#dark-sky-preserve — Public Fediverse posts

It's kind of funny that most campsites around us are preparing for bed as we get changed into warm clothes and head out for another round of Milky Way photos.

#darkskypreserve #bortle1

Canada’s Grasslands National Park rivals Brazil’s Pantanal

Tiny burrowing owls perch on barbed wire fence posts in Brazil’s Pantanal, and even more pepper an open…
#Canada #Bison #DarkSkyPreserve #GrasslandsNationalPark #horsebackriding #oTentik #Pantanal #ParksCanada #plainsbison #pronghorn #RockCreekTrail #Saskatchewan #Valleyof1000Devils
https://www.europesays.com/canada/142248/

Canada’s Grasslands National Park rivals Brazil’s Pantanal https://www.byteseu.com/2223707/ #Bison #Canada #DarkSkyPreserve #GrasslandsNationalPark #HorsebackRiding #oTentik #Pantanal #ParksCanada #PlainsBison #pronghorn #RockCreekTrail #Saskatchewan #ValleyOf1000Devils

Nice to be back under a clear moonless night sky in a dark sky preserve last night. Thankfully we were also inside an area of minimal wildfire smoke (as confirmed by #Astrospheric smoke layer view).

All those stars making it more difficult to discern constellations. Andromeda and double cluster naked eye. Occasional meteor. An experience that never gets old!

#nlskies #nlastro #astrophotography
#ParksCanada #TerraNovaPark #DarkSkyPreserve

✮ A Butterfly’s Twilight Song ✮

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Capturing a "deep" Image of winter's Orion constellation is a challenge for me. My winter weather is terrible. My access to proper dark sky in winter is impractical. But it's been an objective for many years!

Thankfully, Orion is accessible in Fall, if you stay up late enough. In September I set up a tracker mount w/DSLR just as Orion was rising (~1:30am) . Captured 50 2min images after clearing the horizon (while I slept!).

#TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve
#nlskies #Astrophotography #Astrodon

Playing around with some images captured on a clear dark night late September. One is a single 2-minute tracked image looking over some treetops in #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve.

The other is a stack of 20 of these tracked images (with the tree tops cropped out). Can "push" the processing a lot more with the stack.

Canon 6D (modified), 35mm lens, iso3200 f/2.5

Single image mostly processed in #darktable. Stack mostly in #PixInsight

#Astrophotography #nlskies #nlastro #NewmanSoundCampground

I sometimes try to capture #NightScape scenes in #TerraNovaNP campground (Newman Sound) that folks might find recognizable. And perhaps the park might find useful for promotional purposes.

Pretty happy with how this one turned out. Even captured some #Airglow.

This was captured later in September. Might not have been possible earlier in the season as the park still has work to do addressing #LightPollution generated by "uninformed" campers.

#DarkSkyPreserve
#nlskies #astrophotography
#nlastro

The #MilkyWay over a small brook. Captured during late September's new-moon phase.

Didn't turn out quite the way I hoped (dim foreground). It was so dark nestled between high trees. But it sure was peaceful there.

#BigBrook #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve #nlskies #astrophotography #nlastro

Am I addicted to Milky Way shots?

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No comment.

#astrodon #AirGlow
#MilkyWay #Astrophotography #TerraNovaNP #BigBrook
#DarkSkyPreserve
#nlskies #nlastro

Working on improving my #MilkyWay processing. And learning the ins and outs of #darktable. Still lots to learn on both fronts!

This shot from Sandy Pond 23rd August at #ParksCanada #TerraNovaNP - a #DarkSkyPreserve

Skies were pretty dark but some #LightPollution is visible over the distant hill, from a small town outside the park.

#astrophotography #nlskies #nlastro

Another glorious clear and dark night sky at #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve on Wednesday. The park still has work to do addressing #LightPollution within the #campground, but I managed to find some shadows to capture these images from.

Second image is looking up at Cygnus, the #MilkyWay and some red nebulae. Captured with a 50mm lens and the venerable Canon 6D (modified).

#nlastro #astrophotography #Astrodon #nlskies

Challenging times ahead.

Needed to take a break from it, so finally got 'round to processing nightscape images captured last summer (31 July) at Terra Nova National Park #DarkSkyPreserve.

Created a timelapse which has a nice surprise (ie. aurora) at the end. Too big to post on Mastodon, but you can see it here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nlskies/54883433421/in/album-72157714174945456

Looking forward to this year's dark sky adventures.

