Astro Photos by Thomas Beach
Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn
12-20-2020
These images are of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction taken on Dec. 20, 2020. The
conjunction reached its closest point on Dec. 21. The bottom image is the view
through the 17mm eyepiece of my 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, taken
afocal with an iPhone 11 (the afocal setup consists of a bracket that holds
the iPhone with its lens close to the eyepiece lens). The telescope has a
focal length of 1540mm, so that means this was 90.59 magnification. All of
the views are mirror images. The top images are cropped and have different
exposures. Jupiter is overexposed in all of the images, but Saturn's rings
can be seen. Jupiter's moons (from bottom to top) are Europa, Io, Ganymede,
and Callisto. Unfortunately, there were thin clouds interfering with the view.
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Comet NEOWISE
7-7-2020
These three images are shown at the same scale: the Moon, Pleiades cluster,
and Comet NEOWISE. All three were photographed on the morning of July 7, 2020,
from White Rock Overlook Park. I used my Nikon D90 digital SLR with a 300mm
zoom lens, ISO 1600, and f/6.3 aperture. The comet photo was a 2-second exposure.
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Transit of Mercury
10-11-2019
These pictures were taken at White Rock Overlook Park through my 5" Maksutov
Cassegrain equipped with a solar filter. The images were taken with a handheld
iPhone 11. In the top image, which was taken through a 25mm eyepiece, the Sun is
partially cut off in the eyepiece view, and the blue spot at the top is a
reflection off of the eyepiece lens. Compare the tiny size of Mercury with the
much larger disc of Venus seen in the 2012 transit photo posted below. The Sun was
near the minimum of the sunspot cycle, so there were no sunspots visible on the
Sun during the transit. The transit was already in progress at sunrise, but we
watched it from 8:20 AM (about midpoint) until 11:04 AM (end of transit). This
will be the last transit of Mercury visible from New Mexico until the year 2049.
The bottom image was taken through a 17mm eyepiece, and it is cropped to make
the image of Mercury larger. It was taken when Mercury was closer to the limb of
the Sun.
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Total Solar Eclipse
8-21-2017
This sequence of photos made into an animated GIF was taken near Mount Juliet,
Tennessee. I used my Nikon D90 digital SLR with a 200mm zoom lens. It was set
to ISO 200 and used f/11 aperture. The exposures ranged from 1/1000 second to
1 second. The star that comes into view on the left in the longer exposures is
Regulus (the ring image at the bottom is internal reflection within the lens).
A total solar eclipse truly is an amazing sight, and it is well worth
traveling to the path of totality.
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Nova Del 2013
8-16-2013
This picture was taken from White Rock, New Mexico, using a Nikon
D90 digital camera mounted on a tripod. The exposure was 30 seconds,
f/3.5, ISO 1000. The zoom lens was set for 50 mm focal length. The
nova had reached a peak brightness of about 4th magnitude the day before,
and was at about 5th magnitude when this picture was taken.
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Comet PANSTARRS
3-13-2013
This picture was taken from White Rock, New Mexico, using a Nikon
D90 digital camera mounted on a tripod. The exposure was 2 seconds,
f/5.6, ISO 200. The zoom lens was set for 200 mm focal length. Because
the camera was just mounted on a tripod and not tracking the sky, you
can see that the comet moved down and right a little during the 2-second
exposure. To prevent jiggling the camera, the camera's remote control
was used to trigger the exposure. The comet was not very bright --
I needed binoculars to find it, but as the sky got darker just before
the comet set, I was able to see it naked eye.
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Transit of Venus
6-5-2012
This picture was taken at UNM-LA where we had two telescopes set up
for public viewing of the Venus transit across the Sun
(one telescope used projection; the other had a solar filter). This
picture was taken through the telescope with the solar filter using
a handheld digital camera. Venus is the black dot. There are also some
sunspots visible, and you can see a cloud starting to move in front
of the Sun from below. The transit was still in progress at sunset,
and my ASTR 101 students got to see the event (which will
not happen again for 105 years).
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Annular Eclipse
5-20-2012
This picture was taken from White Rock, New Mexico, of a projection
view of the annular eclipse. The telescope was a 4" refractor. The
Moon is completely surrounded by the wider disc of the Sun. Annular
eclipses can occur when the Earth and Moon are close to the Sun in
Earth's elliptical orbit (making the Sun's disc larger in angular diameter
than normal), and the Moon is far from the Earth in its elliptical
orbit (making its angular size smaller than normal).
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Daylight Comet
1-14-2007
I took these pictures of Comet McNaught in broad daylight on the afternoon
of January 14, 2007. Comets that you can see in the daylight are pretty
rare (I know of Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965, and the Great Comet of
1910 from last century). Admittedly, these pictures don't look like
much, but I was amazed that I could see a comet at all in the daylight.
The photos were taken with a Nikon CoolPix 8800 digital camera at maximum
(10x) zoom. In the top image you can see the comet below a small cloud.
The bottom image is greatly enlarged, and you can see the tail off
to the left.
The comet was visible to the naked eye, once I found it with binoculars, about
5 degrees left of the sun (I stood alongside my house to block the
sun from view). The sky was slightly hazy so the contrast wasn't great.
The view through 10x50 binoculars showed a lot more detail than is
captured in the image, with the faint tail extending 3 to 4 times farther
than is visible here.
I want to thank John Wallin for calling me up and telling me about
this surprise view.
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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.
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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).
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Total Lunar Eclipse 1-20-2000
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.
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Total Solar Eclipse
8-11-1999
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).
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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.
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Comet Hale-Bopp
4-5-1997
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.
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Comet Hyakutake
March 19-21, 1996
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.
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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.
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Click to see an ANIMATED image.
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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.
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to see a
larger version of the picture.
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