Tag: Low Light Photography

Whatever Weds. Comet Lemmon

Posted in Astrophotography, Comets, Night Sky, Starry Night, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , 48 Comments

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I went out with a friend to try to see if I could find and photograph C/2025 A6 Comet (Lemmon) on October 19th. I didn’t go too far from home just up into the Pinenut Mountains a little bit. l took my 50mm lens so I would be able to see a wide space of the sky and hopefully see it. I never saw it with my eyes or binoculars, but when I got home and uploaded my images I was happy to see my camera had seen it. It’s the tiny green dot upper center of the image.

It’s tiny at 50mm but, I cropped this in a bit for a better look.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Comet Lemmon Nikon D850| Nikkor 50mm

The next night I went back to the same spot with my old 80-200mm lens but, I wasn’t able to see it at all. I believe it was too low and behind the hills opposite.

So last night a friend and I went north to a spot I know that had more open sky. It took us a while to find it but, we did. My old lens had a bit of trouble focusing on my newish bigger sensor D810 but, once I uploaded my images I found I had several decent shots of the comet with a hint of its tail too.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Comet Lemmon| Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mmD| October 21, 2025

It’s always exciting to see a comet and this one is pretty cool. It was 55 million miles from Earth last night and it won’t be back again until the year 3175! Do you think my images will survive for my future family members to see my images made with probably antiquated photography methods and gear? Somewhere between 33 and 46 generations will pass before C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) comes our way again. It boggles my mind.

Did you see it?

more to come…

Something for Sunday-The Cosmos from Rural Nevada

Posted in Astro Photography, Milky Way, Nikon, Photography, Wide Field Astro-photographyTagged , , , , , , , , , 28 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com Image

11 frames stacked. Nikon D850| Nikkor 20mm f/1.8g@f2

more to come…

Whatever Weds. A Summer Night Under the Stars

Posted in Astro-Photography, Night Photography, Night Sky, Night Sky Imaging, Photography, Starry Night, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 37 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com Image

US Army fort ruins from the 1860’s.

Nikon D850| Nikkor 20mmf/1.8g| Single frame

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.~ Marcus Aurelius

Posted in Astro-Imaging, Milky Way, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 39 Comments

Copyright ©2023 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Image

Nikon D810|Nikkor 20mm f/1.8G| PS CC 24.5.0

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Lunar Eclipse and Flowers

Posted in Astro Photography, Cultivated Flowers, Lunar Eclipse, Nature Photography, Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , 75 Comments

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;

Hibiscus

Bird of Paradise

? I don’t know what this is called

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.

Totality Lunar Eclipse May 15, 2022

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

Posted in Astro Conjunctions, Astro Photography, Moonrise, PlanetsTagged , , , , , , , , , 42 Comments

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.

Waning Crescent Moon under Mars, Venus with Jupiter close to Venus.

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. The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn

Posted in Conjunctions, Fuji X-T3, Night Sky Imaging, Nikon, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , 47 Comments

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I was pretty excited to see the Great Conjunction as I’m sure most of you were too, so I hoped for clear skies to be able to photograph it. On the 16th of December the crescent moon, Jupiter, and Saturn were fairly close to each other and it was a clear sky so I photographed it from my patio. It was cloudy all day but cleared pretty well but the wispy contrails and remaining clouds made the sky a bit more interesting. Can you spy the ski runs at Heavenly Ski Resort? X marks the spot.

Crescent Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn over the Carson Spur.

It was clear on Monday the 21st so I went out with my long lens to get a closer look at the conjunction. I had to crop it in for it to be a good look even at 400mm, but I was able to see 3 of Jupiter’s Moons too. The 3 tiny dots are the Moons.

Jupiter, 3 Moons, and Saturn. The Great Conjunction of 2020

Saturn’s rings are not defined which is disappointing, but I saw the Great Conjunction! Did you look for it?

I wish all those celebrating Christmas a very Merry Christmas, and those who aren’t I wish you a very Joyous Week!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 and Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.1

more to come…