#nlastro #nlskies #astrophotography #astrodon #resist

@chad Damn, that fire looks like it went through the Jasper Park Bungalows where I have stayed at twice before, always Cabin #3 at the end is my #HappyPlace where I often image the Night Sky.

https://www.jasperhouse.com/

#Jasper #DarkSkyPreserve #yegastro

Did not get to use my mobile rig so much in 2023. Weather was most uncooperative.

During the summer it was used to capture the Soap Bubble nebula. That thing is very faint! 🤪

It helped that this data was captured from the dark skies of #TerraNovaNP #darkskypreserve

Other images were captured from back yard.

Hopefully there will be better opportunities to use this rig in 2024.

#astrodon #nlskies2023
#nlastro #astrophotography

More 2023 astro musings ...

During the summer, I get to spend some time in my "local" #DarkSkyPreserve - #TerraNovaNP. 2023 did not disappoint.

When conditions permit, I like to use a wide field lens and take in the Milky Way and landscape. And occasionally I corral a meteor or two along the way.

If I get lucky, I sometimes snag some #AirGlow ripples or a #MeteorSmokeTrail (like the one here, captured Aug 12)!

#astrodon #nlskies2023
#nlastro #astrophotography

delinquent /dĭ-lĭng′kwənt, -lĭn′-/
adjective
Failing in duty; offending by neglect of duty.

Until this week, I was *delinquent* in not processing this data from last summer! 🤪

Captured in my local #DarkSkyPreserve #TerraNovaNP

If you look closely, just left of center, there is a small faint circle known as the Soap Bubble. It is a bugger to capture, so I am happy with this result!

#astrodon
#nlskies #astrophotography
#nlastro

Another camping season is over 😢
Wasn't much in it for astronomy this year, between incessant clouds and smoke from forest fires out West. 🙄

Did manage to grab some exposures on the Wizard Nebula a couple weekends ago. Not bad considering there was still some hazy smoke hanging around.

About 6 hours total exposure, split between Ha and [OIII] filters with a mono camera.

#astrodon #astrophotography
#astronomy #TerraNovaNP
#DarkSkyPreserve

During the timelapse - I did manage to capture one decently bright #meteor. Looks to be a #Perseids

Here is a crop from that frame.

#astrodon #astrophotography #astronomy #DarkSkyPreserve
#ParksCanada #ParksCanadaNL #TerraNovaNP #nlastro

This weekend is my "local" dark-sky park's annual Night Sky Celebration. #RASC #astronomy club will be doing public outreach with telescopes, binoculars etc. Hope the weather cooperates!

If you have a #DarkSkyPreserve in your neck of the woods - check them out. Most will have one or more outreach events throughout the year.

#ParksCanada #ParksCanadaNL #Astrodon #nlastro

As previously described, my coyote dodging (in my own mind!) adventure netted me some nice images overlooking "Big Brook" in #ParksCanada #TerraNovaNP near #NewmanSoundCampground.
I've been told by staff that the river bend is known as the "Oxbow".

I turned ~5 hours of images into this #TimeLapse.

For the dark sky nerds, the SQM meter at my campsite peaked at about 21.5 mpsas that night.

#astrodon #astrophotography #astronomy #DarkSkyPreserve

Did a short but eerie solo walk through a wooded trail last night around midnight (there have been coyote sightings recently, and it's bear country). But have been wanting to capture this scene for a couple years now. No guts, no glory (such as it is) - lol.

#astrodon #astrophotography #astronomy #ParksCanada #TerraNovaNP #BigBrook #DarkSkyPreserve

This is a smoke trail timelapse from a #Perseids meteor I posted previously (from Aug 12). Smoke trail can be seen drifting downward from the initial bright meteor.

Used #EZGif with ~50 images to create the timelapse. Pre-processed images using @darktable app to (try to!) colour correct the raw images.

#darktable has been working really well for me - I have cancelled my Adobe subscription.

#astrodon #astrophotography #astronomy #meteor #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve

Been trying out #darktable (free, open source) as a substitute for Adobe Lightroom. Pretty good experience so far. Limitation is my processing skills, not the software 🤪

Used it to process ~1250 images (including above smoke trails) for assembly into a timelapse using Virtualdub2.

