Astro Photos by Thomas Beach

Total Lunar Eclipse 10-27-2004 These images were taken with a Nikon 5700 digital camera at 8x optical plus 4x digital zoom. The images in the top two rows (and the image in the bottom right) were taken at 1/250 second. The images in the bottom two rows were taken at 1 to 2 seconds to show the parts of the Moon within the Earth's shadow. Return to Tom's Home Page

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Aurora Borealis over White Rock, NM 3-30-2001 Seeing the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in New Mexico is uncommon, but I have observed them on a few occasions here since 1988. These pictures were taken around midnight on March 30-31, 2001. The Sun was near the maximum of its 11-year sunspot cycle that year. Eruptions of charged particles stream out from the Sun and hit the Earth's atmosphere at such times (preferentially near the Earth's magnetic poles, which is why seeing aurora this far south is rare), exciting the atoms in the upper atmosphere to glow. The pictures were taken on ASA 200 print film with a 50mm lens at f/1.7 with exposures of about 2 minutes. This particular aurora display had shifting streamers and a huge area of red light spanning much of the sky. At the same time I was taking these pictures, my wife was in New Zealand and also observed the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). Return to Tom's Home Page

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Total Lunar Eclipse This multiple-exposure of the total lunar eclipse of January 20, 2000, was taken in White Rock, NM, on ASA 200 print film, using a 300 mm lens. The exposures for the partial phases were 1/5 second at f/11. The exposure for the total phase was 2 seconds at f/5.6. Due to telescope mount tracking errors, the Moon actually drifted downward between the exposures, so the images were repositioned using Photoshop. The dashed circle marks the size of the Earth's shadow. The Moon is moving from right to left. Photo by Tom Beach and John Wallin. Return to Tom's Home Page

Total Solar Eclipse This image of the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, was made from several photos I took in Hungary on ASA 200 slide film. Exposures ranged from 1/60 to 1 second, 210mm, f/4.5 lens. The slide images were scanned and combined in Photoshop to give a better approximation of the detail visible in the corona to the naked eye (none of the individual exposures could show this range of detail). This image still isn't nearly as impressive as the real thing. I suggest you go see a total solar eclipse in person (and bring a pair of binoculars to use during totality...the view of the corona is spectacular that way). Return to Tom's Home Page

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Comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake to Scale The Hyakutake photo was taken on March 26, 1996, at 9:30 pm using ASA 400 slide film, 28 mm f/2.8 lens, 10 min. exposure. The length of the tail can be compared to the size of the Big Dipper in the shot. The inset of Hale-Bopp was a 6 min. exposure on ASA 400 film, at f/2.8. It is shown at the same scale as the Hyakutake image. Hale-Bopp was a brighter comet with a larger nucleus than Hyakutake, but Hale-Bopp did not come as close to Earth. Return to Tom's Home Page

Comet Hale-Bopp I took this picture on April 5, 1997, at 7:45 in the evening. ASA 400 film, 135mm lens, f/2.8, 6 minute exposure. Camera was mounted on a telescope clock drive mount. The blue tail is the plasma or ion tail consisting of gas from the comet which has been excited by sunlight. The solar wind pushes it away from the Sun. The other tail is the dust tail of the comet. It is made up of dust particles pushed away from the Sun by the radiation pressure of sunlight. The dust particles slowly move into a larger orbit, creating the curved tail. Return to Tom's Home Page

Comet Hyakutake I took these pictures on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of March 1996. ASA 400, f/1.7, 50mm lens, 5 minute exposures. Comet Hyakutake passed so close to the Earth (about 0.1 AU) that it changed brightness rapidly during the 3-day period shown. The close distance also allows us to see that the tails in the three exposures converge toward a vanishing point. (Cool...I hadn't expected to see that.) The three exposures were aligned and combined using Photoshop. I fiddled with the color of the images in the process, so don't pay any attention to the different shades of blue. The bright star at the top of the image is Arcturus. Return to Tom's Home Page

Asteroid Pallas I accidentally "discovered" the asteroid Pallas while taking pictures of Comet Hyakutake in 1996. While comparing two photos of the comet taken on March 20 and 21, I noticed a dim 'star' that had moved between the two exposures. A little investigation showed it was Pallas, the second largest asteroid. The pictures were 5 minute exposures on ASA 400 print film using a 50mm lens at f/1.7 aperture. The camera was mounted on a telescope to track the sky. I put the two images together in a little animation to show the motion of Pallas (click on the image to see the animation). Pallas was actually discovered by H. Wilhelm Olbers on March 28, 1802. Return to Tom's Home Page

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Crab Nebula Animation I didn't take these pictures... I just made the animated gif to flip back between them to show the expansion of the nebula created by the supernova explosion observed in 1054 AD. The first photo was taken in 1942 with the 100-inch telescope on Mt. Wilson. The second was taken in 1976 with the Kitt Peak 158-inch telescope. The third was taken in 1999 by the FORS Team on the ESO 8.2-meter VLT. Return to Tom's Home Page

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