Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
11 frames stacked. Nikon D850| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8g@f2
more to come…
Something for Sunday-The Cosmos from Rural Nevada
Category: Astro Photography
Whatever Weds. This and That…
Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
Here’s some of what I’ve been up to lately starting at the beginning of the month with a birding walk up in the mountains above Lake Tahoe. The wildflowers were in bloom. Here are a couple of favorites I saw.
Delphinium
Crimson Columbine
A beautiful view from the trail with Lupine, and Cornflower leaves in the foreground.
View from the hike
There were all sorts of juvenile birds being taught how to forage that morning. I saw Young Cassin’s Finches begging their parents for food, and the parents trying to encourage them to forage on their own, and young White-crown Sparrows foraging with their parents, but the highlight for me was the juvenile Rufous Hummingbird perched on a branch. That was a first for me.
Rufous Hummingbird-immature
On Monday I got up at 2:45AM to go on my back patio to see if I could spot and photograph any Perseid Meteors. I very nearly went back to bed as there were still clouds from the day before in the sky.
I saw 3 great fireballs streaking across the morning sky, but one was completely out of my frame. One just looks like a streak with no fire ball that was disappointing, but it has a green tail, and one was just partially in my frame. The others I photographed are pink and green. Which I think are from the Aurora Borealis that was visible here. I missed the peak of that. I slept through it.
Here are two images of Perseid Meteors I photographed.
Look how close that fireball came to being in my frame! See it left side bottom edge? There’s another meteor below center as well.
Fireball just out of my frame plus another meteor.
Perseid Meteor Streaking over No. Nevada…pink and green too.
And, I’m still painting. I just finished a big painting for me at 9×12 inches of the Le Moulin de L’Abbye in France. I used a photo from a book called Hotels de Reve en France that I picked up years ago from a Little Free Library. I’ve been sketching from this book for years, but have been afraid to actually add paint out of fear of messing it up. I drew it freehand which took me hours, because drawing is so hard for me, but I am improving! Practice really helps. Anyway, I transferred the drawing to drawing paper so if I did mess it up I could half the drawing time by tracing it. This time I was determined to add paint!
Here’s that painting.
watercolor painting
The reference photo from the book Hotels de Reve en France.
I also made the boys some little handmade sketchbooks. I hope they fill those pages up!
The weather is cooler and the smoke from the Calif. fires has cleared so I’ll be out birding later this week and getting my morning walks in outside.
This is getting long so I’ll close with I hope your week is going well.
Nikon D850\ iPhone 14Plus
more to come…
Whatever Weds. A Starlit Night
Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.
It’s that time of year when I yearn to be out imaging and gazing at the night sky. A friend and I went back down to Mono Lake to do just that. Thankfully, we didn’t have any clouds to worry about.
The lake is really high eliminating a lot of the beach area we learned from our camping trip last month so, we knew to take our tall boots because standing in the lake might be our best bet for imaging. We scouted in the afternoon and found this spot. When we were leaving for dinner we ran into a Ranger who told us she would be giving a talk on the summer sky and constellations that evening on the beach and invited us back to attend it. We said we’d be there. The talk was a fast 2 hours. It was great hearing the stories the Native Americans tell about the stars and how they named the constellations and how to find them . The talk ended just after 10PM which was perfect as the Milky Way was already visible and we had some time to get to our spot in time for the Galactic Center to rise. The Galactic Center is the central region of our galaxy. The best months to photograph the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere are from May to August when the Galactic Center is highest in the sky and the weather is usually better in the warmer months.
We were standing in water to photograph this scene, but it wasn’t very deep, and the waves were gentle so we didn’t have to worry about a big one coming along and getting into our boots. 😊
I got home about lunch time yesterday, unpacked, got the car washed, and then started getting ready for a visit with my son and daughter-in-law. I’ll be on and offline for a bit. I hope your week and summer are going well.
Nikon D850|Nikkor 20mm F1.8G|
more to come…
Whatever Weds. Total Lunar Eclipse 11.8.2022
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION!
I didn’t think I’d be able to see the Lunar Eclipse this time around because snow and cloud cover was predicted in the forecast. I set my alarm anyway and thought I’d just photograph Totality since it was in the middle of the night and cold.
When I got up and looked out the window I couldn’t believe it, it was clear and barely a breeze blowing!
It was just a few minutes after 2:00 A.M. PST…(I think that’s the time we’re in now? 🤷♀️ ), when I started taking my test shot.
Totality began at 2:16A.M here and I was ready for it. This image was made at 2:221A.M
The next Total Lunar eclipse to be visible in the USA won’t be until March 14, 2025. Until then my mind will be shifting from the
Moon to the Sun as there is an Annular Solar Eclipse in October 2023. The last time I photographed an Annular Solar Eclipse was back in 2012. You can see that post here . I’m hoping I can get to the sweet spot to photograph it again.
