A Murky Bedtime

I had changed ready to climb in a nice warm, cosy bed last night. As I opened the curtains and peeked outside I could see it was looking foggy and the Moon had a halo surrounding it. Even though it had turned frosty in what turned out be be freezing fog I put on a coat, grabbed a camera and nipped outside to take a coupe of photos:





It was too cold to clat about with a tripod so those were hand held with the camera resting on some fencing to help steady it a bit.

After the Rain

After twelve hours of wet weather this morning's early walk was brightened by ...

... to the SE a Sunrise





... to the NW a setting Moon reflecting some of the redness from the Sunrise

Moon

The Moon looked to be nice and clear last night. I fitted the adaptor to my 100-400mm zoom lens and attached the M5 to see what it could do. All was held steady on a tripod. It was the first time I found the facility to angle the screen useful as the camera was pointing up at a fair angle.

First I managed to capture the Moon with Jupiter which is really bright at the moment.
Jupiter is the white dot just showing near the bottom left of the photo.



Then a full zoom on just the Moon.
A cropped photo



Very pleased with the amount of detail captured.
Click on the photo to see it larger on my Flickr account.

Christmas Eve Moon

Really clear views of Venus in the South and a setting full Moon in the West as we went walkabout first thing this morning. Unfortunately by the time we had returned home Venus had gone all shy and was hidden behind thickening cloud. Fortunately the Moon did stay in view while I set up the 70D with the 100-400mm zoom lens and gave an opportunity for a few shots before it too disappeared behind the gathering clouds.

Sunrise, Moon and Venus

Yesterday morning dawned cold and frosty with a fairly clear sky.
Ideal to see Venus which was shining as bright as the Moon.
Both appearing close together in the morning sky.



Venus is the tiny white dot near the top, right of centre.
To the naked eye it looked really bright.

With the temperature at 0C and an icy lane it was time to use my shoes which have ice spikes fitted for the first time this back end.

Frosty Bin



Wheelie bin lid covered in frost.
Canon 50D + macro lens. 11 stacked photos

Moonset 2

I also took some still photos yesterday morning.

Original RAW shot looked like



Cropped and hidden detail in dark areas enhanced in Affinity Photo

Moonset

On this morning's walkabout there was a faint red sky to the East as the rising Sun illuminated the wispy clouds. Towards the West the Moon was setting behind the trees.



Canon 70D, 300mm zoom lens with an added 3x digital zoom in camera.
Shot at normal speed.

Harvest Moon

Oh, Shine on, shine on, harvest moon
Up in the sky;
I ain't had no lovin'
Since April, January, June or July.
Snow time, ain't no time to stay
Outdoors and spoon;
So shine on, shine on, harvest moon,
For me and my gal.

 

A pity the Moon ended up over exposed.
Lovely coloured clouds again almost makes up for it.

I did take three shots with different exposures.
When I tried to combine them as an HRD photo it was a dismal failure.
Time to explore the capabilities of Affinity Photo.
Found out how to make the background of the darkest one transparent.
That just left the Moon with some features showing.
Next found out how to add that to the above photo to make a composite.

 

Harvest Moon, the full Moon closest to the northern autumnal equinox.
In days gone by farmers could use these bright Moonlit nights to continue harvesting at night.

Looking Up

Once the stormy weather had passed through on Wednesday and some semblance of calm had returned it was the chance to take a photo I've been trying to get for over a week but it has been so overcast. There were some bands of cloud but they were drifting past fairly rapidly leaving occasional clear spots.

To start with, a photo of the Moon



What I really wanted to capture was this



Recently the Moon and Mars have been visible quite close to each other in the night sky.
For over a week Mars has shone like a bright orange star. To spot it on the photo - start from the bright blurry moon and follow an imaginary line from it to the bottom left hand corner. Mars is about two thirds of the way towards that corner. It may show better if you click on the picture to see it larger.

Also noticeable was the amount of colour in the clouds.

 

Possibly ice crystals high in the atmosphere scattering the Moonlight. Some people have seen Moondogs, rainbow like streaks similar to Sundogs. See an example on the Spaceweather site HERE.

A Drop or Two of Rain

It's a good thing yesterday's short sharp shower



only lasted a few minutes as it was falling at the rate of nearly two inches an hour.

In the evening the crescent Moon was visible between the dark clouds:



At the same time visible to the naked eye but more difficult to photograph was Venus:



You may have to click on the picture to see a larger version.
Venus is the small white dot half way down on the right hand side.

Crescent Moon

December Cold Moon

A clear frosty morning gave an opportunity to see the December 'Supermoon':





As predicted it was large and bright, too bright for the little Nikon to cope with as detail was burned out. I tried a bit of burning in Affinity but the detail just wasn't there.

Ups and Downs on an Early Morning Walk

Yesterday was practically a non day.  Overcast all day, raining all morning, soggy everywhere the rest of the day. Much better start to today. Nippy at 4C when we went walkabout but clearing skies showed a rising Sun to the East and a setting Moon to the West:

Half a Moon

Thursday night I noticed the Moon showing clearly with a lovely pale orange colour. Needless to say by the time I had the camera set up on its sturdy tripod there was plenty of cloud about:



Try as I might with every setting I could find on the camera it refused to reproduce the true colour.

Every now and then the cloud cover cleared so I took a short piece of video.
Canon 70D with 400mm zoom lens plus 3 times digital zoom in the camera:



Taking a quick look at the Moon as we normally do it appears to be virtually stationary, only noticing it has moved after some minutes have passed. With the camera rock steady the video shows the true 'movement' as the Moon and Earth career through space. The Moon is orbiting the Earth at over 2000mph.

Sunset with Moon

Shine On Harvest Moon
The Ink Spots
Written by Jack Norworth and Nora Bayes

Shine on, shine on harvest moon up in the sky
I ain't had no lovin' since January, February, June, or July
Snow time ain't no time to sit outdoors and spoon
Shine on, shine on harvest moon for me 'n' my gal

Clear Sky at Last

I've lost count of how many overcast, dull days we have had recently. This morning started partially cloudy but soon cleared to give a welcome blue sky and brilliant Sunshine. Around breakfast time I noticed the Moon was visible so took advantage to take a photo:



And a bit later one of the Sun to see if there were any Sunspots:



No. None that I could see anyway.

Moon

Can't let this week go by without a few photos of the Moon:

Nikon S9050:


Canon 70D:

Sunrise with Crescent Moon

It was interesting yesterday morning to see a colourful Sunrise with the waning crescent Moon. As it was only 9% illuminated it was hard to get both to show in a photo:

 

May be difficult to spot but the Moon is near top centre.

Moonday

Recently there have been some very clear evenings so I took the opportunity to take an up-to-date photo of the Moon:

Not Seen for 38 Years ........

........ a full Moon:



According to reports it's the first time for 38 years a full Moon has been seen on Christmas Day. I photographed it early last night while there was a gap in the clouds.