Reflections

Clear skies and light winds presented an opportunity to photograph the Milky Way with reflections in smooth water. Upper Lake Mary had the best orientation to look down the lake. In addition, accessing this lake is very easy with a parking lot just a short distance from where the image was taken. Finally, another factor is this past winter had a lot of snowmelt that filled the lake to capacity for the first time in several years.

Milky Way with reflections in Upper Lake Mary.
Milky Way with reflections in Upper Lake Mary.

It’s interesting that the star colors are more saturated in the reflections compared to the sky.

The glow on the right is the light dome from Phoenix.

Venus and Mercury in the Evening Sky

Venus and the Pleiades star cluster are prominent in the center of the image while Mercury is about to set in the low gap. The zodiacal light is also faintly visible.

Upper Lake Mary, Flagstaff, Arizona; 10 April 2023.

Venus, Mercury, Pleiades, and Zodiacal light all reflected in Lake Mary.
Venus, Mercury, Pleiades, and Zodiacal light all reflected in Lake Mary.

Next week the crescent Moon will join the group.

Fog in Northern Arizona

This Winter has been relentless with snowfall now at about 200% of normal for Flagstaff. Many of these storms have made it difficult to get to various locations for shooting photos of the weather. Fortunately, the last few storms have allowed me to do some pre-dawn travel to favorite locations.

The first two photos are from the morning of 16 March 2023 when I thought there was a good chance of low clouds and fog in Grand Canyon. In fact, there was too much fog and I was only able to briefly see into the canyon while at Lipan Point. I finally moved westward to Moran Point where there was a larger break in the fog allowing sunlight to illuminate the canyon.

Early morning fog in Grand Canyon from Lipan Point.
Early morning fog in Grand Canyon from Lipan Point.
Early morning fog in Grand Canyon from Moran Point.
Early morning fog in Grand Canyon from Moran Point.

A week later we had a snow-turning-to-rain event that left the roads relatively easy to travel and I ventured out to Mormon Lake on the morning of 23 March 2023. The abundance of moisture over the previous few days resulted in lots of fog in low-lying basins including Lake Mary and Mormon Lake. Clear skies to the east allowed the rising sun to illuminate the San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

The distant San Francisco Peaks rise above fog filling Mormon Lake basin.
The distant San Francisco Peaks rise above fog filling Mormon Lake basin.
Fog fills Mormon Lake Basin. A faint Glory is seen left of center while a short segment of a fogbow is right of center.
Fog fills Mormon Lake Basin. A faint Glory is seen left of center while a short segment of a fogbow is right of center.
A fogbow along Upper Lake Mary.
A fogbow along Upper Lake Mary.

I was also interested in capturing images with a Glory/Brocken Spectre and fogbows. Both were faintly visible in some of the photos where I was above the fog. A better fogbow photo was shot when I was in the fog.

And here is a time-lapse video of the swirling fog in the Mormon Lake basin.

Time-lapse video of fog swirling in Mormon Lake basin.

The medium-range forecasts indicate that Winter is not yet done.