Thursday, August 14, 2014

Perseids vs The Supermoon


My goal was to capture a meteor in the same frame
with the nearly full super moon.
My automated Canon 1100D camera took 
nearly 800 15 second exposures beginning at
 about 1:00 AM along with this fireball at 
3:16 AM  on the 13th of August. 

On the very next frame, the trail of ash left by the 
fireball is back-lit by the nearly full moon.



Enhanced version shows the ash trail better.





This meteor occurred at 2:44 AM. I was recording 
the radio echos at the time. The following audio starts 
at 2:44:00 AM and runs 2.5 minutes. At 2:44:16, is 
a strong echo coinciding roughly with the above image.
 It's interesting that there is a flurry of echos beginning 
shortly after this at 2:45:14
.




 I use the antenna in the picture to record
radio echos from meteor trails.



And finally, the time lapse of 400 frames starting around
3:10 AM. There a several fainter meteors as well.


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Solargraphy Results

I have begun collecting and processing my 6 months solar graphs. Here are a few of the best out of about 12 or so I'd strewn about the area
Ventura, CA looking west over the Pacific Ocean.
Snapshot...
6 Month Exposure.

Ventura, CA looking east over the Pacific.
 Snapshot.
6 Months Exposure.

Mount Pinos Area

Approximate Google Street View

6 Months Exposure.
My Back Yard


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Solargraphy Project

     Solargraphy is the practice of taking extremely long exposures of the sky, up to six months or longer! I've been collecting the supplies for several months now and began placing my cameras the day before the summer solstice. I plan on collecting them on or around the winter solstice after approximately six months exposure.
    I set my first 3 pinhole cameras in Ventura, CA:

#1) Behind City Hall. Probably the most likely to be found by someone.
Lat N 34° 17' 0.2"
Lon W 119° 17' 35.3"

Facing 140° (SE)

#2) Along highway 1 just north of the city.
Lat N 34° 17' 51.8"
Lon W 119° 20' 33.7"

Facing 265° (West)
#3) Just south of #2 along the railroad tracks.
Lat N 34°17' 20.0"
Lon W 119° 20' 13.0 "

YIKES!!!

Facing 169° (SE)





Capsule Complete

Assembly of the capsule is complete. It only measures 6"x6"x1" and weighs just 220 grams (<8 oz.) The parachute is almost complete, then I will assemble everything and be ready for a full scale flight test. I hope to launch before the end of summer 2012, but won't set a date until everything is ready.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Flight Delayed

I'd rather be saying it's postponed due to weather; it is too bad to fly, but I'm just not ready. With spring planting and building a chicken coop, I'm going to put it off for just 2 weeks.
I built a capsule, but it was heavier than expected; over 100 grams. So I build a second one and it's much lighter. The capsule itself weighs in at under 40 grams. The tracker, sans batteries is 70 grams and the cams weigh around 15 gm each (x2), so I'm looking good for a total weight of 250 grams. Might even have room for a very small payload of some sort.

Monday, December 6, 2010

It took several tries, but we finally got some Triops hatchlings. This video show the first one! Right around top-center. Tiny!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Find The Asteroid


Near Earth Asteroid "Epona". See if you can find it.
You may need to click the image...