It snowed here all day yesterday and is looking magical and very much like Winter is here.
I hope you’re all having a good week, and are staying warm and safe.
Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4| PS CC 24.0.0
more to come…
Whatever Weds. Lunar Eclipse and Flowers
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Last week-end we went down to SoCal to visit Big Baby Boy and the Dark Haired Beauty for several days. It was lovely walking on the beach and in the canyon with them and just hanging out. We talked about their upcoming wedding a bunch, and how that’s going. It’s coming up so fast! Less than 8 weeks to go now! I’ve got my dress and hat and He-Man’s good to go suit wise too, So far everything is falling into place so, it should be beautiful.
I also passed a milestone last Thursday…I turned 65 years young. There are many days my body feels 65 but, not my spirit! I’m still a kid inside. 😀
There were lots of cultivated flowers in late stages of their bloom around Big Baby Boy’s, some I’ve missed because they just don’t grow where we live. Here are a few;
Sunday we had heavy clouds predicted and strong winds and sure enough they rolled in all day just in time for the Lunar Eclipse. I hoped there would a pocket or two of clear sky in the Moon’s path so I could see and photograph just one frame. There was a nice pocket along the mountain tops so I quickly made a few images of the Moon as it crested the mountains. It was already in Totality by then as well. It was very different from last year’s May Lunar Eclipse when there was a clear sky.
It quickly rose into the clouds and I didn’t see it again that night.
We’re going to see Baby Girl and the boys later this week to celebrate her birthday, my birthday, and Mother’s Day. I’m looking forward to that.
The weather has definitely warmed up here. It was 81 degrees yesterday and just as warm today, so I put out the patio cushions and spent a lovely hour out back chatting with the neighbor. How’s the weather where you are? Ready for summer?
I hope you’re having a good week!
Nikon D810| Fuji X-T-3| PS CC 23.2.2
more to come…
Whatever Weds. Waning Moon Conjunction
Copyright ©2022 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
I’ve been hoping for a clear sky before sunrise in order to see the Waning Moon and four early-dawn planets, but we’ve been having cloudy overcast mornings of late. On the 26th I got somewhat lucky even though it was cloudy. Here are 3 of the 4 early-dawn planets along with the Waning Crescent Moon over the Pine Nut Mountains. Following that line of planets up above Mars was Saturn, but it was already so light out I couldn’t see it.
If you’re up an hour before sunrise your time this Saturday morning looking low in the southeast Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest objects in the sky after the Sun and Moon, are going to be spectacularly close at just a 1/2 degree apart!
Can you believe we’re just days away from May!? This month just flew by! I hope your week is going well and you have a lovely day.
Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| PS CC 23.2.2
more to come…
Whatever Weds.- O’Dark Thirty
Copyright © 2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Did you hear about the new Comet that was discovered in March of this year? It’s called C/2020 F3 “Neowise”. Some…okay a lot of astronomers thought it would be burned up when it made its close encounter to the Sun, but a few thought it would make it past that, and we who were paying attention held our breath and waited and watched…
It made it past the sun! Two Comets I was watching this year didn’t make it past their close encounter with the Sun so this is huge!
On July 10th I rose at an UnGodly hour 4:00 A.M. brushed my teeth put on some pants and shoes and grabbed my gear then headed out not too far from home on foot to see if I could see this new Comet C/2020 F3 “Neowise”. I did not see it. I knew where to look so made 13 images around the area hoping my camera could see what I could not. IT DID NOT. I was too late. The Sun’s light was already hiding the Comet. I needed to get up earlier.
July 11th. I rose at 3:15am put some pants on, brushed my teeth, put on my shoes, and grabbed my gear bag and headed out the door on foot to my spot. My compass for the morning was Venus with Alderan under it and Capella off to the north of Venus. They would guide me to Comet C/2020 F3 ” Neowise”. I also took my binoculars just in case I couldn’t spot with my eyes. I located Capella with my binocs and began scanning the area below it where I knew the comet would be. THERE IT WAS! I did a little happy dance I won’t lie! There’s just something about the stars, planets, and comets that excites me.
I set up my camera and dialed in my exposer and hoped I was in focus. Focusing in the dark isn’t always easy.
Here’s my best frame from the morning.
As I was shooting there was a pack of Coyotes singing their song just up the trail and behind me just far enough away to keep me looking to my right. Greeting the morning or healding their catch of the night I don’t know, but they stirred up all the coyotes in the valley and kept me watching my right.
When I walked up the path toward the fence I needed to hop to get home I kept looking over my shoulder making sure the Coyotes weren’t following me! They’re sneaky those coyotes. In my head, I had this song. It’s my favorite Coyote song evah. And they go…
Who yip , who yip, who…
Nikon D810| Nikkor 180mm F/2.8| CS PP 21.2
more to come…
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