astronomy video

Comet Lulin video


Comet Lulin graced North American skies in the winter of 2009. Fortunately, the closest approach was during the Winter Star Party in February. Comet Lulin proved to be much more interesting than I had previously been inclined to believe. The comet brightened dramatically over the week of February 24 and sported a beautiful ion blue tail. I slewed to the comet with the scope and began my initial exposures and was surprised by the views on the LCD screen. The blue ion tail was crumpled and extending away from the comet nucleus in a beautiful fashion. So this object became the main target object during the 2-4 a.m. imaging window on most nights.

This video is a time-lapse sequence of 9 3.5 minute exposures taken on February 21, 2009 from the Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys. Each image was optimized in Adobe Light Room and the video was compiled with Windows Movie Maker. The video loops several times so that the viewer can pick up the subtle changes in the blue ion tail. Geostationary satellites are common in this area of sky and pass through the field as through they were moving airplanes, but in fact it is the telescope and camera moving to compensate for the Earth's rotation.

You can download a wmv file from my Vimeo site which is a much larger and higher quality presentation.

Kirk Rogers featured on Maine TV show

Please take a moment to visit my good friend and wonderful photographer Kirk Rogers' website for a video clip that presents Kirk's astrophotography to the viewers in Maine, U.S.A. The clip is approximately 5 minutes long and shows Kirk's equipment, images, and the observatory of Rob Burgess where Kirk's gear is housed. Congratulations to Kirk on the feature and I hope you enjoy the show.

Bill Green's Maine featuring the Astrophotography of Kirk Rogers

A Night at the Winter Star Party

While at the Winter Star Party in February, I imaged with multiple cameras through the night. The primary camera was on the telescope with a secondary wide angle camera on the G11 mount and a third camera for night landscape from a tripod. One of the techniques I wanted to experiment with was a time-lapse of our imaging area with a star field for the entire night. My first results of this can be found on my Vimeo page linked below. A higher quality video is available for download from the Vimeo webpage for Vimeo members. Registration is simple and takes only a few seconds.

I really hope to explore this technique more fully over the coming months and to incorporate the results in a more comprehensive artistic output. I hope you enjoy the video and there is more information on the Vimeo webpage. I am also experimenting with the video capabilities of the 5D Mark II and will update the blog with results from that soon. Thanks and take care...

A Night at the Winter Star Party 2009