Thursday, February 15, 2007

Winter Bald Eagles





Bald Eagles can be seen from here at times. Usually soaring over the Maurice River at some distance but now and then they soar right overhead as they turn east to glide up the Maumuskin Creek. These are recent digital photos of a 2 year old immature eagle and an adult eagle flying right overhead.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

2003 Halloween Aurora


On Halloween night 2003 a bright aurora filled the sky with color. From South Jersey red and green rays and bands danced in the sky even low in the south. This photo was taken as I pointed the camera to the south in the constellation Aquarius. Mars can be seen at left center. The red color in the camera lens and the brightness of Mars near opposition seem reduced the reddish color usually seen. The Water Jar of Aquarius & Alpha Aquarii are seen at upper right. Notice that the red rays appear to converge at a point near zenith. When viewing aurora in the north the rays most always appear to converge at a point below the northern horizon.

2001 Leonid Meteor Storm


This is one of my photos from the fantastic Leonid Meteor Shower on November 18, 2001. This photo was taken at Belleplain State Forest in southern New Jersey A meteor is seen streaking thru Canis Major. At times rates were higher than 1000 per hour. This qualifies as a meteor storm, the best since 1966!

2002 Leonid Meteor Shower


On November 19, 2002 despite a full Moon in the sky the Leonid Meteor Shower was great. At times hundreds of meteors per hour fell. Although most of these meteors were faint there were some bright ones. I took this photo of a bright red Leonid meteor just before dawn at Belleplain State Forest in southern New Jersey. It was published in the March 2003 issue of the "Reflector", newsletter of the Astronomical League. Also seen is Venus (through clouds), Mars, & Spica.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

The Tail of a Comet


Comet McNaught is putting on a grand show in the southern hemisphere. I saw comet McNaught C/2006 P1 only once on January 10, 2007 before it headed south. I easily saw Mcnaught with the naked eye. It had a short bright tail.
The comet was so bright, and so close to the horizon, that the Earth's atmosphere made the comet's head red, white, & blue!
After passing close to the Sun on January 15th this comet became the brightest comet in over 40 years and began to display a huge dust tail. By many accounts this comet had the grandest tail since Donati's Comet in 1858. The tail swept to the north and could even be seen from South Jersey when the head of the comet was only visable south of the equator. I took this photo on January 20th along the Maurice River showing the Moon & Venus below three rays or streamers from the tail of comet McNaught. Click on the photo for more detail.