Bobs Astronomy

Author: bobrose

  • Tropical Storm in the Sonoran Desert

    It was not a direct hit, but one did cruse by in the vicinity. Some of the outflow made it over here. The result is the magnificent sunset.

    A small amount of rainbow opposite sunset.
    This is a panorama taking up about 220 degrees of Horizon.
    Sun going down with some rain falling from the sky but evaporating befor it lands on the ground.
    A slightly zoomed in view of the virga.
    This panorama might show the rain a little better.
    I just like the range of color in this one.
  • Sunset from June 5th 2023

    Sunset from June 5th 2023

    Been busy at time and I have watched but neglected to photograph some of the sunsets. Here is one from the 5th.

    This is a little over 160 degrees in this panorama
  • Petroglyphs on Yetman trail.

    Petroglyphs on Yetman trail.

    Doing a small amount of hiking today on a shortcut on Yetman trail we came across a few caves. One had some really good petroglyphs. There were several other caves most seemed to be shallow. One seemed to be a littl deeper and I did not have sufficient lighting to see how much further it went. There were bees in the cave with the petroglyphs. Probably seeing moisture. The trail to the caves does not look like a game trail and is easy to follow but no markings.

    One of the shallow caves .
    Petroglyphs inside the cave. Probably depicting whats on the menu.
  • Grand Canyon NP

    Grand Canyon NP

    We spent a few days up at Grand Canyon NP. Hiked all the paved rim trails except for a short section on the Hermits Rest section. Basically, most everything from Hopi Point to South Kaibab Trail Head. Here are some photos from the various spots along those trails. A lot of the photos are panoramas. The method is to turn the camera vertical take a sweep of photos then stich them together. I used a Canon 5Dmk4 camera and a Canon 24-70 L2 lenses for all the wide field shots. The telephoto shots were a Canon 60D with a Canon75-300. The phots are in order as you come in from the east entrance. Click to embiggin.

    View from the Watchtower. This is where the two rivers meet.
    Lookinf From Navajo Point
    Lipan Point lokking north
    Lipan Point
    Looking from Moran Point
    Grandview Point
    Grandview Point
    Grandview Point. Still some snow on the South Rim
    Duck on a Rock
    Waterfall on north side. From Yaki Point This is the tallest waterfall in Az. 800 ft. It is about 12 miles away. 300 mm on 60D
    Water Fall on North side from Yaki Point Can you spot it? Canon5D 24mm
    Pipe Creek
    View From Pipe Creek
    Mather Point.
    Looking from near Yapapi Point
    Vishnu Schist. Real old rock
    Elvis Chasm Gneiss. Pronounced “nee-cee”. Oldest rock in the GC.
    Phantom Ranch about 4 miles away. 1 mile of that is verticle.
    Some Lichens of a different color. Probably from their flowers.
    Bright Angel
    Powell Point
    Bright Angel Trail
    Bright Angel
    Bright Angel Trail
    Bright Angel
    Bright Angel Trail
    Bright Angel Trail
    Trail View Overlook
    Looking from Trail View Overlook
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Trail View Overlook
    Trail View Overlook
    Maricopa Point
    Powell Point
    Powell Point
    Hopi Point
    View from From Trail near Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Hopi Point
    Hopi Point
    Hopi Point
    Hopi Point Sunset
    Hopi Point Sunset
    Hopi Point Sunset.
    Hopi Point Sunset
    Moon rise at Hopi Point
    Hopi Point Sunset
    Hopi Point Sunset
    Hopi Point Sunset
    Moon Rise over Powell Point from Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    Sunset Hopi Point
    View from The Abyss . 3Kft straight down
    From Monuement Point
    View From Pima Point
  • Wasson Peak

    Wasson Peak

    4/26/23 Wednesday, we hiked up to Wasson peak. At 4,687ft it is the highest point in Saguaro NP West. We did the loop trails with a distance of just under 8 miles. King Canyon, Wasson, Sandero, Norris, and then Gould Mine back to the start. I actually though this might be a challenge hike but in spite of its elevation gain, I was not all that fatigued at the end. A really fun experience with a great hiking partner. Really looking forward to more. Click on photos to embiggin. You can google the trail for more info.

    Tree lizard looking at the strange critters in his neighborhood.
    Staghorn Cholla flower
    Saguaro with some flowers.
    A heard of mule deer. we could hear them munching on the jojoba.
    This expired saguaro still had a pair of shoes.
    Engleman hedghogs with flowers.
    An abandon mine near the peak.
    Thistle flower.. The insects reall have to work to get to the good part.
    At the peak.
    There is a survey marker there. Note the spelling. They must have brough only 1 “S” stamp with them 😉

  • Timelapse Video from CAC

    Here are a couple of videos taken at night of the activities at the Chiricahua astronomy Complex night of April 20 and the night of April 21st. The camera was setup looking south across the observing field.

  • Chiricahua Astronomy Complex April 20th – 21

    Chiricahua Astronomy Complex April 20th – 21

    Here are some photos I took while out at CAC over that Thursday and Friday night. There were a few high clouds but did not deter observing. Most were shot with a Canon 5D Mk4 24-70 L2 30 seconds f2.8 fixed. All but the last two were camera looking north. The meteor shot was from the timelapse setup looking mostly south. The Milky Way shot is looking Southeast. The one with the meteor was shot with a 60D 18mm f3.5 30 seconds tracking. This Meteor was probably not a Lyrid.

    I did somewhat of an experiment with these in the processing. Instead of subtraction dark frames to reduce noise, I let Adobe’s new Denoise AI reduce the noise. Let me know what you think.

    This one has some red abnormality in the low sky. I wish someone could tell me what it is.
    Meteor in the south.

  • OsSky Field Photos

    I had a request for photos of the telescopes we used at OsSky. Unfortunately, I did not take any daytime photos of the field. Here are some of the night shots that contain photos that have some portion of a telescope in them. I had to beat them up in Lightroom in order to see some of the hardware. You should be able to click on them to embiggin.

  • Sunset from April 6, 2023

    Sunset from April 6, 2023

    This was a very wide sunset spanning around about 270 degrees. The vertical component was not as good as a lot of them we get. Worth photographing but not in the top category. The setting is from the wash behind the house. Anyway, enjoy the photos.

    Zoomed in a little.
    This is about 170 degrees of panorama.
  • Last night in Sydney

    Last night in Sydney

    We went around to Darling Harbour for an evening meal. These are from the Ferry ride Back to Circular Quay

    Catching the train back to the motel befor heading back to US.