Too big to post on Mastodon so here's a link to it on my Flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nlskies/53121536160/in/dateposted-public/

~45 meteors + many planes/satellites

#astrodon #astrophotography #astronomy #meteor #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve

Cloudy skies briefly relented last night for couple hours of meteor observing. ~dozen in an hour. ~2/3 #Perseids - rest were Capricornids/Aquariids or unidentifiable.

Had 2 cameras going, one captured this decent meteor. Time-lapse shows small smoke trail (over ~4 minutes).

Once cameras were going, it was a pleasure to just lie back in a reclining chair and take in the glorious dark sky spectacle of #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve with only naked eye.

#astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography

It's been a dreadful Spring and early Summer here in #Newfoundland for astronomy. But finally some clear night skies last week or so. Fortunate to be in #ParksCanada #TerraNovaNationalPark #DarkSkyPreserve for a couple of them, and captured this scene.

Those red chairs are great for meteor observing (I saw one decent sporadic that night).

#astrophotography #astrodon #astronomy #darkhorse #airglow

Big moon over Lion’s Head #lunarbeauty #moon #astrophotography #p1000 #opticalzoom #125x #lunarphotography #nightsky #darkskypreserve #clearnight #nofilter #brucepeninsula #lionsheadontario https://instagr.am/p/CoWCoR_NMto/

As with most targets of the back yard observatory this year, 🔭 this M101 galaxy and Lion nebula were captured using Esprit 150, QHY128C and 5 minute subs. Processed in PixInsight. Have been trying for longer multi-hour total integration times, to improve signal-to-noise characteristics.

May also marks the start of camping season. Lucky this year to have had a seasonal site at my local #DarkSkyPreserve 🔭 🌃

#astrophotography #astrodon #astronomy #nlskies2022 #TerraNovaNP #ParksCanada

@AlexSanterne Thanks for organizing this - has been enjoyable seeing so many great submissions.

Here's my favourite from this year - captured while camping in #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve in July. Esprit 100, QHY600 and SHO filters. 7 hours total exposure.

Was enjoyable to capture in serene surroundings and under a Bortle 2 sky.

#YourBestAstroPic2022
#astrophotography #astrodon

Tried the new Spectrophotometric colour calibration routine in #PixInsight. Not sure it made much difference vs Photometric Colour Calibration. I might very well have used it incorrectly 🤪 Need more time with it.

Here's resultant re-work of wide field #Cassiopeia constellation & #MilkyWay. From early September at #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve.

Andromeda Galaxy is lower right. Heart & Soul nebulae (red) lower left. Elephant's Trunk Nebula (red) is upper right.

#astrophotography
#astrodon

Yet another wide angle shot of the #MilkyWay from this past camping season. So many stars make it difficult to identify constellations!

Much joy working on this as it reminds me of warm summer nights under clear #DarkSkyPreserve skies. Once gear is set up, I can recline on my "anti gravity meteor chair" & soak it in. A form of #StarBathing I guess.

30 x 1min 6400iso
35mm lens @ f2.5
Canon 6D & star tracker.

#astrophotography
#astrodon
#TerraNovaNP

Here's another wide field shot - centered on Cassiopeia constellation. This is from images captured in early September. Stacked 51 images from a 35mm lens and Canon 6D on a star tracker.

Andromeda Galaxy is lower right. Annotated version identifies some of the interesting objects such as Heart and Soul nebulae (lower left in Milky Way).

Already miss being in the park under clear, dark and warm(er) skies.

#MilkyWay #astrophotography
#astrodon
#TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve

Finally got my sh-t together. 🤪 Namely, finished generating flats/darks calibration files for Cygnus Milky Way images I captured at #TerraNovaNP #DarkSkyPreserve in August.

The 35mm lens is wide enough to show other constellations around Cygnus (Lyra, Delphinius). Lots of 🤩 stars/star clouds from the Milky Way are visible as well as some familiar nebulous regions & dark nebulae. Highlighted a few in the annotated version.

63x1m
Canon 6D
iOptron SkyGuider tracker

#astrophotography #astrodon

#Introduction

On "social media" since dial-up BBS! Mech Engineer. IT/IM/IS. Married & dad of adult children (& dogs). Nearing retirement (maybe?). Occasional ice hockey player. #GoHabs :=)

Fortunate to have some #astronomy & #astrophotography toys. Finding my way through the wonders of our universe, via our night sky. Will share images/video from time to time.

Our night skies need protection from #LightPollution. So will occasionally post about #DarkSkyPreserve etc initiatives.

#astrodon