In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week is an image and animation of Jupiter with Callisto in transit. Captured almost exactly 12 months ago, on the 31st May 2008, I was excited to be imaging on this morning because capturing a Callisto transit is quite rare due to the large and lengthy orbit of Callisto around Jupiter.

Callisto has a low albedo and while transiting Jupiter it actually looks like a shadow, but it’s the Moon itself! In some frames, albedo features on Callisto can be seen – one of the rare times I’ve been able to capture detail on the darkest Galilean Moon.

Click the image below to download and play the 18 frame animation that covers over 3 hours of Jupiters’ rotation.

Jupiter + Callisto in Transit Animation. Click to Play.

Continue reading to see some of the best images from the animation, and to read more about the capture and processing of this series.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week is the Total Lunar Eclipse that occurred on the 28th August, 2007. The total lunar eclipse was one of the most accessible astronomical events for a long time – you didn’t need any special equipment and you didn’t need to stay up late or get up very early. The eclipse started just after sunset and the deepest part of totality was at 8:37pm, a convenient time for families and friends to congregate and observe the eclipse. 

It was my first Total Lunar Eclipse, and while I knew it was going to be a special event, the scale leading up to it, and the awe I felt while viewing the blood red Moon during Totality really took me by surprise.

Total Lunar Eclipse Montage

The Australian media gave the eclipse a lot of attention and airtime, making it a very popular event across the country. IceInSpace had an enormous surge in traffic as people searched for information about the eclipse. It was probably one of the most photographed eclipses in recent times, as the proliferation in affordable digital cameras gave almost everyone the chance to record the moon’s parade into and out of the shadow of the Earth.

Please read on to see more images from the Total Lunar Eclipse, and also to read how and why this event was huge for me and for IceInSpace.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week is a portrait of Jupiter and the Galilean Moons, the Jovian system in high resolution. Captured on May 11th 2007, this was one of my most ambitious projects of that year, and took hours to capture and many many more hours in processing. It shows Jupiter with her 4 Galilean moons, Europa, Callisto, Ganymede and Io all at the same scale, in their correct positions at the time of capture.

It’s a good time for this image to be featured again, in the International Year of Astronomy – 400 years since Galileo first used a telescope to observe Jupiter’s Moons.

Jupiter and the Galilean Moons (click for full size)

I took 6 images to create an animation, showing the rotation of Jupiter and the dance of Jupiter’s Moons as they orbit the gas giant. Please continue reading to read more about this image, and to see the animation.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week is titled Long Jetty Sunset and has long been one of my favourite sunset images. You know those days when you’re out to photograph a sunrise or a sunset, and the clouds are just right.. the water is just right.. the reflections are just right, and everything is how you imagined it would be.

Long Jetty Sunset

The old crusty boat filled with seaweed, the family walking along the wharf, the lovely golden reflections off the hand rail and the beautiful sunset colours and clouds reflecting off the water really make this image stand out to me.

Please read on to learn more about this image and to see more photos from the session.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week is titled Observing the Milky Way and I think it’s easy to see why. The image was taken at the South Pacific Star Party in April 2007, and shows our beautiful Milky Way Galaxy rising over the observing field at the star party.

Jupiter is the bright “star” just above the centre, and Antares is the red star at the top centre of the image.

Observing the Milky Way

It was a beautiful night at the star party though my astrophotography wasn’t going as planned. Taking this photo was a last minute decision that worked out perfectly.

Please continue reading to see how I captured and processed this image.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week is from a Coffs Harbour Sunrise series. These images were taken on a family holiday up at Coffs Harbour in October 2006. I woke early and headed out to the jetty at Coffs Harbour before dawn and what started as a fairly drab and grey early morning, turned into something special as the clouds started to part and allow the sun to reveal some brilliant colours.

Coffs Harbour Sunrise

Continue reading to see a few other shots from the set and read more about the photos.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week is a high-resolution mosaic image of the Clavius crater on the Moon, as well as some other craters captured on the same night. It was the day before New Years Eve in 2007, the weather was hot and the seeing was variable. Fortunately it steadied for a period of about 5 minutes, long enough for me to capture enough data to compile this 4-frame mosaic of Clavius.

It’s my highest-resolution and best image of Clavius, or any crater i’ve imaged so far. The lighting was perfect, giving just enough contrast to help the small craterlets and rilles stand out while still fully illuminating all the features. The resolution is about 200 metres per pixel at the focal length I was working at (approx 10.5 metres).

Click the image to see the full size and remember to expand the image if your browser resizes it.

High Resolution Clavius (click image for full size)

Continue reading to learn more about the capture and processing of this image, as well as to see some other crater images captured on the same night.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the From the Vault series, I feature an older image which hasn’t been seen here before and I talk about the capture and processing and hopefully highlight why this image is special to me.

The feature image in From the Vault this week shows a Dynamic Jupiter in Motion with an image montage and a 21-frame animation bringing Jupiter alive and is something you must see! You can watch Ganymede and Europa transit across the face of Jupiter, the GRS rotate into view, and the volcanic moon Io pop out from behind Jupiter in the last few frames. Albedo features on Ganymede are visible in practically every frame, including while transiting Jupiter, and icey Europa actually reveals its crescent phase while contrasted against the backdrop of the gas giant.

This montage of images was captured on the morning of the 23rd March, 2007 over a period of more than 2 hours in conditions that peaked in the excellent range. Click the image to see the full-size version.

Dynamic Jupiter (click image for full-size)

Continue reading to see the animation and learn more about the capture and processing of this image.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi all

In a new idea for my site, once a week i’ll feature an old image and bring it back to life here and give some background and information on capturing and processing the image(s). I’ll mainly concentrate on images taken over the past few years, before my site was created so they won’t have been featured here before.

First cab off the rank is Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1). It’s a perfect subject to be featured this week because it’s exactly 2 years ago that it first made an appearance in our southern skies. It brightened rapidly to become one of the “great” comets, the best in 40 years and visible even during daylight. At its peak on the 20th January 2007, it had a tail that spread across over 40° of sky.

Comet McNaught, captured at IISAC2007 in the Hunter Valley of NSW

Continue reading to see more images of Comet McNaught and details about their capture and processing.

Read the rest of this entry »