Astrophotography – Hungry Mike

Solar Eclipse

Choon-Chern Lim — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Today, we had a rare opportunity to witness the solar eclipse in the United States. This year’s total solar eclipse is only visible in North America and parts of South America. The path of totality is about 70-mile wide starting from Salem, Oregon and ending near Charleston, South Carolina… crossing 14 states of the contiguous United States. This is the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in the United States in 99 years.

Minnesota is not within the path of totality but we were able to see up to 85% obscuration of the solar eclipse. Although it rained in the morning, the sky quickly cleared up at noon and all of us were very fortunate to witness this event between 11:45 AM to 1:30 PM with maximum eclipse at 1:08 PM. The clouds quickly rolled in after that and it rained an hour later.

I initially didn’t plan to take any pictures, but decided to lug my camera to work at the last minute. The next total solar eclipse will be visible in the United States on April 8, 2024… this time, passing through Mexico, the central US and east Canada.

Press Play button to watch the clip – Partial solar eclipse in Minnesota.

The moon partially covers the sun at 12:48 PM.

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Supermoon

Choon-Chern Lim — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Stumbled upon a rather yellowish supermoon on the horizon at about 8:30 PM.

Supermoon view from the deck. Composite of 2 shots. The bright light at the background is a gas station.

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Super Blood Moon

Choon-Chern Lim — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Caught a truly rare opportunity to witness the rare supermoon total lunar eclipse on the same night as the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival. There have only been five supermoon eclipses since 1900 (in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964 and 1982), and the next will occur in 2033. The supermoon appears 14% larger and 33% brighter than other full moons.

We didn’t initially plan to do any moon watching, but there was virtually no clouds at night. So, we sat outside on the deck under the starry night, drinking hot chocolates, eating mooncakes, playing games on iPad and taking a few pictures from 8:00 PM to 10:15 PM.

Super blood moon.

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Perseid Meteor Shower

Choon-Chern Lim — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Attempted to capture Perseid meteor shower as it was supposed to peak between 11th and 13th. Used Star Walk app on iPad to determine the location of the constellation Perseus. Set up the camera with an intervalometer on the deck pointing to that direction and shot continuous 30-second exposure shots from 9:30 PM to dawn, and hope for the best. Granted, Others within the city area isn’t ideal in the first place due to the light pollution.

No meteor shower due to overcast sky. Here’s 900 30-second exposure shots in 30 seconds:-

Again, no meteor shower due to overcast sky. For some reason, the intervalometer didn’t fire the shutter at all. Hence, no pictures were taken. On top of that, the camera was wet due to early morning rain. Pretty much a big epic fail.

Perfect clear sky. Captured about 10 meteors between 9:30 PM and midnight before the condensation started forming on the lens after midnight, rendering unusable shots. Nevertheless, somewhat a success even though it wasn’t 60 to 100 meteors per hour.

800 ISO, f/2.8, 14mm, Bulb, 1″ interval, 30″ frame, hand warmer on lens hood, lens coat on body.

A composite shot of Perseid meteor shower. Most trails are fairly faint due to light pollution.

Star trail from 300 shots.

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